Pro Football Historian (PFH) is a blog page written by Flint Given. Pro Football Historian or PFH is a page to inform people on prior NFL events that people might not know about. Learning about teams from the 1920s or even the first few NFL World Championships in the 1930s fascinates me. It's these kinds of events that I want to discuss in this blog. Hopefully you are interested and will continue to check up on my blogs.
Michael Lewis Webster was an American football center in the National Football League from 1974 to 1990 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 1997. Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Webster anchored the Steelers' offensive line during much of their run of four Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1979 and is considered by many the greatest center in NFL history.
Webster died in 2002 at the age of 50 of a heart attack. The brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) was initially discovered in his brain during his autopsy.
At 6-foot-1, 255 pounds, he was selected in the fifth round of the 1974 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Serving as a backup at center and guard for two years while being mentored by veteran center Ray Mansfield, Webster became the team's starting center in 1976, where he remained for 150 consecutive games. He was the Steelers' offensive captain for nine years. This ended in 1986 when he dislocated his elbow, causing him to sit out for four games. With the Steelers winning Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, and XIV, Webster and Terry Bradshaw form one of the best-known center–quarterback pairs in history. Webster was honored as an All-Pro seven times and played in the Pro Bowl nine times.
An avid weightlifter, Webster was known for playing with bare arms to keep opponents from grabbing his sleeves. Webster is also perhaps the best known of a long line of All-Pro centers for the Steelers. From 1964 to 2020, just five men started at that position: Mansfield, Webster, Dermontti Dawson, Jeff Hartings, and Maurkice Pouncey, with the only exceptions being injuries as well as a three year period between 2007 and 2009 when the center position alternated between journeymen Sean Mahan and Justin Hartwig. In his last year in Pittsburgh, Webster returned the favor by mentoring the then-rookie Dawson in the same manner Mansfield had mentored Webster earlier in his career.
At 6-foot-1, 255 pounds, he was selected in the fifth round of the 1974 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Serving as a backup at center and guard for two years while being mentored by veteran center Ray Mansfield, Webster became the team's starting center in 1976, where he remained for 150 consecutive games. He was the Steelers' offensive captain for nine years. This ended in 1986 when he dislocated his elbow, causing him to sit out for four games. With the Steelers winning Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, and XIV, Webster and Terry Bradshaw form one of the best-known center–quarterback pairs in history. Webster was honored as an All-Pro seven times and played in the Pro Bowl nine times.
An avid weightlifter, Webster was known for playing with bare arms to keep opponents from grabbing his sleeves. Webster is also perhaps the best known of a long line of All-Pro centers for the Steelers. From 1964 to 2020, just five men started at that position: Mansfield, Webster, Dermontti Dawson, Jeff Hartings, and Maurkice Pouncey, with the only exceptions being injuries as well as a three year period between 2007 and 2009 when the center position alternated between journeymen Sean Mahan and Justin Hartwig. In his last year in Pittsburgh, Webster returned the favor by mentoring the then-rookie Dawson in the same manner Mansfield had mentored Webster earlier in his career.
At the time of his retirement, he was the last active player in the NFL to have played on all four Super Bowl winning teams of the 1970s Steelers. At the time of his retirement, he had played more seasons as a Steeler than anyone else in franchise history (15 seasons), one season ahead of Terry Bradshaw and Hines Ward. Ben Roethlisberger tied Webster's record in the 2018 season, and broke it in 2019.
Despite the Steelers ceasing officially retiring jersey numbers at the time of his retirement, Webster's No. 52 has not been reissued by the team since he retired in deference to his legacy with the Steelers. In 1999, he was ranked number 75 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. The football stadium at Rhinelander High School, his alma mater, is named Mike Webster Stadium in his honor. Webster was posthumously elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
Webster was proven to have been disabled before retiring from the NFL. After retirement, Webster had amnesia, dementia, depression, and acute bone and muscular pain. He lived out of his pickup truck or in train stations between Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, despite friends and former teammates offering to rent apartments for him. Teammate and fellow hall of famer Terry Bradshaw regularly covered expenses for Webster and his family, while Steelers owner Dan Rooney paid for a hotel room for Webster for over three months. Nonetheless, Webster continued to disappear for weeks at a time without explanation and without contact with friends and family. He exhibited unusual changes in behavior, and became so agitated and restless that he used electroshock weapons on himself to induce sleep.
In his last years Webster lived with his youngest son, Garrett, who though only a teenager at the time, moved from Wisconsin to Pittsburgh to care for his father. Webster's wife Pamela divorced him six months before his death in 2002, due to a heart attack, at the age of 50.
Webster was cremated and his ashes were returned to his wife and their four children.
After death, Webster was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease. Webster was the first former NFL player diagnosed with CTE. Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic neuropathologist, examined tissue from Webster and eight other NFL players and determined they all showed the kind of brain damage previously seen in people with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, as well as in some retired boxers. Webster's brain resembled those of boxers with "dementia pugilistica", also known as "punch-drunk syndrome". Omalu's findings were largely ignored by the NFL until Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was diagnosed with CTE shortly after his death at age 26 in 2009. Webster's son Garrett now serves as the administrator to the Brain Injury Research Institute in Pittsburgh, which is dedicated to encouraging individuals who have had head trauma to donate their brains after death as well as being an advocate to players who have similar conditions that his father had.
It has been speculated that Webster's ailments were due to wear and tear sustained over his playing career; some doctors estimated he had been in the equivalent of "25,000 automobile crashes" in over 25 years of playing football at the high school, college and professional levels. His wife Pamela stated years later that she felt that she caused Webster's change in personality in the years before his death and placed guilt on herself over her decision to divorce Webster, until discovering after his death about the CTE diagnosis. Webster played during an era when protective equipment (especially helmets) was inferior, and head injuries were considered part of the game of football.
