Speaker 1: The almost back Kimball Camper, John con Jemmy with you
Speaker 1: and John. It's it's just been a just been a
Speaker 1: tough week for the Dolphin family. It's been a tough
Speaker 1: week for Dolphin fans and for football fans around the
Speaker 1: around the country with the passing of of Don shul
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I was, I've been I've been
Speaker 1: up in Illinois for last week and I woke up,
Speaker 1: I woke up to the day and to the news
Speaker 1: and John, it was like a gut punch, you know,
Speaker 1: Coach Schulers. We all knew he he was, he was
Speaker 1: getting older, We allay knew he was ninety years old,
Speaker 1: but well, you know, he's he's one of those figures
Speaker 1: in my life and a lot of people's last jar that, um,
Speaker 1: you almost felt like he was gonna live forever. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. You know, you have that iconic feeling when
Speaker 1: you talk and you mentioned the name of Don Shula,
Speaker 1: and he'll always be remembered as you know, one of
Speaker 1: the greatest coaches to ever walk an NFL sideline, one
Speaker 1: of the greatest people to ever walk the sideline because
Speaker 1: he contributed to the game of football and and made
Speaker 1: the molding of men around him so great in the
Speaker 1: history of the NFL. And it's just, you know, it's
Speaker 1: one of those things, as you said, Bo, when you
Speaker 1: saw Coach Schula over the years on the sidelines in
Speaker 1: the golf cart, and and you never really took it
Speaker 1: for granted that you saw him there because you knew
Speaker 1: his his his health wasn't what it was maybe the
Speaker 1: year before, two years before when you saw him, but
Speaker 1: you always had that feeling that he was gonna still
Speaker 1: be there forever, and he will be, I mean in
Speaker 1: in the minds and memories of of the organization. I mean,
Speaker 1: quite frankly, he's the guy that put the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: on the map and kept them on the map for
Speaker 1: twenty six years as a as a head coach and
Speaker 1: uh and you know better than most being under him
Speaker 1: and under under his watchful eye as a player, and
Speaker 1: what he meant to all those guys that were around him.
Speaker 1: And it's just it's it was a sad day. You
Speaker 1: knew it was coming, but it was a gut punch,
Speaker 1: as you put it to to all all South Florida,
Speaker 1: to to the NFL in general, the passing of Don Shula. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know you you you talk about him being on
Speaker 1: the sidelines, you know, coming out and you know, usually
Speaker 1: when the weather would get better, you know, he and
Speaker 1: Marianne would come back from California and then then he
Speaker 1: would be at all the games. And it's one of
Speaker 1: the things I really enjoyed about being down on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: John was just sitting there and watching the people come
Speaker 1: up to him, the adoration and the respect, and you know,
Speaker 1: coaches from the other teams would come jogging over, players
Speaker 1: from the other teams would come jogging over. You know,
Speaker 1: if he had any dignitaries that were down there, would
Speaker 1: always go to to talk to him and get a
Speaker 1: picture taken with him. And he was always so accommodating
Speaker 1: to everybody. He was in his element. He was in
Speaker 1: his element, and and boy, that just the outpouring of
Speaker 1: love every and I just I just would sit there
Speaker 1: and watch, you know, just watch and watch and watching
Speaker 1: one after another afternoon. He always gave him time and
Speaker 1: always always smiled. And you know, there's our good friend.
Speaker 1: Bobby Monica was a long time equipment manager for the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: has a picture of of him, uh, you know, leaning
Speaker 1: over to with coach talking to him. In that golf
Speaker 1: cart and sitting next to him was Warren Buffett with
Speaker 1: Warren Buffett R. Three. What a threesome. Yeah, but so
Speaker 1: Bobby goes, Bobby, Bobby has shown that picture. A lot
Speaker 1: of people goes, oh, there's coach Sholey goes, who's that
Speaker 1: other guy? So I kind of tells you the magnitude
Speaker 1: of what she was all about. But um, so I
Speaker 1: remember that annoying his humor. He was probably one that
Speaker 1: said that, hey, who's the other me and you? Bobby? Yeah,
Speaker 1: who is it? There's there's a story. There's a story
Speaker 1: about him with he's with Mary Ann and and they
Speaker 1: meet they meet Don Johnson, you know, the right star
Speaker 1: of Miami Vice right, and uh so they're they're talking
Speaker 1: to him and Don she was like, yeah, hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: how you know where he goes? You know, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate the job that you guys are doing here. He
Speaker 1: didn't know who the hell he was. He thought he
Speaker 1: thought he was a real time, he was a real policeman,
Speaker 1: you know us the city. Yeah, exactly, you guys are
Speaker 1: doing a great job. One of those go on, keep
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing. You know, you know what John
Speaker 1: I wanted. I wanted to ask you because you know,
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity that you know, it's hard to
Speaker 1: believe I was thinking about this in the day passed,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh, you know, I met Don Shoe in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six. You know, my first first conversation was
Speaker 1: when he went on the phone when he when he
Speaker 1: said that drafted me and and and that was that
Speaker 1: was a thrill of a lifetime for for me because
Speaker 1: I had to become a Dolphin fan watching him in
Speaker 1: in in seventy one, seventy two, seventy I got graduated
Speaker 1: high school, and seventy two the year they were they
Speaker 1: went undefeated. So I you know, I I became a
Speaker 1: fan at that point. So you know, just just hearing
Speaker 1: his voice talking to me was was was was incredible
Speaker 1: for me. And I realized I've you know, I've known
Speaker 1: him for forty four years, which you know, which which
Speaker 1: what's your forty four years? I'll always treasure. But you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't realize it was that long. But you know,
Speaker 1: you grew up in South Florida, You grew up down
Speaker 1: here and when Coach Schuler's coaching, you grew up during
Speaker 1: those those glory years. And now I just I just
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of get your thoughts on you know
Speaker 1: what what you know, what was your what were your impressions,
Speaker 1: your thoughts of of being down in South Florida growing
Speaker 1: up watching the Dolphins emergence. Is this this early dynasty,
Speaker 1: um and watching coach sul just just just your thoughts. Well,
Speaker 1: it was incredible as a young kid that loves sports
Speaker 1: and loved all sports, I mean, um, just watching the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins grow. Uh. And I was here, as you said, well,
Speaker 1: I was here for for the heyday. I mean my
Speaker 1: parents moved from Youngstown, Ohio, and I was seven years
Speaker 1: old and I think our first year here was seven
Speaker 1: d one, So I mean I arrived and immediately became
Speaker 1: a Miami Dolphins fan and just to see the run
Speaker 1: of of of excellence and excellence in the a f
Speaker 1: C because no one could come close to the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins in terms of the teams that you played twice
Speaker 1: a year and and and for me, my memories go back.
Speaker 1: You know, Monday night football was awesome because you had
Speaker 1: Howard Coastell, and you had Dandy Don, you had Frank
Speaker 1: Gifford and you're you're as a kid, you're watching on
Speaker 1: your belly, just trying to stay up as late as
Speaker 1: you can. But Monday night football wasn't the big deal
Speaker 1: for me. It was the half an hour before Monday
Speaker 1: night football because that was the Don Shula Show. And
Speaker 1: and that was what I tuned in for because I
Speaker 1: was going to get the Sea coach Shula talk about
Speaker 1: the game, talk to one of his current players that
Speaker 1: was maybe the star of the game or whoever he
Speaker 1: was able to bring on that that particular Monday night.
Speaker 1: And that's what I looked for too. I got to
Speaker 1: see Don Shula talk about the game, and you know,
Speaker 1: I would study what he said and hear about from
Speaker 1: the player, what what his thoughts were on the game.
Speaker 1: So those are my memories, going, you know, to the
Speaker 1: Orange Bowl and watching you know, the Dolphins never lose,
Speaker 1: really they they never really lost a game. Remember him
Speaker 1: losing a game at home and and and the heat
Speaker 1: and the it was just it was just awesome. I
Speaker 1: mean it was awesome for a kid to kind of
Speaker 1: grow up in South Florida knowing that and then getting
Speaker 1: to St. Thomas Aquintas and and I was a peer
Speaker 1: of Mike, one of his sons, because he was only
Speaker 1: a couple of years younger than me, and he played
Speaker 1: for Shaman at high school and I was at St.
Speaker 1: Thomas and we got to play them every year, and
Speaker 1: Coach Shula would attend that game and he would be
Speaker 1: there on a Friday night, and and I knew I
Speaker 1: was playing in front of him, and I knew the
Speaker 1: pressure that Mike had, you know, growing up as a
Speaker 1: son of Don Shula. But I wanted to be, you know,
Speaker 1: the best player on the field, just so I could say,
Speaker 1: you know, Coach Shula saw me play, you know, and
Speaker 1: I was this little run and he waited around for
Speaker 1: me after the game. You know, it shook my hand
Speaker 1: in congratulations and you know, what a good game. And
Speaker 1: that's where I first met him. So I had to
Speaker 1: be nineteen eighty one, So it was I was always
Speaker 1: an off Coachula because of the coach that he was.
