RIP Don Shula

[Vandal]

Legendary Coach DEAD AT 90

Don Shula -- the NFL coaching legend who famously led the Miami Dolphins to a perfect season in 1972 -- has died at 90 years old.

"[Shula] passed away peacefully at his home this morning," the Dolphins said in a statement.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

"Don Shula was the patriarch of the Miami Dolphins for 50 years," the team said.

"He brought the winning edge to our franchise and put the Dolphins and the city of Miami in the national sports scene."

"Our deepest thoughts and prayers go out to Mary Anne along with his children Dave, Donna, Sharon, Anne and Mike."

Shula is one of football's all-time greats ... after a playing career as a defensive back in the NFL in the 1950s -- he went on to become a Hall of Fame coach.

Shula, the head man in Baltimore from 1963 to 1969 and then in Miami from 1970 to 1995, owns the record for most wins by an NFL coach EVER ... piling up 347 in his 33-year career.

Shula also won two Super Bowls as the coach of the 'Fins ... and is still the only man to ever coach an undefeated NFL team.

Don was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997.


https://www.tmz.com/2020/05/04/don-shul ... -dolphins/

[silverscreenselect]

There's an urban legend that Shula and Nick Buoniconti would celebrate with a bottle of champagne every year when the last unbeaten NFL team went down to commemorate the 1972 unbeaten season. That didn't actually happen, although Shula and a number of his former players would get together from time to time or call each other up to commemorate. Buoniconti died last summer and wasn't around to participate when the San Francisco 49ers lost their first game in November.

[wbtravis007]

Bum Phillips: “Don Shula can take his’n and beat you’n,* and he could take you’n and beat his’n.”

*Actually, I remember it as "your'n" but I'll defer to this version that reports today are using.