At the time of his death, Webster was addicted to prescription medication.
Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Webster's reputation for durability led him to play even through injuries. Contrary to rumors, Webster never admitted to using anabolic steroids during his career, even though they were legal at the time.
His struggle with mental illness, as a result of CTE, at the end of his life was depicted in the 2015 film Concussion. Webster was portrayed by David Morse and Dr. Bennet Omalu was portrayed by Will Smith. He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease, which is caused by repeated hits to the head.
Webster's estate brought a lawsuit in Maryland's United States District Court against the National Football League. The estate contended that Webster was disabled at the time of his retirement, and was owed $1.142 million in disability payments under the NFL's retirement plan. On April 26, 2005, a federal judge ruled that the NFL benefits plan owed Webster's estate $1.18 million in benefits. With the addition of interest and fees, that amount was estimated to exceed $1.60 million. The NFL appealed the ruling. On December 13, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, upheld the Baltimore federal judge's 2005 ruling that the league's retirement plan must pay benefits reserved for players whose disabilities began while they were still playing football.
Donald Francis Shula was an American professional football player and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League from 1963 to 1995. He played seven seasons as a defensive back in the NFL. For most of his career, Shula was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He is the winningest head coach in NFL history with 347 career victories and 328 regular season victories.
Shula held his first head coaching position with the Baltimore Colts, whom he led for seven seasons, and spent his next 26 seasons with Miami. Shula had only two losing seasons during his 33 years as a head coach and led the Dolphins to two consecutive Super Bowl titles in Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII. His first Super Bowl title during 1972 is the only perfect season in NFL history. Shula is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
Shula was the first head coach to appear in six Super Bowls, five with the Dolphins and one with the Colts. His six Super Bowl appearances rank second among head coaches and he has the most Super Bowl losses at four. He was also the first head coach to bring two franchises to the Super Bowl and appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, which he accomplished with the Dolphins from 1971 to 1973. Having guided Baltimore to Super Bowl III and Miami to Super Bowl VI, Shula is the only head coach to lead two franchises to their Super Bowl debut. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997
Shula later attended Harvey High School in Painesville, Ohio, where he played on its football team starting in 1945. He did not try out for the team because of his mother's prohibition and because he was recovering from a bout of pneumonia, but an assistant football coach noticed him in a gym class and convinced him to join. Shula forged his parents' signatures to sign up.
Within weeks of joining Harvey's football team, Shula was a starting left halfback in the school's single-wing offense. He handled a large portion of the team's rushing and passing duties, and helped lead the team to a 7–3 win–loss record in his senior year. It was the first time in 18 years that Harvey High School had had a seven-win season. The team would have won a league title had it not lost an early game to Willoughby. Shula also ran the 440 at Harvey and was an 11-time letterman in his three years there.
As Shula prepared to graduate from high school in 1947, many men whose football careers were delayed by service in World War II were returning and competing for athletic scholarships. As a result, Shula was unable to get a scholarship and contemplated working for a year before going to college. That summer, however, he had a chance meeting at a gas station with former Painesville football coach Howard Bauchman, who suggested he ask about a scholarship at John Carroll University.
Shula received a one-year scholarship at the private Jesuit school in University Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. It was extended to a full scholarship after Shula performed well during his freshman year, including a victory over Youngstown State in October 1948. He ran for 175 yards and scored two touchdowns substituting for the injured starting halfback. The same year, Shula considered joining the Catholic priesthood after a three-day retreat at John Carroll, but decided against it because of his commitment to football.
During his senior year in 1950, he rushed for 125 yards in a win over a heavily favored Syracuse team.
Shula graduated in 1951 as a sociology major with a minor in mathematics, and was offered a job teaching and coaching at Canton Lincoln High School in Canton, Ohio for $3,750 a year (equivalent to $44,000 in 2023). The Cleveland Browns of the National Football League, however, selected him in the ninth round of the 1951 draft that January. Cleveland had won the NFL championship the previous year behind a staunch defense and an offense led by quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and end Dante Lavelli. Shula was joined in the Browns' training camp by John Carroll teammate Carl Taseff, whom Cleveland coach Paul Brown selected in the 22nd round. Brown made the selections in part because John Carroll coach Herb Eisele attended his coaching clinics and used similar schemes and terminology as Brown did. Shula and Taseff both made the team and were its only two rookies in 1951. Shula signed a $5,000-a-year contract and played as a defensive back alongside Warren Lahr and Tommy James.
Shula played in all 12 of Cleveland's games in 1951, making his first appearance as a starter in October, and recorded four interceptions. The Browns, meanwhile, finished with an 11–1 record and advanced to the championship game for a second straight year. The team lost the game 24–17 to the Los Angeles Rams in Los Angeles.
Shula was a member of an Ohio Army National Guard unit that was activated the following January during the Korean War. Military service in Ohio and at Fort Polk in Louisiana kept Shula away from football until the unit was deactivated that November. Returning to the Browns, Shula signed a $5,500-a-year contract and played in five games at the end of the season, having become a full-time starter because of injuries to other players. The Browns again advanced to the championship game and again lost, this time to the Detroit Lions.