Speaker 1: But just that just the little things that you saw
Speaker 1: on him. You know that the knew he was a father,
Speaker 1: You knew he was a disciplinarian. You knew he always
Speaker 1: contributed to the game, you know, always being on the
Speaker 1: on the rules committee. Just all the little things that
Speaker 1: that added up, you know, his faith, his family, everything
Speaker 1: that that that's the memories I have as a young
Speaker 1: kid growing up into high school and then finally getting
Speaker 1: to meet him and watches his legendary career go on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it really is a remarkable life when you when
Speaker 1: you look back at it, and you know, talk to
Speaker 1: so many people over the last couple of days and
Speaker 1: interviews and this and that and uh, and the one
Speaker 1: thing you get is just you know, you there's a
Speaker 1: feeling back whether you know, whether there whether whether guys
Speaker 1: played against him, played for him, coached against him, wrote
Speaker 1: about him, you know, and and and you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know there there's there's always that There's always been
Speaker 1: that that side of coach Shuler. That's a coach, right
Speaker 1: and and and a and a demanding coach and a
Speaker 1: demanding individual. And to the point where I think every
Speaker 1: player that played for him at some point you hated
Speaker 1: the guy. You know, You're just like all great coaches,
Speaker 1: all great coaches, haven't that dealing you know, well but
Speaker 1: because but but but you know what I would I
Speaker 1: would I would, I would venture to guess you would.
Speaker 1: You would get the same kind of response from anybody
Speaker 1: who played for Paul Brown, anyone that paid for Vince Lombardi,
Speaker 1: Tom Land Reach, you go down those old yeah, those
Speaker 1: old school guys. It was you know, it was a
Speaker 1: different game back then. You're your player, You treated you
Speaker 1: players differently then. But but I even those players that
Speaker 1: that and you know, at times I felt that same
Speaker 1: way he feel. The guy he's always picking on you.
Speaker 1: He's I can't no matter what, no matter what I do,
Speaker 1: it's not good enough, you know. And so there is,
Speaker 1: but but the respect that that was always always constant
Speaker 1: there with him, and uh uh was remarkable and and
Speaker 1: and to be able to watch him, you know, get
Speaker 1: done with his career and and you know what I
Speaker 1: really think over the last you know that the last
Speaker 1: uh twenty years when he got them coaching and and
Speaker 1: I kind of think his legend grew bigger and bigger
Speaker 1: and bigger, because you know, the one thing I always
Speaker 1: remember about him, he even even in the heyday, even
Speaker 1: when you know, I got there in nineteen seventy six
Speaker 1: and there and there were only three years removed from
Speaker 1: you know, their their second Super Bowl win, eight years
Speaker 1: removed from from the undefeated season, and a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys were still were still playing there for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he and he was you know he was he
Speaker 1: was Don Scholl, that tough, hard nosed Don Chow. But
Speaker 1: you know what, he always made time for people. You
Speaker 1: always make time for the ordinary Joe. I mean he
Speaker 1: never he was never bigger than anybody. He was never
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, I don't got time for it,
Speaker 1: don't have He would always always make time or or
Speaker 1: you know, if you know, if if he couldn't, there
Speaker 1: was some he'd tell somebody going, go tell that guy.
Speaker 1: Just look, I'm sorry, I can't you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: He always he had respect for people around him, even
Speaker 1: though he was a guy that everybody wanted to tug
Speaker 1: on his his collar, everyone who wanted to tug in
Speaker 1: a jacket and get a word with him, or get
Speaker 1: an autograph or get something. And and I always I
Speaker 1: was always because I sit on the bus sometimes and watch,
Speaker 1: you know, as he come through, and just you go, man,
Speaker 1: that guy just says he's just given everybody time. And
Speaker 1: then I think that's kind of let's think what it
Speaker 1: enamored him to a to a lot of people out there. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, you think about all the things that were
Speaker 1: probably on his plate and continued as the as the
Speaker 1: demand of an NFL coach grew, it probably got a
Speaker 1: little bit harder for Coachula as as he got into
Speaker 1: his you know, twentieth year as a head coach, because
Speaker 1: it was quite different from his fifth or sixth, or
Speaker 1: seventh or even tenth year in the league. Because the
Speaker 1: popularity of the game grew, the demands grew of the
Speaker 1: of the head coach, the responsibilities grew on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: But he was still himself, you know, he was always
Speaker 1: he was always the same man. And I think to
Speaker 1: your point, that's what made Coachula and his upbringing, you know,
Speaker 1: in the Midwest and being a guy, an Ohio guy,
Speaker 1: and and growing up there with a big family and
Speaker 1: him have himself having a big family and those responsibilities.
Speaker 1: It was amazing the way he was able to balance
Speaker 1: that and still I think all through his coaching career,
Speaker 1: maybe only having two losing seasons out of all those years,
Speaker 1: which is incredible. Well, you know this, it's funny because
Speaker 1: we you know, there's a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: stories out there, but I remember, you know, a lot
Speaker 1: a lot of obviously because I had our opportunity to
Speaker 1: be around him for ten years as a player and
Speaker 1: threw up some downs. And you know, and you talk
Speaker 1: about two losing seasons in in in all the years
Speaker 1: that he coached, that that's that's remarkable. That's a remarkable.
Speaker 1: And I got there. And when I got there in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, I would fortunately, unfortunately blew my knee
Speaker 1: out in the first game I played in in the
Speaker 1: Orange Bowl preseason games. So I was on the injury
Speaker 1: reserve and didn't play my whole rookie year. But I
Speaker 1: was there at the game and saw everything. And and
Speaker 1: and they think that was one of their that was
Speaker 1: one of the That was his first season, first losing season.
Speaker 1: I want to say. They went to six and eight,
Speaker 1: was a fourteen game schedule, six and eight. And I
Speaker 1: remember walking in the locker room after the game, you know,
Speaker 1: and and and they've gotten beaten badly by Minnesota. Uh
Speaker 1: and in that last game in the Orange Bowl. And
Speaker 1: I walked in there, and I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1: I kind of expected to be like, hey, guys, has
Speaker 1: been a tough year. You know, we'll get back into
Speaker 1: the off season. And and I mean my mouth just
Speaker 1: dropped open because he's walking around the locker room and
Speaker 1: he is just living and he's looking at people right
Speaker 1: in the eyes. He said, look, I know some of
Speaker 1: you guys gave up on me. And he's walking, he's
Speaker 1: looking as he walks his point and he goes, and
Speaker 1: I can guarantee you this. You guys aren't gonna be
Speaker 1: on this football team next year. I won't have it.
Speaker 1: I have this kind of attitude I want and I mean,
Speaker 1: he went on for twenty minutes, and I'm you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm barely on the team at that point.
Speaker 1: You know, I was on because the draft, but I
Speaker 1: didn't really play, didn't wasn't And I'm just sitting there going, whoa,
Speaker 1: you know, I came from a I came up program
Speaker 1: in Sansei State. We're during the middle of practice. We
Speaker 1: have pops popsicle plates, hear what I mean. And now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, now, all of the sudden, this
Speaker 1: guy you pointing out people. I know you, I know
Speaker 1: you're and I'm going, holy crap, what the hell? What
Speaker 1: the hell am I getting myself? You know? But but
Speaker 1: you know, but that was his that was his guy.
Speaker 1: That was the guy. He was right, that was him
Speaker 1: and he and he demanded the best there's another another
Speaker 1: time that Joe and I Rosen I always always joke
Speaker 1: about it. We were we were and I think it
Speaker 1: was like maybe nineteen eighty seventy nine on what year
Speaker 1: was maybe one? We went eight and we had a
Speaker 1: bunch of injuries and we went eight and eight, and
Speaker 1: and so we're in the middle of an eight and
Speaker 1: eight season and you know, part with and he was
Speaker 1: frustrated and he was mad. He was mad all the time,
Speaker 1: and you know, it wasn't a fun year. And and
Speaker 1: so we're watching game film one day and we're watching
Speaker 1: a special team. We did special teams. The whole team
Speaker 1: would watch special team films, right, and he would, you know,
Speaker 1: someone run the projector. But he was always the you know,
Speaker 1: he was always the guy with the pointer, right. And
Speaker 1: and so he's going and he's going, and you could
Speaker 1: just tell more and more he's just getting more and
Speaker 1: more frustrated. We just got beat by the Colts, you know, badly,
Speaker 1: and he's just getting more and more frustrated, more and
Speaker 1: more frustrat finally says, turned, damn projector off and he
Speaker 1: stands on me. He goes, Damn, I'm sick of this.
