Not all the news around the Dolphins is negative right now despite the team having won just one of seven games this season.
For example:
- The Dolphins’ perfect 1972 season remains unmatched after the Vikings lost their first game last Sunday in Detroit. The Vikes took the field against the Lions as the last unbeaten team this season. They lost 19-15 so the Dolphins’ 54-year streak continues as the only team in the Super Bowl era to complete a regular and post season undefeated. The Vikings’ loss prompted Hall of Famer Larry Csonka to write on social media (with a lit cigar in one hand): “Cheers to all my ’72 undefeated teammates & Dolphins fans on our now 54-year record. Cheers!”.
- The Dolphins’ Pro Bowl wide receiver Mark Clayton, who set a then-single season record with 18 TD catches in 1984, in late October had his collegiate University of Louisville number 20 jersey honored in a public ceremony at the school. He starred there in the early ‘80s before Don Shula drafted him in 1983 along with a young quarterback named Dan Marino. Clayton and Mark Duper, who had joined the team a year earlier, formed the famed “Marks Brothers” and the offensive excitement began. Marino threw 134 scoring passes to the Marks Brothers during their careers (79 to Clayton and 55 to Duper).
- Speaking of the Hall of Fame quarterback, the 65-year-old Marino and his wife Claire, who established the Dan Marino Foundation in 1992 to help people with special needs overcome obstacles and reach their full potential, last week created a new endowed fund in south Florida to continue their strategic grant making and innovative fundraising. Their second son Michael was diagnosed with autism in 1992. “All the things we’ve done over the years to raise money started with seeing how Mike developed, but also with understanding how important it was to help others,” says Dan. “Claire and I through this endowed fund want to help ensure that individuals with autism and their families continue to have access to the support and opportunities they need for generations.”