In early 1953, Brown traded Shula along with Taseff and eight other players to the Baltimore Colts in exchange for five Colts players including tackles Mike McCormack and Don Colo. Before joining Baltimore, Shula finished a master's degree in physical education at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Shula signed a $6,500-a-year contract with the Colts, which was preparing for its first season after relocating from Dallas, where the franchise had been called the Dallas Texans. The team replaced an earlier Colts franchise that folded after the 1950 season. The Colts finished with a 3–9 record in 1953 despite leading the NFL in defensive takeaways, including three interceptions by Shula. Baltimore continued to struggle the following year under new head coach Weeb Ewbank, a former Browns assistant. The team again finished 3–9 for last place in the NFL West, although Shula had a career-high five interceptions.
Shula had five interceptions again in 1955, but the Colts finished 5–6–1, well out of contention for the divisional championship. Shula missed the final three games of the season because of a broken jaw suffered in a 17–17 tie with the Los Angeles Rams. Ewbank brought in future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas as a backup in 1956, but the Colts posted a losing record even after Unitas became the starter partway through the season. Shula had just one interception that year.
The Colts waived Shula at the end of training camp in 1957 season, and the Washington Redskins picked him up. Shula spent one season with the Redskins before retiring. In his seven NFL seasons, he played in 73 games, intercepted 21 passes and recovered four fumbles.
Shula got his first coaching job shortly after ending his playing career, signing as a defensive backs coach at the University of Virginia under Dick Voris in February 1958. Virginia finished with a 1–9 record that year. Shula got married in the summer before the season to Dorothy Bartish, who grew up near Painesville. Shula and Bartish had begun dating after he graduated from John Carroll; she was working as a teacher in Hawaii when he proposed.
After one season at Virginia, Shula moved to another defensive backs coaching job at the University of Kentucky in 1959 under head coach Blanton Collier. Collier had been an assistant to Paul Brown when Shula played in Cleveland. After one season in Kentucky, Shula got his first NFL coaching job as the defensive backfield coach for the Detroit Lions in 1960. The Lions posted winning records in each of Shula's three seasons there under head coach George Wilson and finished in second place in the NFL West in 1961 and 1962. Detroit's defense was near the top of the league in fewest points allowed when Shula coached there, including a second-place finish in 1962. The defense also led the league that year in fewest yards allowed, with 3,217. Detroit's defense featured a group of linemen dubbed the "Fearsome Foursome" in 1962, consisting of defensive tackles Roger Brown and Alex Karras and defensive ends Darris McCord and Sam Williams.
Weeb Ewbank, under whom Shula had played in Cleveland and Baltimore, was fired as the Colts' head coach in 1963 following three disappointing seasons and disagreements over team strategy and organization with owner Carroll Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom immediately named Shula as the team's next head coach, having recruited him for the job earlier.
Shula was only 33 years old, making him the youngest coach in league history at the time, but Rosenbloom was familiar with his personality and approach from his playing days in Baltimore. While Rosenbloom said he realized he was "out on a limb" in hiring Shula, he felt it would bring a sense of team spirit back to the Colts. While Shula had only been an average player, he was "always... taking pictures, talking football", said Rosenbloom. "He had always wanted to coach".
Shula lost his first regular-season game, a September 15 matchup against the Giants. The 1963 Colts won their next game, however, and went on to finish the season with an 8–6 record for third place in the NFL West. The team was still led by Johnny Unitas, who was Shula's teammate during his final year as a player in Baltimore and had helped the Colts win championships in 1958 and 1959. The team's primary receivers were end Raymond Berry and tight end John Mackey, while defensive end Gino Marchetti anchored the defense.
Shula guided the team to a 12–2 record in his second year as coach. That put the Colts on top of the NFL West and earned them a spot in the NFL championship against the Browns, which by then were coached by Collier. The Colts were heavily favored to win even by sportswriters in Cleveland, due in large part to their strong receiving corps and Unitas, who had 2,824 passing yards and won the league's Most Valuable Player award. Halfback Lenny Moore also had 19 touchdowns, setting an NFL record. In addition to having the NFL's top-scoring offense, the Colts defense allowed the fewest points in the NFL. Before the championship, Collier said Shula had always thought about coaching even during his playing career, giving him "the experience of a man in the profession for ten years". The Colts, however, lost to the Browns 27–0 in the title game. Despite the loss, Shula won the NFL's Coach of the Year Award.
The Colts tied the Green Bay Packers with a 10–3–1 record at the end of the 1965 season, forcing a playoff to determine which of them would play in the championship game. The Colts had lost twice to the Packers during the regular season, and Unitas and backup Gary Cuozzo were sidelined by injuries as the playoffs approached.[36] Baltimore got out to a 10–0 lead at halftime while using halfback Tom Matte at quarterback, but the Packers, coached by Vince Lombardi, made a comeback in the second half and tied the score at the end of regulation. The Colts stopped the Packers on their opening drive in the sudden-death overtime, but the ensuing drive ended with a missed field goal by placekicker Lou Michaels. The Packers then drove for a field goal of their own, winning 13–10. Shula said after the game that while his team could not expect to execute its usual strategy without Unitas and Cuozzo, the Colts "don't belong in this league" if they could not beat Green Bay once in three tries.
The Colts fell to second place in the NFL West the following season, the first year a Super Bowl was played between the NFL champion and the winner of the rival American Football League.[38] In 1967, the Colts again failed to make the playoffs despite a regular-season record of 11–1–2, losing the newly created Coastal Division on a tiebreaker with the Los Angeles Rams because the Rams scored more points in the games between the two clubs. The Colts' only loss was a 34–10 setback to the Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the final Sunday of the season. Though the season ended in disappointment, Shula won his second Coach of the Year award, and Unitas was again the league's MVP.