Speaker 1: Look at this crap up here. He said, I could
Speaker 1: go to Carol City and get twenty two guys and
Speaker 1: go eight Nate and this family. What do I need
Speaker 1: you guys for which which he probably could have. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's like that old line that the bum Phillips
Speaker 1: used to say about him when when bum was at
Speaker 1: the height of his uh his coaching career with the
Speaker 1: with the Houston Oilers, we played him a lot. You know,
Speaker 1: he had a earl in Dan Pastorini and Robert Brazil
Speaker 1: and then a great football team. But he always said
Speaker 1: about Cod they'd asked Hi about coach. Su said, well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, He's the best coach I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: He can take his and beat urine, and he can
Speaker 1: take urine and beat his and and it doesn't tell
Speaker 1: and you know, it's it's a country twang. But but
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of truth to that. You know,
Speaker 1: his way of doing things, his way of demanding excellence
Speaker 1: out of everybody, and not only demanding excellence out of everybody,
Speaker 1: but demanding that you did it right. You know that
Speaker 1: you didn't fought the rules, that you didn't cheat, that
Speaker 1: you didn't do anything out of order, you know. And
Speaker 1: you know I told the story to um. Uh to
Speaker 1: one of these guys the other day, was asking about him.
Speaker 1: I said, you know, there was one point, you know,
Speaker 1: he no matter what the rules were, he he was
Speaker 1: going to abide by the rules. So back in the
Speaker 1: mid mid mid early eighties, UM the league, the league,
Speaker 1: there was a writer in the in in Boston, Christine
Speaker 1: Brennan UM. And she was a female sports one of
Speaker 1: the first female sports writers in the business. And UH,
Speaker 1: at the time, they wouldn't let female females in the
Speaker 1: locker room after game. Whether you're a writer or whatever,
Speaker 1: you're no matter what you're credential or not, didn't matter.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't let females in the in the locker room
Speaker 1: at least Cochulawin. And then one day he comes in
Speaker 1: on the Monday, UH and says, look, the league is
Speaker 1: determined that UM that now that we're supposed to allow
Speaker 1: UM credential female reporters in the locker room, they have
Speaker 1: the same access now as every other every other credential writer,
Speaker 1: TV guy, whatever. So we're gonna we're gonna allow, We're
Speaker 1: gonna abide by the rules. We're gonna allow the female
Speaker 1: female writers coming in our locker room. But being coach Sula,
Speaker 1: he already had a plan. Because here it's how it's
Speaker 1: gonna work. We're gonna close the doors for five minutes.
Speaker 1: Each one of you is gonna have a terry clothed,
Speaker 1: terry terry cloth robe in your locker. Here's what you do.
Speaker 1: You come in, you get undressed, you put your robe on,
Speaker 1: you walk to the shower, you take your robe off,
Speaker 1: you hang it on the hook, You take your shower,
Speaker 1: you get out, you draw yourself off, you put your
Speaker 1: robe on, you go back to your locker, you put
Speaker 1: your underwear on, and then you take your robe off
Speaker 1: and get dressed. So not only did he like adhere
Speaker 1: to the rules, he already coached it. He coached you
Speaker 1: through it. He had prepared, He had like he did
Speaker 1: for everything else. He had prepared for exactly how he
Speaker 1: wanted it done and what he wanted done. And uh,
Speaker 1: it's so sure enough, and then way sure enough. We
Speaker 1: had one guy, Steve told We decided he was gonna
Speaker 1: be the funny guy. So he took his robe and
Speaker 1: he cut the bottom half of it off right below
Speaker 1: where the belt goes. So just before he let the reporters,
Speaker 1: and Steve puts on that half of a robe that
Speaker 1: covered everything, everything that didn't need to be covered, everything
Speaker 1: that we need to be covered, exposed, and just as
Speaker 1: he is just a good way to open here, he
Speaker 1: goes coach, sure, coach, sure, is this how we're supposed
Speaker 1: to wear the roade? And he stands up on the
Speaker 1: bed and everything out there and just kind of broke
Speaker 1: things up. But you know, it just kind of tells
Speaker 1: about you know, his his you know, his thought of
Speaker 1: doing things within the rules, but also being prepared to
Speaker 1: to do what you're supposed to do within the parameter
Speaker 1: of those rules. It's just got a little snapshot of
Speaker 1: something that most key teams would just say, oh, look
Speaker 1: there's gonna be ladies in there, and just make sure
Speaker 1: you cover yourself up. You know, you know you have
Speaker 1: you got to go a little further than that. That's right.
Speaker 1: He had every detail covered and that's what you could
Speaker 1: count on with, you know, a Hall of fame, a legend,
Speaker 1: really an NFL legend as a head coach, and he
Speaker 1: was just a guy that that was always prepared and
Speaker 1: and nothing really you know, he was gonna get the
Speaker 1: best out of his guys. Yeah, and he was gonna
Speaker 1: be demanding doing it, but you respected that. You know,
Speaker 1: as years went on, you kind of respect that and
Speaker 1: you kind of figured out that was probably the best
Speaker 1: way of going about it. Yeah, he's uh, he was
Speaker 1: a really remarkable guy. And uh, they'll be missing and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know that. Uh, I know the family's
Speaker 1: got a you know, a service set up for him,
Speaker 1: that a private service. But I'm sure that somewhere down
Speaker 1: the road and we get through all this pandemic and
Speaker 1: things get a little bit back to more back to normal,
Speaker 1: they'll they'll be a memorial for him that uh, they
Speaker 1: will all be able to attend and and and really
Speaker 1: kind of send them off in the way that he
Speaker 1: deserves to be sent off. Yeah, and you know, and
Speaker 1: you know the Miami Dolphins will do that. And I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering, bo, I know it has it's it's so
Speaker 1: early on, but I know there'll be ah some type
Speaker 1: of sticker or patch either jersey. I would I would
Speaker 1: love to see what, you know, what the Bears did
Speaker 1: for George Hallis and have those initials always on jersey
Speaker 1: in terms of on the sleeve. That that would be
Speaker 1: kind of really Uh, paying tribute to Don Shula because
Speaker 1: he meant so much and built so much of this organization.
Speaker 1: When you think of the Miami Dolphins, that would be
Speaker 1: a fitting in my opinion, of fitting tribute to him. Yeah, John,
Speaker 1: your your close friend with Dan Marino. You've been around
Speaker 1: him a lot, you know, and and and you know
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to mention Coach Schula without mentioning Dan Marino, uh,
Speaker 1: in their relationship. And uh, and you know Danny, you know,
Speaker 1: Dani know Dan Danny, Danny absolutely adored the guy. I
Speaker 1: mean he still I mean still doesn't. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: we always always kind of give Danny the business. And yeah,
Speaker 1: when you were the quarterback, and you know, he can
Speaker 1: kind of give play kind of you kind of put
Speaker 1: kid gloves on with you while put the boxing gloves
Speaker 1: on with us. And then they're, oh, no, no, I
Speaker 1: got my share of it. But but I know you've
Speaker 1: talked to Danny and and and uh, I know it
Speaker 1: hit him a hard way, hit him as hard as
Speaker 1: it did all the rest of us. But I know,
Speaker 1: just your thoughts about being around Danny and his relationship
Speaker 1: with Coach. We both as a player, and and like
Speaker 1: I think, like all of us. Our relationship with him
Speaker 1: post playing UH became a very very very special relationship. Well,
Speaker 1: I think all of you guys, you take a look
Speaker 1: at all of the players that that coach Shula had
Speaker 1: an influence on, and I think you know when you
Speaker 1: you mentioned it earlier about going through it while you're
Speaker 1: going through it as a player who was a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot different than developing a true friend chip
Speaker 1: and relationship and as a friend and as a confidant
Speaker 1: and as a guy that you'd want to go back
Speaker 1: and share those memories with post your playing days, was
Speaker 1: completely different. And I think that that goes to be
Speaker 1: said and be true of of all the players that
Speaker 1: he influenced, and especially maybe a guy like Dan Marino,
Speaker 1: because as you said, it was probably more of a
Speaker 1: sparring session when coach Sula went to up to Dan
Speaker 1: and had some suggestions compared to a full out brawl
Speaker 1: when he went to a linebacker as yourself, or a
Speaker 1: defensive tackle or an offensive lineman when he wanted to
Speaker 1: get his point across. And I think daily Danny truly
Speaker 1: respected UH Coachula because of that attitude that he brought
Speaker 1: every day and that that demanding nature and the way
Speaker 1: that he was able to I don't know, cultivated relationship
Speaker 1: where it was gonna make both of them successful. And
Speaker 1: for for a team to have success, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: you have to have that head coach quarterback relationship be
Speaker 1: as firm and trust worthy as possible. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what it was, and that's why the Dolphins had
Speaker 1: so much success and so much winning, no matter if
Speaker 1: it was Dan Reno, which obviously coach and quarterback won
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot of games. But remember Coachula
Speaker 1: brought five different quarterbacks to a Super Bowl appearance and
Speaker 1: that's never happened. It might never happen again. Um, So
Speaker 1: you know that relationship with Dan was quite special. He
Speaker 1: made him a better player, a better person. Uh And
Speaker 1: and I think it went back and forth because I
Speaker 1: think coach Shula probably learned a lot from Dan and
Speaker 1: is his confidence, his cockiness, his his air about him
Speaker 1: was able to go. You know, I can let this
Speaker 1: guy go. I can get my point of cross, but
Speaker 1: at a certain point I gotta let Dan v Dan
Speaker 1: and let him take the reins. And I think Coachula
Speaker 1: was smart enough to do that. So as a player
Speaker 1: and coach, it was great. And I think post player
Speaker 1: coach relationship, I think that friendship really grew as as
Speaker 1: it did for you and Larri Zanca and Larry Little
Speaker 1: and all those guys that played for him. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: as you were talking about that and that, the thought
Speaker 1: came on mind that you know, when I first came
Speaker 1: in the I stuck out probably on a peer four
Speaker 1: of the last years of Bob Greasy, you know, and
Speaker 1: and that then Grease, you know, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things that made Bob and I know people people
Speaker 1: question Hall of Fame and this and that because some
Speaker 1: of his passing numbers weren't his as gaudy as as
Speaker 1: some of those other people out there. But you know
Speaker 1: what part of what made him great and and and
Speaker 1: allowed Bob to be that guy is a coach who
Speaker 1: trusted him. Boy called his own place. Bob's always called
Speaker 1: his own place, you know, and and and and you
Speaker 1: know and you always It's funny because one of the
Speaker 1: great stories I've heard from from Bobby, he tells a
Speaker 1: story about when they're playing the Cowboys in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and you know, Bob's calling the plays, and Bob I
Speaker 1: always called the plays. He said, you come sure. You know,
Speaker 1: he was always wanting to call plays. He always wanted
Speaker 1: to inject the play, you know, along the way. And
Speaker 1: he said, no, look, I got it, I'm calling the plays.
