Don Shula

To me, the NFL heyday was the 60s and 70s.  Games which were played on chewed up turf, rotten weather, below zero wind chill.  Basically when Franklin Field went with artificial turf in 1969, that was the beginning of the end of real NFL football.   Today's football is not much fun with the usual showoffs doing gangsta moves after a QB sack or TD.   None of the football jollies today would last in the old NFL, of cheap shots, tackles out of bounds and whop upside the helmet shots employed by Deacon Jones or a Hardy Brown clotheslining a running back.

Of course my interest in the NFL came with the DX/Sunoco's 1972 trading stamps. At that time, the Miami Dolphins were chasing perfection.  And finally achieved it by beating Washington 14-7.  The Fins went a perfect 17-0, and since then, nobody has done the same thing.  When the New York Giants derailed New England's attempt at perfection, Don Shula and the 72 said thanks and celebrated.   After all, Miami won their games fair and square.  With New England there was always suspicion.

Don Shula passed away at the age of 90.  He and Vince Lombardi have always, to me, been the best coaches the NFL ever had.    Shula was a excellent defensive back and had 21 interceptions in his career and then Baltimore hired him as a coach in 1963 and two years later made the Championship. Baltimore had the great Johnny Unitas as QB and later Earl Morrall, Earl would figure greatly for Don later on.  Baltimore was tough in the regular season but somehow could never win the big game.  The big glare was the 27-0 whitewashing from Cleveland in the 1964 Championship and later Super Bowl Three to which after Shula got revenge by shutting the Browns out 34-0, watched themselves get upset by the mighty New York Jets 16-7.  The Colts did win two of the Bert Bert Benefit Bowl aka Playoff Bowl, wiping out the Dallas Cowboys 35-3  after Green Bay defeated them 13-10 for the right to play Cleveland (Green Bay won on a questionable Don Chandler FG that looked like it ventured right, to which the NFL would raise the goal posts higher, plus the fact that Shula was using Tom Matte as QB, since Unitas and Gary Cuozzo and Ed Brown were injured also figured into the equation).  Next year Baltimore took out Philadelphia 24-17.  If you take into consideration of the forgotten Playoff Bowl, Shula had won four games to go with the two super bowl titles. But nobody speaks highly of the Playoff Bowl.

The Jets winning did drive a split between Don and then Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom and after the 1969 season, Shula was let go, and Miami snagged him and till 1995, Shula was their coach.  The Miami team with Bob Griese, Paul Warfield, Jim Kiick, Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka would dominate the NFL with Larry's hit hitting running attack and Warfield's artistry of catching the ball. Miami went 10-4 the first season and two seasons later achieved the perfect season.  The Dolphins had the 53 defense, named after Bob Mathienson, the former Browns linebacker.   When Shula signed up Earl for the 1972 season, little did he knew that Earl would replace Bob Griese, who suffered a broken leg on the astro turf of Miami and Earl rallied the Dolphins to a victory and kept the streak alive.  Earl was 9-0 in the 1972 games and would remains a started till Griese came back to play in the AFL Championship against Pittsburgh and eventually the Super Bowl win.

Miami would repeat once again as Super Bowl champions tho their undefeated streak did end against Oakland (Minnesota actually beat them in a exhibition game but those games don't count), and won the 1973 Super Bowl over Minnesota to which the the Purple People Eater defense couldn't stop Csonka's bull rush straight ahead rushing.  When the WFL came a calling, Paul Warfield, Csonka and Jim Kiick took the money and ran.  The Dolphins went through the motions including the first losing season Shula had as coach (1976 6-8).  But drafting Dan Marino, the second phase of Shula's career went from power running to power passing. The likes of Mark Clayton and Mark (super) Duper enabled to have the Dolphins return back to the super bowl two more times.   Shula retired after the 1995 season.

Of course there is a Trump story to this.  In 1983  The future failed reality star offered him a chance to coach Trump's New Jersey Generals, but when Don wanted to live rent free at Trump Tower, Trump balked at that and Shula remained in Miami.    In the end made a wise choice.

Vince Lombardi and Don Shula are the best NFL Coaches ever.   Like Lombardi, Shula demanded respect and dedication to the team, working his players hard and often but off the field remained loyal and respected to all that he coached.  Shula lived 90 years, but it seemed like yesterday when we saw him go undefeated in the LA sunshine.  Shula enjoyed having the best QBs on his team, Johnny U, Dan Marino, Bob Griese, but I do think that Earl Morrall was the one that got the best results in the regular season games.  Without him the 72 Dolphins wouldn't be perfect.

We all die but legends live in.  In the record book and old faded NFL highlights from the past on You Tube,  Those are the days of the real NFL and Don Shula was as real as it gets.  You cannot replace a legend like Don.