Before the 1968 season began, Unitas injured his elbow and was replaced by backup Earl Morrall. Expectations for Morrall were low, but the veteran quarterback led the Colts to a string of wins at the beginning of the season. Shula tried to ease Unitas back into the lineup, but the quarterback's injury flared up numerous times, culminating with a game against Cleveland in which he had just one completion and three interceptions. That turned out to be the only loss of the season for Baltimore, which finished with a league-leading 13–1 record. The Colts beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Western Conference championship game, and then beat the Browns 34–0 in the NFL Championship Game the following week. That set up a matchup with the New York Jets in Super Bowl III. The Jets were coached by Ewbank, and led by quarterback Joe Namath, who guaranteed a victory before the game despite being the underdog. New York won the game 16–7.
Shula spent one more season as the head coach of the Colts, who posted an 8–5–1 record in 1969 and missed the playoffs. He compiled a 71–23–4 record in seven seasons in Baltimore, but was just 2–3 in the postseason, including upset losses in the 1964 NFL Championship Game and Super Bowl III, where the Colts were heavy favorites.
The relationship between Shula and Rosenbloom had soured after Shula's Super Bowl loss in 1969, and when Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie offered the coach a $70,000-a-year contract, the powers of general manager, and a 10% ownership stake in the AFL team after that season, he jumped at the opportunity. Rosenbloom cried foul at an NFL meeting in 1970 in Hawaii, alleging that Robbie's hiring of his coach violated the league's prohibition on tampering, or negotiating to hire other teams' employees without seeking permission. Shula and Robbie hoped that Shula's ownership stake and status as his own general manager would avoid tampering penalties under an exception for an employee leaving a club to "better himself". League commissioner Pete Rozelle found the Dolphins in violation of the tampering policy because they did not seek permission to negotiate and did not notify the Colts of the hiring before its announcement. As punishment, Rozelle awarded the Colts Miami's first-round pick in 1971.
The Dolphins had been one of the AFL's worst teams in the years leading up to Shula's hiring, which came as the AFL and NFL prepared to merge starting in the 1970 season. Between the team's founding in 1966 and the 1969 season, the Dolphins won no more than five games in any season under coach George Wilson.
Shula led Miami to immediate success, delivering a 10–4 win–loss record in the 1970 season and a 10–3–1 record the following year, when the team won the AFC championship but lost Super Bowl VI to the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 24–3. The team's stars included several future Pro Football Hall of Fame members: quarterback Bob Griese, fullback Larry Csonka, guard Larry Little, center Jim Langer, linebacker Nick Buoniconti and wide receiver Paul Warfield, whom Shula acquired from the Browns in 1970 for a first-round draft pick.
Shula's Miami teams during his first decade as coach were known for great offensive lines, led by Larry Little, Jim Langer, Bob Kuechenberg and Norm Evans, strong running games featuring Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris, quarterbacking by Griese and Earl Morrall and excellent receivers in Warfield, Howard Twilley and Jim Mandich. The Dolphins' defense was known as "The No-Name Defense", though it had a number of outstanding players, including defensive tackle Manny Fernandez, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, and safeties Dick Anderson and Jake Scott.
In 1972, Shula led Miami to the NFL's first and only perfect season, ending with a 17–0 record and a 14–7 victory in Super Bowl VII over the Washington Redskins. No other team has since equaled that feat; the 2007 Patriots went undefeated until losing to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Shula strung together the wins despite the loss of his quarterback, Griese, due to injury in the fifth game of the season. He was replaced by 38-year-old Earl Morrall, who had been the backup to Unitas during Shula's years in Baltimore. Griese was able to return for the playoffs, leading the team in the Super Bowl win. That season, Shula would also be the first American professional football coach to reach 100 wins in his first decade as a head coach.
Shula's 1973 team lost its second game of the season to the Oakland Raiders, ending an overall winning streak that stretched to 18 games. That run is tied for the third-longest in league history. The team finished with a 12–2 regular-season record and went on to win a second Super Bowl in a row, defeating the Minnesota Vikings 24–7.
The 1974 Dolphins had a chance to win a third title in a row, but they fell to the Oakland Raiders 28–26 in an AFC divisional playoff game. With 35 seconds remaining in the game, Oakland quarterback Ken Stabler was in the process of being sacked by Dolphins defensive end Vern Den Herder when, just before he was tackled, he completed a desperation forward pass to his running back Clarence Davis in the game's final moments — since dubbed The Sea of Hands play. The Dolphins team was decimated the following season by the creation of the now-defunct World Football League and their inability to match contract offers from the rival league to three of its star players: Csonka, Warfield and Jim Kiick. All three left to join the Memphis Southmen for the 1975 season.
Shula led the team to more winning seasons through the 1970s and into the 1980s, only posting a losing record once, in 1976 when the team finished 6–8. The team advanced to the playoffs in 1978, 1979 and 1981, but lost in the first round each time. The playoff loss in the 1981 season against the San Diego Chargers was a hard-fought back-and-forth battle that many sportswriters, players and coaches consider one of the greatest games ever played. Shula called it "maybe the greatest ever". The Chargers won the so-called Epic in Miami 41–38 with a field goal in double-overtime.
In 1982, Shula's team advanced through the playoffs to the Super Bowl during the strike-shortened season, but lost the championship to the Washington Redskins. The offense was led by David Woodley and Don Strock, who shared duties at quarterback following Griese's retirement after the 1980 season, and fullback Andra Franklin, who was second in the NFL in rushing. The defense, one of the best in the league, was nicknamed the "Killer Bees" because six starters' last names began with "B", including defensive tackle Bob Baumhower, linebacker Bob Brudzinski and safeties Lyle Blackwood and his brother Glenn Blackwood.