Speaker 1: I'll take care of myself. But Coach will trusting him
Speaker 1: because he knew what kind of a quarterback Bob was.
Speaker 1: And and that's the only guy that I ever saw
Speaker 1: him turn the reins over to. You know, I played
Speaker 1: when Nick Bonacani was on the defensive side for a
Speaker 1: year and and and even Nick kind of was you know,
Speaker 1: you know, had to had to stay within the boundaries
Speaker 1: of what was going on. But but Bob, you know,
Speaker 1: had free run of that offense. And and that's why
Speaker 1: that offense worked the way it did well. Now along
Speaker 1: comes Danny, you know. And then after Bob, you know,
Speaker 1: he had done Strock, he had David Woodley and then
Speaker 1: and and by the way, we go go to a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl with with Strock and Woodley. Uh, and then
Speaker 1: Danny comes in the next year. And and Danny, I
Speaker 1: think his first year when he got into starts but
Speaker 1: he always said, okay, yeah, okay, here's the play that's
Speaker 1: to play. But but it didn't. It took Danny probably
Speaker 1: uh into his second year as a starter. It started
Speaker 1: midway through that his first year, and then the next
Speaker 1: year we really had that big year, and I believe
Speaker 1: it was en four. It was a year, big year.
Speaker 1: And and at that point, you know, Danny became a
Speaker 1: guy that would you know, you know, Coachward send to
Speaker 1: play in and Danny would like, no, no brush out.
Speaker 1: He sending a running play and no, no, guys, we're
Speaker 1: gonna throw you know, you know, Danny wanted to throw
Speaker 1: the ball every down. Yes, and so now you've got
Speaker 1: a quarterback that you're calling the place for him. But
Speaker 1: the play that's being once the ball snapped to play,
Speaker 1: that's being being gone being executed, isn't the play you called, right,
Speaker 1: But then he throws a touchdown. So so you come
Speaker 1: off the side of the field. Well we didn't go
Speaker 1: well yeah, coach, but but you you could see with
Speaker 1: Coach Sula, he became the trust Danny and and and
Speaker 1: allowed that. You know, you know, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think he don't think Dan. I don't think Danny ever
Speaker 1: came to the side Ryan and and she Wulda chewed
Speaker 1: him out for not running the play he he put in.
Speaker 1: Now if he didn't throw the ball the right way,
Speaker 1: and he wasn't gonna chew him out. He's said, you might,
Speaker 1: you know, you know there was someone open. You know,
Speaker 1: he might just get him a little uh, you know,
Speaker 1: critique or something. But again, it's that trust that he
Speaker 1: had with Danny that any other player in the field does.
Speaker 1: That he's sitting on the pine and you're not gonna
Speaker 1: get much opportunity to play. But the trust there that
Speaker 1: those two, that those two built together, I think, um,
Speaker 1: what like you said earlier, it made him both better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it made the team better. It gave them a chance.
Speaker 1: And I think that that goes to the credit of
Speaker 1: of coach Schuller being able to adapt to the many
Speaker 1: different styles of of play that the NFL went through
Speaker 1: in those twenty six years, being able to go from
Speaker 1: a run heavy team, a no name defensive type of
Speaker 1: of of group, to being able in the eighties and
Speaker 1: early nineties that the Dolphins were known to throw it
Speaker 1: all over the field, um, and completely change the dynamic
Speaker 1: and change with the times, and having the personnel to
Speaker 1: be able to adapt to those changes and and build
Speaker 1: your team that way. So you know, I think he
Speaker 1: was always on the cutting edge of whatever was in
Speaker 1: vogue in the league at that time to make it
Speaker 1: the best, or try to make it the best and
Speaker 1: then adapt quickly or change your philosophy and be able
Speaker 1: to be that flexible as a head coach to adapt
Speaker 1: to the way the league was moving. And I think
Speaker 1: the Dolphins did that under coachla You know, one of
Speaker 1: the one of my great memories of of of him,
Speaker 1: uh during game days was you know, it's funny because
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think there's anybody the league has
Speaker 1: been that had got their team more prepared to play
Speaker 1: a game on Monday through Saturday. Uh, then coach Shula did.
Speaker 1: Now on Sunday. Sometimes he was a little out of control.
Speaker 1: I mean, these referees he would just I mean you
Speaker 1: you sit there watch him just to take these referees
Speaker 1: and just chew him up, you know, and you know,
Speaker 1: and and and guys, would you It would be funny
Speaker 1: because you you look at you you look at the games,
Speaker 1: and a lot of times that sideline judge, that side
Speaker 1: judge is is standing almost right, you know, almost right
Speaker 1: on the on the sideline. You know, whenever coach was playing,
Speaker 1: they were out in the numbers. They were standing out
Speaker 1: at the numbers. They especially if they made a call
Speaker 1: that he wasn't happy with. You know, they were getting
Speaker 1: as far off they were in the huddle and he'd
Speaker 1: be and you know, and one of his big one
Speaker 1: of his big foils was jim Tunny who had been
Speaker 1: there for a long long time, and he was a Jimmy,
Speaker 1: Jimmy coming over here for some and he'd wave him up. No, no,
Speaker 1: I ain't comeing. No, no, Jimmy, really did you? And
Speaker 1: I just gonna get you. No, No, I wave events
Speaker 1: these shoes and wear him down. Come on, just come on, Jimmy.
Speaker 1: I just needed so the guy would wander over there
Speaker 1: and as soon as he got there, a bob boom,
Speaker 1: what you know, And when you just sit there and
Speaker 1: it was it was a spectrum. But but but you know,
Speaker 1: he had and and it kind of you know, it
Speaker 1: kind of during the game, like play calling wise, he
Speaker 1: would kind of get ahead of himself or whatever, and
Speaker 1: Don Strock was always there to kind of, hey, well, coach,
Speaker 1: here's what we talked about in the game. Player Strack
Speaker 1: was kind of like the interpreter. He was the buffer.
Speaker 1: They kind of got him back on track and stuff.
Speaker 1: But the Dynamics were there, but bought on game day.
Speaker 1: There was no I mean, it was I mean some
Speaker 1: of the you know, I remember I I and We're
Speaker 1: playing a boot playing the Buffalo Bills one year and
Speaker 1: uh and the chop block was still, you know, still
Speaker 1: active in the league. And I'm rushing on the outside
Speaker 1: and Joe Cribbs came outside and just came and speared
Speaker 1: me right in my thigh. And by the time I
Speaker 1: got the sideline, my my my leg had blown up
Speaker 1: about two inches bigger than it should be, and the
Speaker 1: blood rushing in there. And they immediately started putting on
Speaker 1: anarchy and I coagulants and I V because they didn't
Speaker 1: want they didn't want to clot up. And so I
Speaker 1: was on I V S until Thursday after the game.
Speaker 1: And and I go on Thursday and see the doctor
Speaker 1: and I got cloths. So they had to stick a
Speaker 1: tube in there sucking out and then they left a
Speaker 1: like a little tube sticking out so it could dream.
Speaker 1: So I've got it. So now we play. I know,
Speaker 1: we got a game on Sunday, and so I'm in
Speaker 1: the locker room and I got this big wrap on
Speaker 1: my leg and I got this tube sticking out, there's
Speaker 1: blood using out of it. And and I couldn't bend
Speaker 1: my leg. I had shorts on because I couldn't put
Speaker 1: pants over my leg, and and and I couldn't bend
Speaker 1: my leg. I couldn't bend my leg in the inch.
Speaker 1: So I'm standing there outside of his office and his there,
Speaker 1: his locker room there, and he comes walking out and
Speaker 1: I said, he goes, how are you doing? I go,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing so well. He goes, I said, you know,
Speaker 1: what do you want me to do today? He was,
Speaker 1: what do you mean? I go, well, do you want
Speaker 1: me on the you want me the sideline, or do
Speaker 1: you want me to go up in the press box?
Speaker 1: Goes all right, I want damn, but I want you
Speaker 1: to play and walks away. And I'm standing there, you know,
Speaker 1: and I can't bend my leg. I could barely up
Speaker 1: my weight on my way. And I'm thinkuring myself, well,
Speaker 1: maybe I can play, Maybe I can maybe I can
Speaker 1: tell my stuff about But you know, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: kind of the influence he had on you. And you
Speaker 1: know he he Uh. We had we had a roast
Speaker 1: for him after after he retired. Uh, And I am
Speaker 1: see the roast and he called me into his office
Speaker 1: the day before and said, now tell me about this roast.
Speaker 1: How it's gonna work. And I said, what we thought.
Speaker 1: We'd passed the mic around everybody and let them just
Speaker 1: tell a story or have say something and then uh.
Speaker 1: And then he goes, well, who's gonna be there? And
Speaker 1: I said, well, it's gonna be you know, the players
Speaker 1: and wives and girlfriends. He says, A meaning gonna be
Speaker 1: there and said, no, no, no media, just just your
Speaker 1: former players and and there and they're significant others. And
Speaker 1: he said, okay, if that's the case, then you can
Speaker 1: say whatever. You guys can say whatever you want to say.
Speaker 1: But he said, but I get the microphone last. And
Speaker 1: I said, okay, fine, So that's what we did. So
Speaker 1: we just passed the microphone around and everyone told a
Speaker 1: little a little something and about the relationship with them
Speaker 1: for this and and Bob Kuchenberg, the great Bob Kuchenberg, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, she should be in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I just leave that out there to the simmer a
Speaker 1: little bit. But um, he got up and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, coach Coach Sula had great tolerance for other
Speaker 1: people's pain. Me he always thought you could play when
Speaker 1: when when when the doctors were telling you you couldn't
Speaker 1: write right. So so we kind of go around. So finally,
Speaker 1: you know, give them, give them, like to Coachuler, and
Speaker 1: he gets and he goes, yeah, you know, I heard
Speaker 1: what Bob Kuchenberg said. And he said, maybe maybe I
Speaker 1: was a little tough. Maybe I was a little tough
Speaker 1: on my players. Maybe maybe I didn't maybe I expected
Speaker 1: him to play a little too much when sometimes and
Speaker 1: he still so he says, he says, I should have
Speaker 1: I should have I should have known that. He said,
Speaker 1: he said, my first year as a head coach in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: think he was thirty three years old, the youngest head
Speaker 1: coach in the NFL. And he says, uh, my best
Speaker 1: receiver went down up and that old crappy field up
Speaker 1: in baltim Municipal Stadium, dirt in field, you know, and
Speaker 1: so this guy's laying in the dirt. And Coach Schuley said,
Speaker 1: you know, at that time, I used to go out
Speaker 1: and see how my players were when they got hurt.
Speaker 1: And so he said, when he said, walk down the
Speaker 1: middle of the fields and guys laying there, and he's
Speaker 1: in that dirt. He says, I, So look down. He's
Speaker 1: got a compound fracture was a lower leg. The bone
Speaker 1: is sticking out of his sock. There's blood is spilling
Speaker 1: into the dirt and mud and stuff like that. Guys
Speaker 1: laying there writhing in pain. And so she says. He says,
Speaker 1: so I said him and says, can you go? Oh God?
Speaker 1: And the guy goes and the guy goes, not, Coach,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. And this is Coach Schultalk, he says.
Speaker 1: Guy says, no, I don't think so. He so Coach
Speaker 1: Will says, so I turned around, kicked the dirt and goes,
Speaker 1: why does this ship always happened to me? And it
Speaker 1: walks off the field. So he was, he was, he was.
Speaker 1: He was a different guy with that. But you know
Speaker 1: what I said, a lot of guys, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of guys that that that that fought through it.
Speaker 1: You know guys that that did you did stuff and
Speaker 1: that you never thought you could do. You know, you'd
Speaker 1: scrap it up and and just call out and play.
Speaker 1: And you know, I remember, I remember I had a
Speaker 1: really bad sprained ankle one day. He says, can you go?
Speaker 1: I go, Yeah, I can go, coach, but it's I
Speaker 1: don't know, he says. He said, well, just look, strop
Speaker 1: it up, do the best you can and and just
Speaker 1: you know, just we need you out there. Just just
Speaker 1: do the best you can. I go, okay, coach. So
Speaker 1: you know, I'm playing and all of a sudden, we're
Speaker 1: playing at Joe Washington. We're playing Baltimore. Joe. They taught
Speaker 1: we have a toss sweep and I'm playing outside linebacker,
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, I gotta keep him. I gotta
Speaker 1: turn him in, you know, I gotta go. I'm trying to.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to set the edge and get him turned
Speaker 1: back inside, and I just couldn't. I just couldn't push off,
Speaker 1: you know. So I'm so I'm starting to get hooked
Speaker 1: by the tight end. And finally Joe comes around the
Speaker 1: corner and I'd go for him as we're right in
Speaker 1: front of our sideline in yours. But it was a
Speaker 1: rainy day and so I go to try to trip
Speaker 1: him up and grab his ankle. Miss stim My head
Speaker 1: plowed right into the into the into the turf, and
Speaker 1: I got water and mud and you know how to John,
Speaker 1: you go down to get that big clump of dirt
Speaker 1: on the top of the face mask. You can't clump
Speaker 1: of dirt. I got muddy water in my mouth, my face,
Speaker 1: and I'm laying flat and I'm about about a yard
Speaker 1: from our sidelines, and all I can say I look
Speaker 1: up and all I can see is a shadow of coach,
Speaker 1: Who're going, damn it, make the play. And I was,
Speaker 1: I was, I was thinking about coach my ankle and
Speaker 1: all you go, yeah, uh, you're you're in a no
Speaker 1: win situation, sation, no win situation, no no, but but
Speaker 1: you know you but you know what's funny, and all
Speaker 1: those things made you a better player, they you know,
Speaker 1: And that's what the good ones brought out in in
Speaker 1: their teams and their players. They pushed it. They pushed
Speaker 1: their play years to a point where they didn't even
Speaker 1: think they could go to And and the player did
Speaker 1: it out of respect. Whether you felt like it or not,
Speaker 1: or felt it at the time or not, you did
Speaker 1: it because you knew that he was doing this for
Speaker 1: the betterment of the team, not just for you, and
Speaker 1: not just for him. He then what it was all about.
Speaker 1: You don't you know what? You didn't want to let
Speaker 1: your team down, But just as importantly, or maybe more important,
Speaker 1: you didn't want to let him down, you know, because
Speaker 1: you knew he put here, You knew he poured everything
Speaker 1: into every game. You know, he knew he was Yeah,
Speaker 1: he poured everything into every game, and you knew it.
Speaker 1: And so you know, yeah, I hated when I couldn't play.
Speaker 1: I just was it would just eat at me because
Speaker 1: because you felt like you're I didn't even look at him.
Speaker 1: I broke my leg one week and when year didn't
Speaker 1: play for four weeks, I couldn't even look at him.
Speaker 1: You know, I was embarrassed because I'm you know, because
Speaker 1: I'm not playing, and and you just felt like you're
Speaker 1: letting him down. You know the other thing I think
Speaker 1: about him John as opposed to now. And I don't
Speaker 1: know when it started in this league. You know, it's
Speaker 1: you know, the the the new buzzword in in in
Speaker 1: in football, whether it's culture, it's culture anyway. It's funny.
Speaker 1: It's funny how the teams that win the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: always have great culture, right but you know so, but
Speaker 1: and to me, it's it's it's it's become it's become cliche.
Speaker 1: You know, well, and it's an excuse when you don't win, right.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is the other thing is it's
Speaker 1: it's all about the process, right, Everything is about the process.