The 1983 season marked the beginning of a new era in Miami with the selection of quarterback Dan Marino out of the University of Pittsburgh in the first round of the NFL draft. Marino won the starting job halfway through the 1983 regular season, and by 1984, the Dolphins were back in the Super Bowl, due largely to Marino's record 5,084 yards through the air and 48 touchdown passes. The Dolphins, however, lost the game to the San Francisco 49ers, then led by quarterback Joe Montana.
Over the years, Shula's relationship with Robbie chilled considerably, in part due to Robbie's unwillingness to spend money on higher-profile players, which led to contract holdouts by Marino and linebacker John Offerdahl. Shula's power over the Dolphins as general manager and part-owner of the team also led to conflict that at times burst into public view. When Shula arrived late to a banquet celebrating Miami's 1974 Super Bowl win, Robbie ordered Shula to "get the hell into the room," to which Shula replied that he'd "knock you on your ass" if Robbie shouted at him again.
One of the few times Shula came close to leaving Miami was during the 1983 season, when Donald Trump, the owner of the New Jersey Generals in the upstart United States Football League, offered Shula a $1 million-a-year contract–a significant increase from the $450,000 Shula was earning at the time with the Dolphins. Trump said the negotiations were derailed when Shula insisted on obtaining a rent-free apartment at Trump Tower. Shula broke off the negotiations and called the courtship "a huge distraction", deciding to stay in Miami. Years later, Larry Csonka, by then an executive with the Jacksonville Bulls, said that he believed Shula would have taken the job with Trump's team, but he was angered at being "thrown out to the press" by Trump.
After the 1984 season, Shula's teams posted only one losing record, but they never again advanced to the Super Bowl. The Dolphins reached the playoffs in 1985, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1995, Shula's final season. On October 2, 1994, Don Shula's Miami Dolphins defeated son David Shula's Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 23–7. Dubbed the “Shula Bowl”, it marked the first time in NFL history that a head coaching matchup featured father against son. Shula's retirement in 1996 was tinged by speculation that he was forced out by Wayne Huizenga, a businessman who took full ownership of the team in 1994 from the Robbie family, who inherited it after Robbie's death in 1990. Shula said he was "at peace with myself" in making the decision to step away from the game at 66 years old. He finished his coaching career with a 328–156–6 regular-season record, giving him the all-time lead in wins for an NFL head coach.
Shula changed his coaching strategy as his personnel changed. His Super Bowl teams in 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1982 were keyed by a run-first offensive strategy and a dominating defense. In the years when Marino was quarterback, the team leaned on its offense, and particularly its passing attack, to win games. "I've been accused of being a conservative, 'grind'em-out' kind of coach, because that was the style of my teams in 1972–73, but I point out that when I was at Baltimore, and Johnny Unitas was my quarterback, we used to have a wide-open, explosive passing attack," Shula said in 1985. "And when I came down to Miami, I didn't try to jam the Unitas style down the throat of Bob Griese, who was a different kind of quarterback, nor did I try to force the Griese style on Marino when he came along."
Shula entered the branding business in 1989, lending his name to a steakhouse owned by the wealthy Graham family, who became friends with Shula and his family after the Shulas moved to the Graham-developed suburb of Miami Lakes. Dozens of Shula-branded restaurants opened in the ensuing years, primarily in Florida, including steakhouses, burger restaurants and bars. Shula also put his name on other Graham-owned properties in 1991, including the family's hotel in Miami Lakes where his first steakhouse was located. It was renamed Don Shula's Hotel & Golf Club in exchange for an equity stake in the family's hospitality division. He remained active in the branding business during his retirement, and the company bearing his name expanded, although his son Dave assumed management of the firm during his later years.
Shula also became a frequent product promoter in his later years, working for Miami-based auto dealership Warren Henry, HearUSA hearing aids, NutriSystem diet plans, Humana health insurance and Budweiser beer, among others. In 2007, he joined his wife Mary Ann in promoting NutriSystem diets geared for people age 60 and older. "If it's something I feel fits into my personality, what I feel is important and what I actually do, then I'll do it. It's all things that I enjoy doing and take a lot of pride in representing," he said in 2012. As part of a government public awareness campaign, Shula was the first American to enroll in the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, just after midnight on November 15, 2005.
After Shula's retirement, he was named the Dolphins' vice-chairman. He maintained other connections to football in retirement, often appearing in ceremonial roles. In 2003, at Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego, he performed the ceremonial coin toss to end the pregame ceremonies. In 2007, at Super Bowl XLI in Miami Gardens, Shula took part in the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation. On February 3, 2008, he attended Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona, in which the Patriots could have matched his Dolphins team's perfect season, but lost.
Shula was also an avid golfer after his coaching career and had a home near the Indian Creek Country Club in the wealthy enclave of Indian Creek, Florida as well as a condominium overlooking the Links at Pebble Bay in Pebble Beach, California. On March 25, 2007, Shula presented the Winners Cup to Tiger Woods, winner of the 2007 WGC-CA Golf Tournament held at the Doral Resort in Miami.
Shula was involved in a number of activities outside of sports. In 2011, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his humanitarian efforts. And at John Carroll University, he endowed the Don Shula Chair in Philosophy, which supports the Philosophy Department by presenting programs of interest to philosophers and the general public.
Shula suffered from sleep apnea and heart issues toward the end of his life, and had a pacemaker implanted in 2016. Shula died on May 4, 2020, at the age of 90 at his home in Indian Creek.
Shula married Painesville, Ohio native Dorothy Bartish, with whom he was in a relationship since high school, on July 19, 1958, after his playing career ended. They had five children: Dave, Donna , Sharon, Anne, and Mike. Dorothy died of breast cancer on February 25, 1991, aged 57. That same year, the Don Shula Foundation for Breast Cancer Research was founded.