Speaker 1: You know. I remember when she how about this isn't
Speaker 1: the culture what the head coach says, it is exactly
Speaker 1: exactly and then going to set the culture. Yea. And
Speaker 1: the the point I'm getting to here with this is
Speaker 1: that you know, coaches now they don't want to put
Speaker 1: too much pressure on their players. You know, Oh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a process. We're getting there, you know, Jesus, guys,
Speaker 1: you gotta play. Yeah, but the problem we're moving along
Speaker 1: with the process, you know. You know, our process was
Speaker 1: the first meeting of every preseason, every training camp. The
Speaker 1: first thing he said was, we're here for one reason.
Speaker 1: We're here to win a super Bowl, and that is it.
Speaker 1: Anything other than that is failure. Anything other than that
Speaker 1: is failure. And so you know, there there's there's been,
Speaker 1: there's a hesitant, hesitancy now in this league to demand excellence.
Speaker 1: That's all he demanded. He would, I don't care. I
Speaker 1: don't give a crap if we went you know, like
Speaker 1: New England the one year where they went to eleven
Speaker 1: and five and and and missed the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 1: if we went eleven five miss the playoffs, it would
Speaker 1: have been a miserable year for us, you know, it
Speaker 1: would have been a failure. And in fact, you know,
Speaker 1: I played for him for ten years and never left
Speaker 1: the season where we did get shoot out the last game,
Speaker 1: because the only way you leave, the only way you
Speaker 1: leave that building with with him, was that if you
Speaker 1: won the super Bowl, because everything else was a fail
Speaker 1: was was was I don't want to say failure, but
Speaker 1: but it wasn't up to the expectations of his of
Speaker 1: his team, and where he set his expectations for himself,
Speaker 1: probably exactly. And he wasn't afraid to lay that out
Speaker 1: there as your goal here, this is our goal. Anything
Speaker 1: short of it, not interested in it? M hm. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd like to see more teams, I am, you know,
Speaker 1: lay it out there, more teams, lay it out, expose yourself.
Speaker 1: Don't worry about that, you know, if you if you
Speaker 1: if you're afraid of that expectation, you probably shouldn't be
Speaker 1: in the room. Yeah, but I think I think that's
Speaker 1: where the great ones kind of separated, and especially in
Speaker 1: the culture that that he grew up in because I
Speaker 1: think that was the norm. I think I think a
Speaker 1: lot of those great coaches from that era that was
Speaker 1: the norm of the way they thought, you know, and
Speaker 1: I think now where you have kind of the well
Speaker 1: you kind of reason, well, we we didn't. We came
Speaker 1: in second in the a f C East and that
Speaker 1: wasn't bad because we were projected fourth. Well, now that
Speaker 1: that's not that we want to win. We want to win,
Speaker 1: not every every we want to and every time you
Speaker 1: put your every uniform on and your expectation is to
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl, no matter if you're projected to
Speaker 1: win four games or six games or eight games, your
Speaker 1: goal should be find a way to win that game
Speaker 1: and then move on and try to find the next one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he would treat you know, he would treat preseason games
Speaker 1: the same way. You know, if you go back and
Speaker 1: look if I bet I would venture to guess if
Speaker 1: you went back and looked at his record in the
Speaker 1: preseason you know, back when fourteen and you play four games,
Speaker 1: you have six preseason games, and then you went to
Speaker 1: sixteen and four, I bet you if you went back
Speaker 1: and looked at his record in the preseason games, they
Speaker 1: would have a very impressed winning record, because I don't
Speaker 1: remember losing many preseason games. And then if your head
Speaker 1: you you you heard about it. Just losing creep in.
Speaker 1: This is not what we're about, right right. He wanted
Speaker 1: to teach you winning from the moment you stepped into
Speaker 1: that building. And and no, no matter where there was
Speaker 1: a practice, a scrimmage, a preseason game, he treated them
Speaker 1: all the same way and expected the best. And so
Speaker 1: I think that's what made him who he is. And
Speaker 1: like you said, I mean, you listen to look at
Speaker 1: the you know that the people that he learned from
Speaker 1: Lombardi and Paul Brown and all these guys that that
Speaker 1: he spent time with, and um, you know, George Hallis
Speaker 1: and and all these guys that that built the league.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's kind of he's kind of like
Speaker 1: the one of the you know, him and him and
Speaker 1: Noel and those guys were kind of the the last
Speaker 1: of that bunch in Landry. You know, you know how
Speaker 1: I had a little bit of that. But it's, uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's you know, it's uh a remarkable life that
Speaker 1: he had. You look at all the people and someone
Speaker 1: you know, how much how much you like to win.
Speaker 1: I remember he used to have a golf tournament every
Speaker 1: year before the preseason. Uh, and he divide all the media.
Speaker 1: You know, no one paid. It was just you know,
Speaker 1: they put it on in Miami Lakes and and uh,
Speaker 1: you have the newspaper writers, the TV guys, and then
Speaker 1: there's some players in this and that plant and Shool
Speaker 1: always won and something He's always look who he's playing with,
Speaker 1: he said, it's it's Coach Shula, It's Raymond Floyd, It's
Speaker 1: Dick Anderson. And it was usually like it was usually
Speaker 1: like Dudley Hart or somebody. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And was loaded, you know, and I'm playing I'm playing
Speaker 1: with hal Halbide from the Pomp Post and you know,
Speaker 1: and uh and I and you know what the and
Speaker 1: all there if you want, all they gave you was
Speaker 1: a crappy little like a little plastic dolphin helmet with
Speaker 1: a light in it. You know. It wasn't like it
Speaker 1: wasn't like you're playing for anything special, you know. But
Speaker 1: I'm sure if you were on coach Ule's team and
Speaker 1: you might have had an off day, you might not
Speaker 1: have got invited back to his team. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: you you might have dumped you off at the turn.
Speaker 1: You might you might have you would have trade me
Speaker 1: for the for the golf bro at the curtain. Come on,
Speaker 1: you gotta gotta finish this thing out. So but anyway,
Speaker 1: well it's just you know, you you hate to, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you hate to to lose a guy that's that's been
Speaker 1: that special. But it's it's been pretty um, it's been
Speaker 1: pretty healing over the last few days, just you know,
Speaker 1: watching the shows and and and remembering what he did
Speaker 1: and remembering all the things, and you know, and and
Speaker 1: and know you you remember in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1: I remember as a coach, uh, I remember now as
Speaker 1: a friend. Um, but you know, you're the one thing
Speaker 1: that that one the one constant there was always with
Speaker 1: him was his fan. Was a family man. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's We remember going up to Baltimore
Speaker 1: where he he had played, he coached for a long
Speaker 1: time up there, and you know, we would we would
Speaker 1: pull into the parking lot, John and there would be
Speaker 1: twenty nuns there, right because because you know, he went
Speaker 1: to he went to Mass every day. You know, he
Speaker 1: took confession every day, you know, I mean, and and
Speaker 1: so you know, he's his heart was with the Catholic
Speaker 1: Church and and all that, and so you know there
Speaker 1: was always priests and always um nuns and stuff around us.
Speaker 1: And you know, I remember when we were training camp
Speaker 1: or at St. Thomas uh BIS Game College. She has
Speaker 1: changed a couple of days, but you know that a
Speaker 1: little chapel there, six o'clock in the morning, he would
Speaker 1: go in for Mass, he would say confession, and then
Speaker 1: he would come to practice. And remember one day sat
Speaker 1: him said, coach, you give it a give it a
Speaker 1: mass every day. So yeah, I go every day six
Speaker 1: o'clock in the every day, um confession. He goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can confession every day. And I said every day
Speaker 1: since I see every day since uh so, I said, well,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. When you do confession, you
Speaker 1: confess the things that you said yesterday? Or do you
Speaker 1: confess the things you're about to say? And you looked
Speaker 1: at me with a little you're you're looking here you
Speaker 1: always had every now and then you had this a
Speaker 1: little rice smile and kind of when he goes, hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do it for every day. Yeah. Now get to
Speaker 1: get back and get to get back and get to
Speaker 1: work with Yeah. Uh you know, sad time, sad time
Speaker 1: in our life. But but what a what a what
Speaker 1: a what a lot of memories, of great memories that
Speaker 1: they be left well not only for not only for
Speaker 1: his players, but for the for the community, for the country,
Speaker 1: for sports in general. Um. You know, I think for
Speaker 1: all of us that they grew up there, that you
Speaker 1: guys like you that grew up down there, they've got
Speaker 1: a chance to be around it. For me, even got
Speaker 1: a chance to come out and play for him for
Speaker 1: for ten years and know him for forty some years.
Speaker 1: Um uh I, all I know is that my life
Speaker 1: has been better for for having known and been around
Speaker 1: Don Shula. Well, it's it's it's unbelievable. It is as
Speaker 1: sad as it is with the passing of Don Shula.