He married his second wife, Mary Anne Stephens, on October 15, 1993. They resided in the Indian Creek home Mary Anne had received in her divorce settlement from her third husband, investment banker Jackson T. Stephens. The couple split their time between Indian Creek and a home in San Francisco where they stayed during Florida's hurricane season.
Shula was a devout Roman Catholic throughout his life. He said in 1974, at the peak of his coaching career, that he attended Mass every morning. Shula once considered becoming a Catholic priest, but decided he could not commit to being both priest and coach.
Shula set numerous records in his 33 seasons as a head coach. He is the all-time leader in victories with 347 when including the postseason. He is first in most games coached, with 526, most consecutive seasons coached, with 33, and Super Bowl losses with four, tied with Bud Grant, Dan Reeves, and Marv Levy. His teams won 15 division titles, six conference title wins, two NFL championships and six Super Bowl appearances.
Shula's teams were consistently among the least penalized in the NFL.
Shula was known as a tough and practical coach who worked players hard and put an emphasis on discipline, which helped reduce errors in games. However, while he looked the tough-guy part, Shula paired it with a sharp football mind that helped keep him ahead of the competition.
During the last 20 years of his coaching career, Shula served on the NFL's Competition Committee, an era when the body pushed through rules that made the league more pass-oriented.
Shula had a winning record against almost every coach he faced, with seven exceptions: Levy, against whom he was 6–14 during the regular season and 0–3 in the playoffs; John Madden, against whom he was 2–2 in the regular season and 1–2 in the playoffs for a total of 3–4; and Bill Cowher, against whom Shula was 1–2 late in his career. Shula also had losing records against Tom Flores (1–6) Raymond Berry (3–8), Walt Michaels (5–7–1), and Vince Lombardi (5–8).
Shula has the distinction of having coached five different quarterbacks to Super Bowl appearances: Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall in 1968, Bob Griese in 1971, 1972, and 1973, David Woodley in 1982, and Dan Marino in 1984, three of them future Hall of Famers. He also coached Johnny Unitas to another World Championship appearance in the pre-Super Bowl era in 1964. The only other NFL coach to approach this distinction is Joe Gibbs, who coached four Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks — Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien — winning three times.
Shula was added to the Miami Dolphin Honor Roll on November 25, 1996, not long after he retired. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1999, Shula was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor coach Vince Lombardi's legacy, and is given annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the coach. On January 31, 2010, a statue of him was unveiled at Hard Rock Stadium, where the Dolphins play. The stadium's street address is 347 Don Shula Drive, making reference to his career win total. In 2011, he was added to a Walk of Fame outside the stadium, and in 2013 he attended a White House ceremony honoring the 1972 team's perfect season.
Shula is honored at the Don Shula Stadium at John Carroll University, which was named after him when it opened in 2003, and the Don Shula Expressway in Miami, which was dedicated in 1983. Since 2002, an annual college football game between South Florida schools Florida Atlantic and FIU is named the Shula Bowl in his honor. The game's winner receives a traveling trophy named the Don Shula Award.
Wellington Timothy Mara was an American co-owner of the New York Giants of the National Football League from 1959 until his death. He was the younger son of Tim Mara, who founded the Giants in 1925. Wellington was a ball boy that year.
In 1930, Tim Mara split his ownership interests between Wellington (then 14) and his older brother Jack. Soon after graduating from Fordham University, Wellington moved into the Giants' front office as team treasurer and assistant to his father, and became the team's secretary in 1940. After fighting in World War II in the U.S. Navy, he returned to the Giants as team vice president, a post he retained after his father died in 1958. When Jack, who had been president since 1941, died of cancer at age 57 prior to the 1965 season, Wellington became team president.
For his first 37 years in the organization, he handled the franchise's football decisions. However, his growing involvement in league affairs led him to turn over most of his day-to-day responsibilities to operations director Andy Robustelli in 1974. Mara didn't relinquish full control over the football side of the operation until 1979, when George Young became the team's general manager.
The Giants were hamstrung for several years by a strained relationship between Wellington and his nephew Tim J. Mara, who inherited Jack's stake in the team. By the 1970s, they almost never spoke to each other, and a partition had to be built in the owners' box. The Maras continued to retain close control over the Giants' day-to-day operations long after most other owners had delegated such authority. Only the fallout from "The Fumble" in 1978, in which a certain Giant win turned into a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on a last-second fumble, convinced the Maras of the need to modernize—among other things, by hiring Young and giving him full control over football operations.
Under Mara's direction, the Giants won six NFL titles (including two Super Bowl wins), nine conference championships (including six Eastern Conference championships in the days before the NFL-AFL merger and three NFC championships post-merger), and 13 division championships. An eighth NFL title, third and fourth Super Bowl victories, fifth NFC championship (11th conference championship overall), and 15th division title have been captured since his passing under the leadership of his son, John, and co-owner Steve Tisch (who in turn is the son of Wellington's former co-owner from 1991–2005, Bob Tisch; Tisch also died in 2005, with his death coming three weeks after Mara's).
The Giants have also accumulated the third highest number of victories in National Football League history. Mara was also well liked by the Giants' players, and was known to stick by them even when they struggled with off-the-field problems. When Lawrence Taylor was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 he credited Mara for supporting him even during the worst times of his drug addiction saying, "He probably cared more about me as a person than he really should have." Taylor has since lived a clean life style and credits Mara with having helped him to fight his addiction. Wellington had surgery in May 2005 to remove cancerous lymph nodes from his neck and under his armpit, but was initially given a good prognosis by his doctors who said the cancer had not metastasized, according to his son, John Mara, the Giants' co-chief executive officer.