Speaker 1: The great uh stories that you hear from guys that
Speaker 1: were players and acquaintances and guys that were just around
Speaker 1: an NFL legend and uh such a a guy that
Speaker 1: really gave everything to the game of football, gave everything
Speaker 1: to his family. Um. I think it's great that you're
Speaker 1: able to put a smile on people's faces when you
Speaker 1: tell stories of Don Shula, the serious stories, the funny stories,
Speaker 1: the coaching stories, the friendship stories. Um. I think that
Speaker 1: that's a that's a true mark of someone that that
Speaker 1: left his mark in this world and in a profession
Speaker 1: that he loved, in his sport that he loved, and
Speaker 1: being around people that he had so much respect for.
Speaker 1: I think that's that's the mark of a of a
Speaker 1: true of a true man living out his life and
Speaker 1: really giving everything he had on on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: And and for the Miami Dolphins in this organization to
Speaker 1: be to be to be associated with a man like
Speaker 1: Don Shula that put the Miami Dolphins franchise on the
Speaker 1: map of the NFL and be proud to be associated
Speaker 1: I am. I'm proud to be associated with the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins organization because of Don Shula and the way he
Speaker 1: lived his life and what he gave to to not
Speaker 1: only the the organization but the community of South Florida.
Speaker 1: And when he gave to the NFL. It's a tremendous
Speaker 1: honor that we were able to speak, uh speak some
Speaker 1: funny stories, speak some truth, uh, be able to keep
Speaker 1: keep going that legacy of what Don Shula meant to
Speaker 1: to to the world. Yeah, he touched a lot of players, certainly,
Speaker 1: and and we gotta uh we we got some some
Speaker 1: of the players and some of their thoughts on just
Speaker 1: what what them. First of all, I just wanna, you know, say, um,
Speaker 1: it's a sad day. Um My prayers and condolences go
Speaker 1: out to Mary Anne Schula family, Michael David um just
Speaker 1: really good people. And it's a it's a sad day
Speaker 1: for coach h But a lot of great memories. Beautiful man,
Speaker 1: great person. Um. Yes, my first memory Dave was um
Speaker 1: coming there, coming from Mini camp, coming from Mini camp.
Speaker 1: First time I met him walking his office. Uh. And
Speaker 1: the funny part was before the draft, I never talked
Speaker 1: to Coach Sula or the scouts or anything because I
Speaker 1: didn't think they thought I was gonna be available for
Speaker 1: them to draft me. So the first time I really
Speaker 1: talked to Coachula besides just on the phone draft day
Speaker 1: saying hey, Hi, you would you like to be a Dolphin,
Speaker 1: was in his office coming into Mini camp, and UM,
Speaker 1: I remember it was a little intimidating because you know,
Speaker 1: the first time you're meeting the head coach, a guy
Speaker 1: that was so successful. UM. But I do remember what
Speaker 1: he told me was I want you to come in
Speaker 1: good shape, be prepared, to be prepared to uh, prepare
Speaker 1: yourself this summer as if you're gonna come in and
Speaker 1: be the starter. And he made an impact on me
Speaker 1: right away that way, like he's he believed in me.
Speaker 1: He is like, I believe in you. I want you
Speaker 1: to work that way so you can come in and
Speaker 1: compete and actually feel like you're gonna compete to be
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback. And uh, that just gave me a
Speaker 1: lot of confidence right off the bat. So, um, that
Speaker 1: was my first meeting actually with coach. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: it was already established when I got there, but um,
Speaker 1: the thing that sticks out to me is that he
Speaker 1: was very disciplined coach, Um, very intelligent, always preached the
Speaker 1: mental aspect of the game, not making metal mistakes, not
Speaker 1: doing things to beat yourselves, and um, I guess it
Speaker 1: just gave me an understanding of coming from college to
Speaker 1: the professional level of how much difference there isn't much
Speaker 1: difference most of the time in between the talent level
Speaker 1: that's on you know, the opposing team. So any little
Speaker 1: edge and get and and being metally prepared and not
Speaker 1: making mental mistakes and penalties and stuff like that was
Speaker 1: a huge thing that he's stressed from day one and
Speaker 1: it was a little things. And I think that's definitely
Speaker 1: what stands out when you're asking that question. Coach Shula
Speaker 1: demanded so much from us. And there was a game
Speaker 1: in Cleveland that was his home home state as you know,
Speaker 1: um where Monday night football game, my rookie year. I
Speaker 1: was playing hurt all the time. And I got through
Speaker 1: the whole game and right before the end, Uh went
Speaker 1: into the X ray room, got diagnosed, had just a
Speaker 1: terrible continue Usian in my arm, and I went back
Speaker 1: to after the game, after our defeat, I went back
Speaker 1: to Coach Shula with the doctor and he, uh, he
Speaker 1: just was so frustrated. Took out a little bit of
Speaker 1: that frustration on me. Uh. Coming from Wisconsin, I didn't
Speaker 1: swear I heard a lot of it in sports, but
Speaker 1: Shula had probably the frustration in them that day and
Speaker 1: shared it with me. Um. But it bothered me. So
Speaker 1: you know, it not only motivated you, um, but it
Speaker 1: would also challenge you. And later that week, Bob bomb
Speaker 1: howerd it was my locker roommate, and uh, he would
Speaker 1: encourage me to just chill out, but I had I
Speaker 1: had to get it off my chest, and I went
Speaker 1: into Coach Schuler's office that that week and just shared
Speaker 1: with him that I had never wanted to be sworn
Speaker 1: at again. And uh, you know, the story goes beyond that,
Speaker 1: but needless to say, coach respected my wishes. Uh and uh,
Speaker 1: you know he's he's certainly had ways of communicating to you.
Speaker 1: Didn't have to be in a form of a swear word,
Speaker 1: but he would definitely rile you up and get you prepared.
Speaker 1: One of the things I'll never forget. And uh and
Speaker 1: we all have moments of this, but in my life,
Speaker 1: that moment and lasted eight years, and he demanded the
Speaker 1: most out of his players, and many of his players
Speaker 1: couldn't deal with that, including myself at times. Um. But
Speaker 1: what happened was we performed beyond our wildest imagination. And
Speaker 1: when a player can look in the mirror and say
Speaker 1: that wasn't me, but somebody's expectation of my performance, that
Speaker 1: overcame my own limitations. I mean, that is an amazing
Speaker 1: aspect of a great coach. Um. And it's not easy
Speaker 1: during the moment, but in retrospect, every player that played
Speaker 1: for Coach Shula looks back and says, he got me
Speaker 1: to do more out of my body. Out of my
Speaker 1: performance than I could have ever done on my own.
Speaker 1: And a mentor, a coach, a great leader can take
Speaker 1: a team of people like that and make him great.
Speaker 1: And that's what he did yarine and year out for
Speaker 1: those years he played, he coached, for the for the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins, and beyond. Quite honestly, he lives in every
Speaker 1: one of our dreams and sometimes nightmares to this that
Speaker 1: I think his uh great marks come in the world
Speaker 1: of football with the integrity that he showed for the game.
Speaker 1: Not just the fact that he was a driven coach
Speaker 1: and and concentrated on winning and was willing to make
Speaker 1: the sacrifices and pay the price to win and take
Speaker 1: you along with him, but he was also had a
Speaker 1: sense of humor about things, so there it was. It
Speaker 1: was a balance. He was driven, and his legacy comes
Speaker 1: down to the fact that he proved that by being
Speaker 1: the winningest coach in the history of the league. Now
Speaker 1: during that time, the pinnacle of his career. If you
Speaker 1: asked me about the one moment that perhaps most personifies
Speaker 1: that great career that he had, I would say it
Speaker 1: was the the undefeated season. I would say that the
Speaker 1: perfect season was the diamond if you will in the
Speaker 1: rough that that he honed out as an exemplary movement
Speaker 1: moment that where everything that he had learned how to
Speaker 1: sacrifice and work and put together and and orchestrate came
Speaker 1: together and worked and we went undefeated. In the game
Speaker 1: that led to that was the loss to the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys and Super Bowl six. After that game, we're all
Speaker 1: in the locker room, and he threw everyone else up,
Speaker 1: with the coaches and the players, and he said, this
Speaker 1: moment is a moment we're going to learn from. This
Speaker 1: is You've got to remember how you feel right now
Speaker 1: after just getting your ass kicked in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: You gotta remember that because next year, we're going to
Speaker 1: open up. In five or six months, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: together back at camp and we're gonna open up, and
Speaker 1: we are going to rededicate ourselves every week to the
Speaker 1: task at hand, not look forward to the playoffs, or
Speaker 1: look forward to a winning season, look forward to any
Speaker 1: of that. We're going to concentrate one week at a time,
Speaker 1: one game at a time, and we're gonna go every
Speaker 1: game with the intent of winning every game. He said
Speaker 1: that on on the on the more closing moments after
Speaker 1: losing a Super Bowl. He dictated what was going to
Speaker 1: happen the next year with that undefeated season, and I
Speaker 1: think that was the pinnacle of his career. If there
Speaker 1: was one point that he would pull out to judge
Speaker 1: the entire career by, that would be the high point
Speaker 1: I think is that undefeated season, because what happened was
Speaker 1: the very essence of what he had alluded to. We
Speaker 1: went one game at a time and it was close,
Speaker 1: and anyone play could have changed things. I know, I
Speaker 1: don't argue the point that it's just a hair separates
Speaker 1: perfection from losing one game. Different people at different times
Speaker 1: step forward and made the difference. But that's what a
Speaker 1: team's all about. The essence of that seventy two team
Speaker 1: is what the entire world of sports is about. That
Speaker 1: that incorporates teamwork in an effort. It was all the
Speaker 1: people pulling together and playing better than what any individual
Speaker 1: could play on their own. That's what it's about, and
Speaker 1: it takes a great coach to bring that out of players,
Speaker 1: and I think that was the pinnacle of his success.
Speaker 1: When I first saw him, I remember the first listen
Speaker 1: to some of the questions, and I remember my first
Speaker 1: occasion I hearing about coach Schilla coming to the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: It was with on Channel four, one of the back
Speaker 1: then he was being interviewed and and he was saying,
Speaker 1: I like, yeah, I like I like a lot of
Speaker 1: what I was seeing with this Dolphins team has got
Speaker 1: a young, good, good young quarterback. But Greasy, I think
Speaker 1: he scrambles too much. I like to get him to
Speaker 1: stay in the pocket more. And I couldn't wait until
Speaker 1: I saw Coach Shula because he evidently he even wasn't
Speaker 1: was watching too much of our film because there was
Speaker 1: no pocket for Greasy to stay in. You know, the
Speaker 1: first three years I was was down here, I did
Speaker 1: a lot of scrambling, and so he and I had
Speaker 1: the discussion. And sometimes I still have to remind him,
Speaker 1: uh to this day. You know, he was a boss
Speaker 1: back then. Um, but as years go by, we become
Speaker 1: friends and we're kind of like equals. Umm. Not not
Speaker 1: like he was the boss and I was the underling
Speaker 1: and that's the way it was back then. But um no,
Speaker 1: it's we've you know, I lost I lost a good friend,
Speaker 1: I lost a great friend. He um. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: we spent a lot of time together at lunch, and
Speaker 1: his favorite place to have lunch was Golf Stream Park,
Speaker 1: and and some of the other buddies that would go
Speaker 1: Hank Hank gold Goldberg before he moved out to um
Speaker 1: um Las Vegas, was was our handicapper and and I
Speaker 1: always tell the story that she would be sitting at
Speaker 1: the end of the table like like he didn't know,
Speaker 1: he didn't know horses from the hole in the ground.
Speaker 1: So he looked at Hank and he say, innk, what
Speaker 1: do you like in the second race? And Hank would say,
Speaker 1: I studied this for him last night, and I got
Speaker 1: up again this morning and I looked at it for
Speaker 1: another twenty five minutes. I looked at here and I
Speaker 1: liked the number seven one three, And Sulla looked down
Speaker 1: at the bottom of his program and it was seven
Speaker 1: three one, and he would look at Hank as hell, Hank,
Speaker 1: that's the chalk. I don't want chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk chalk.
Speaker 1: So that's that's But we had a great time, uh
Speaker 1: at at having lunch at Gulf Stream Park. I'll give
Speaker 1: you an indication of coach Shula and how I and
Speaker 1: why I feel he always got the most out of
Speaker 1: his players and you know. He was a guy that
Speaker 1: you know drove you, but wouldn't allow you to quit
Speaker 1: on yourselves. I remember one ball game alone where I
Speaker 1: was having some shoulder at your issues. I had pension
Speaker 1: nerve in my neck and um verty soon I end
Speaker 1: up starting to wear a neck brace. But I remember
Speaker 1: a game where we had to have that victory and
Speaker 1: I land on my shoulder and I'm in such pain
Speaker 1: and make the catch. I come off the sideline and
Speaker 1: he looked at me like, and where are you going?
Speaker 1: You know? And I'm like, I'm in so much pain.
Speaker 1: I can't believe what he's saying to me. You know,
Speaker 1: I just got the first down. I got hit my shoulder, hurt,
Speaker 1: um and pain subside. I go back in the ball
Speaker 1: game and and once again we we we need a
Speaker 1: third down. I make the play and I come off
Speaker 1: and I am in so much pain. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do. Uh, and he is riding me. He's
Speaker 1: ripping me. Long story, short game end is we win.
Speaker 1: The first guy to come to my locker and pat
Speaker 1: me on the back and tell me what a great
Speaker 1: job I didn't way to hang in there. He knew
Speaker 1: it was tough, he knew I can do. It was
Speaker 1: Don Schila, and I always think about things like that
Speaker 1: where he didn't allowed players to quit on themselves or
Speaker 1: the team. You know, he always found a way to
Speaker 1: motivate you to do give a little bit more than
Speaker 1: you thought you had, to become a little bit better
Speaker 1: player you thought you could be. And I think that
Speaker 1: was his his key to success. He got the most
Speaker 1: out of all of his players, and and guys that
Speaker 1: didn't want to be a part of that and didn't
Speaker 1: fit in, he didn't have a problem with getting rid
Speaker 1: of him. And I think that's why we were much
Speaker 1: better teams uh in the seventies and eighties and even
Speaker 1: nineties under his leadership. UM. And then when I when
Speaker 1: I think about what Coach Sheula meant to South Florida.
Speaker 1: You know, and I've been telling this story all day.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of men come here to play
Speaker 1: for the Miami Dolphins under Coach Sula, most of them
Speaker 1: never left. Most of them eventually decided to stay here,
Speaker 1: reside here, build their homes and their and their second
Speaker 1: businesses UM here in South Florida. And it was because
Speaker 1: Coach sill All always had us out in the community,
Speaker 1: always had us being a part of South Florida. You know,
Speaker 1: in in the seventies, in the eighties, United Way used
Speaker 1: to come in. They had a great partnership with the NFL.
Speaker 1: They used to come in and pitch us to donate
Speaker 1: to the different organizations that a lot of us came from,
Speaker 1: you know, the boys and Girls clubs and etcetera, all
Speaker 1: the charities. And Coach schula was always that guy that
Speaker 1: wrote the first check. You know, he didn't ever ask
Speaker 1: you to do anything that he didn't do himself. We
Speaker 1: ran those gasses, and we all hated those bag on gasses,
Speaker 1: but he ran them with us. He would run two
Speaker 1: out of three. So you know, when you think of
Speaker 1: Coach Schulan, you think of how he drove us. But
Speaker 1: he also made sure we were a intricate part of
Speaker 1: the South Florida communities fabric. And because of that, you
Speaker 1: see so many guys here today that are still here,
Speaker 1: that are still doing well, there are still thriving in
Speaker 1: business and being a part of the South Florida community
Speaker 1: and make it better. And it's all because of Don
Speaker 1: Hula Ali John A lot of uh you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of thoughts and prayers and wishes
Speaker 1: for coach Schuler, and you know, we certainly wish his
Speaker 1: family the best in these in these tough times, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you know we wish the best for the community.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone's kind of healing from this, and um,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna take a long time to you know,
Speaker 1: I know, I know that when this season starts, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's gonna start at some point here. Um,
Speaker 1: you know that time mid season when the weather gets
Speaker 1: a little better down here in South Florida. And I'm
Speaker 1: used to sitting on that bench on the sideline and
Speaker 1: on Sunday afternoons and watching him come out there and
Speaker 1: watching everyone just come around and and pay their respects
Speaker 1: to him. I'm gonna miss those moments, and and I'm
Speaker 1: sure that it's gonna it's gonna hit me pretty hard
Speaker 1: at that first game around that time when normally he
Speaker 1: would be there. Um, but it's it's been a it's
Speaker 1: been a great ride. Well, it's it's something I'll certainly
Speaker 1: cherished for for for the rest of my life, as
Speaker 1: as I think a lot of South Florida will. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think you do speak for for everyone in
Speaker 1: South Florida. His iconic legacy will endure, you know, just
Speaker 1: the memory of Don Shula associated with the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame coach, a guy that gave everything,
Speaker 1: that put his family first. Um, it's just a it's
Speaker 1: an honor for me to be able to say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I knew the man and didn't play for him, but
Speaker 1: I knew the man and was able to create a
Speaker 1: relationship with not only himself, but with Dave and his
Speaker 1: son Mike, and be in the Shula family and through
Speaker 1: the Dolphin organization. It makes me proud to say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a member of the Miami Dolphins organization, an organization
Speaker 1: that really Don Shula put on on the map of
Speaker 1: the NFL. Yeah, I have no doubt about and a
Speaker 1: lot of people feel that way. So I'm gonna wrap
Speaker 1: it up John for John Kijimi, I'm Kimbo Camper. Let's
Speaker 1: keep our thoughts about coach Schuley is a great man,
Speaker 1: great legend and uh and hell will sorely be missed. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll catch up with you guys next week.