Mara was married to Ann Mara, and their granddaughters include actresses Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, and they also have a grandson, NHL player Patrick Brown.
Wellington Mara was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2007, the University at Albany, where the Giants held training camp for many years, named their practice field after Mara and Bob Tisch. Mara was elected into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2012.
Not long after Mara came to work with the team, the players – many of whom were barely older than him – nicknamed him "Duke" because they knew he was named after the Duke of Wellington, whom his father called "the fightingest of all Irishmen," and the nickname stuck. The Wilson football used in NFL games prior to the AFL merger (1941–1969) was nicknamed "THE DUKE" after Mara; the ball was named as such by George Halas, the owner and head coach of the Chicago Bears, to reward Tim Mara for arranging the contract that made Wilson the official supplier of footballs to the NFL. Since the 2006 season, a new version of "THE DUKE" has been used in NFL games.
Mara died of lymphoma at his home in October 2005 at age 89. After his Friday funeral at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan, he was interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne. He was survived by his wife Ann (1929–2015), eleven children, and 42 grandchildren.
Two days after his funeral, his team honored him by shutting out the Washington Redskins, the team he always viewed as the Giants' biggest (and oldest) rival, 36–0 on October 30 at Giants Stadium. The 80,000 fans in attendance gave his mention a standing ovation.
Michael James Haynes is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League for the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Raiders. Regarded as one of the greatest cornerbacks of all time, he used his speed, physicality, quickness and range to become both an elite defensive back and an outstanding punt returner. Haynes was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He was also named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994, as well the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019 for his accomplishments during his 14-year career.
Voted NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1976, Haynes would go to be a nine-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro throughout his career, in addition to six selections as a second-team All-Pro (including five consecutive from 1976 to 1980). He was also named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.
Haynes was selected in the first round in the 1976 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He enjoyed a sensational rookie year with the Patriots with eight interceptions, three fumble recoveries, and an AFC-leading 608 yards on 45 punt returns. That year, Haynes gave the Patriots their first-ever touchdowns on punt returns with 89-yard and 62-yard returns. He earned a Pro Bowl invitation as a rookie, the first of nine Pro Bowl bids. He also won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. The 1976 Patriots had an 11–3 record and clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 13 years, losing to Oakland in the first round. In 1978, Haynes recorded 6 interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown against the Baltimore Colts. The Patriots won their division but lost to Houston in the playoffs.
Haynes recorded 28 interceptions and 1,159 yards on 111 returns, a 10.4-yard average during his seven years with the Patriots. He started his career with 58 consecutive starts before being sidelined with a rib injury late in 1979.
Haynes was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 1994, and his number 40 was retired as well. He was named to the Patriots' All-1970s Team, the 35th Anniversary Team named in 1994, as well as the 50th Anniversary Team named in 2009. He makes sporadic appearances involving the team to this day.
Haynes played out his option with the Patriots in 1982, and in November 1983, his contract was awarded to the Los Angeles Raiders in a settlement that gave the Patriots a No. 1 draft choice in 1984 and a No. 2 pick in 1985. After playing the last five regular season games, he started in the Raiders' Super Bowl XVIII victory, notching one interception, two pass breakups and one tackle. His partner in the Raiders' secondary was Lester Hayes, and the tandem was quickly recognized as one of the best cornerback duos in league history. Washington Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard later said that Haynes tipped the balance heavily in the Raiders' favor. The Raiders and Redskins had played in the regular season when Haynes was still a Patriot, and his addition gave the Raiders the luxury of having two shutdown corners.
In seven seasons with the Raiders, Haynes returned only one punt but he added 18 interceptions to give him a career total of 46 which were returned for 688 yards and two touchdowns, including a team-record 97-yard return against Miami in 1984. Haynes finished that season with a league-leading 220 interception return yards. He also had 12 career fumble recoveries. Haynes was an All-Pro choice in 1977, 1978, 1982, 1984 and 1985 and an All-AFC pick eight times. On special teams, he totaled 112 punt returns for 1,168 yards and two scores.
In 1997, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was ranked number 93 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. He is ranked number 49 on the NFL Network Top 100 Greatest Players.
The Empire Football League (EFL) is a semi-professional American football league with franchises based primarily in New York State. The league was established in 1969. Many franchises have come and gone including in locations such as Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Connecticut as well as Quebec, Montreal, and Ontario in Canada. In 2018 the league included six teams: the Glens Falls Greenjackets, Hudson Valley Mountaineers, Plattsburgh North Stars, Seaway Valley Venom, Tri City Spartans, and Utica Yard Dogs.
Ray Seals transitioned from the EFL to the National Football League (NFL) in 1989. Several members of the Syracuse 8 that challenged disparities for African Americans at Syracuse University's football program played for the Tri City Jets of Binghamton, New York. The team was a farm team for the New York Jets at the time and some of them went for a tryout with the Jets, but according to one of them they understood they had no chance when Jets coach Weeb Ewbank identified them as "those boys from Syracuse" during roll call.
The league's most dominant team has been the Scranton Eagles who have won a record 11 championships, 10 of those coming between the years 1982 and 1994. The league competed with the Northeastern Football Alliance and World Football League.
In 1989 Ray Seals transitioned from the EFL's Syracuse Express to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League. As a linebacker he blocked the pass from Brett Favre that Favre caught for his very first completion in the NFL.
Due to complications stemming from the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, all Canadian teams were removed from the league beginning in the 2010 season (at the time, the Quebec Titans and the Ottawa Deacon Demons (Joliet Chargers) were in the league).
The Watertown Red and Black left the league in 2017 when the EFL was down to two teams.[2]The league held an emergency meeting when it was left with just the Seaway Valley Venom and the Glens Falls Greenjackets.
The Hudson Valley Mountaineers joined the league in 2018.
In 2018 Kevin Siska of the Glens Falls Greenjackets was inducted into the American Football Association Minor League Football Hall of Fame.
Melvin Lacy Renfro is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 14-year career as a cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
From the start of his sophomore season, Renfro received recognition as one of the best and most complete running backs in college football, being able to run inside or outside, catch, block and play special teams. In 1963, he was even named the team's backup quarterback.
One of Renfro's best collegiate games took place against Rice at Houston in 1962. Renfro shone on both offense and defense, leading the Ducks to a 31–12 victory on October 13. Rice Stadium had been a whites-only facility prior to the Ducks' visit, but university officials allowed Renfro's family to enter and sit in a special section of the stadium near the 35-yard line. According to a contemporary account in the Register-Guard, when Renfro left the game, he was given a loud and appreciative ovation by the Rice crowd.
An Oregon sportswriter asked a Houston counterpart in the press box if an African-American had ever received such an ovation by a predominantly white crowd. The Texan enthusiastically replied, "We've never seen any player that good!" The morning after the game, a Houston paper headlined, "Renfro Runs Rice Ragged."
Renfro led Oregon in rushing three straight seasons (1961–63), finishing with a career total 1,540 yards and 23 touchdowns. He still holds the university's career record for highest average per play at 6.01 yards. Renfro also had 41 catches for 644 yards and five touchdowns, very impressive numbers in an era when running backs usually did not catch more than 10 passes during a season.
In 1986, Renfro was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame and is a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C., a National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll. He is considered to be the best running back in the history of the University of Oregon, other than LaMichael James.
From 1960 through 1965, the Oregon's men's track and field team led by coach Bill Bowerman was one of the best in the United States. In 1962, Renfro contributed to the university's first NCAA team championship by finishing second behind teammate Jerry Tarr in the 120-yard (110 m) high hurdles with a 13.8 time and third in the long jump with a 25'-11¼" (7.905 m) leap.
That year, Renfro was part of a world-record-setting 440-yard relay team with a time of 40.0 seconds; his running mates were Tarr, Mike Gaechter and Harry Jerome. At the end of the year, he was named to the All-American track and field team in the high hurdles and the broad jump.
In 1963, Renfro injured his knee on a foul broad jump in the NCAA Championships. In the same meet at Albuquerque, despite the injury, he entered the high hurdles but failed to qualify.
Renfro was drafted in the second round of the 1964 NFL draft, 17th overall, by the Dallas Cowboys. The selection delayed the draft for six hours, while the Cowboys sent a doctor to check an injury he suffered on his wrist.
Although Renfro had won many accolades as a running back and at the time, teams put their best athletes on the offensive side of the ball, Tom Landry, looking to build a dominating defense, decided to start him at safety. As a rookie, Renfro had an impressive season by leading the team with seven interceptions, the NFL in both punt return and kickoff return yardage (including a franchise-record 273 total return yards against the Green Bay Packers) and culminated his great campaign with an invitation to the Pro Bowl. The 30 yards per kick-off return average he posted in his second year (1965) still remains a franchise record.
In 1966, despite Renfro coming off an All-Pro season at safety, the Cowboys named him their starting halfback in an effort to improve its offense. He was injured in the opening game against the New York Giants and replaced by Dan Reeves, who was so impressive that Renfro was moved back to defense when he returned to action and would end up being named to the All-Pro team again.
Renfro was switched to cornerback in his fifth season. The speedy Renfro (4.65 40-yd dash) became an exceptional threat to wide receivers, leading the NFL with 10 interceptions in 1969. Renfro was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first ten seasons in the league, including five All-Pro selections in 1964, 1965, 1969, 1971 and 1973. He was named the offensive MVP of the 1971 Pro Bowl for his two punt return touchdowns.
In his 14 seasons, Renfro intercepted 52 passes, returning them for 626 yards and three touchdowns. He also returned 109 punts for 842 yards and one touchdown, 85 kickoffs for 2,246 yards and two touchdowns, along with recording 13 fumble recoveries, which he returned for 44 yards. In the 1970 NFC Championship Game, Renfro had a key interception that led to the Cowboys' game-winning touchdown over the San Francisco 49ers that helped them get to Super Bowl V, where they lost to the Baltimore Colts, 16–13. In an enduring image from the game after Jim O'Brien's game-winning kick, Renfro put his face in his hands in disappointment. Dallas returned in Super Bowls VI, X, and XII, Renfro's last NFL game, a Cowboys' 27–10 victory over the Denver Broncos. He remains the Cowboys' all-time leader in interceptions with 52 (In 1969 he led the NFL in interceptions with 10) and in career kickoff-return average (26.4 yards). His 14 seasons with the team ties him for second place in franchise history.
Renfro joined the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 1981 and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. During his time with the Cowboys, even though one of his teammates was former Olympic gold medalist and one-time world's fastest man Bob Hayes, many experts still considered him the best athlete on the team.
In 1984, Renfro coached the defensive secondary under John Hadl with the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League (USFL). In 1986 he was part of Gene Stallings St. Louis Cardinals coaching staff as his defensive backs coach.
In the early 1980s, Renfro had financial and legal challenges. He currently works as a motivational speaker. Renfro has four children" Melvin Jr, Anthony, Cindy and Jason. He was married to Patricia Renfro through his entire career.
