When Dorothy Bartish, by then a schoolteacher, left Cleveland to teach in Hawaii, Shula fired off a letter asking her to return and marry him. Shula admitted he hated that his chosen career -- playing and coaching -- interfered with having a normal family life.
That responsibility fell to Dorothy, the mother of their five children -- two of whom, David and Mike, would become high-profile coaches, too. Dorothy Shula died in at age 57 of cancer. Shula remarried in , to the former Mary Anne Stephens, who survives him. After his playing career ended, Shula was a college assistant coach before he became the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions in In , at age 33, he became the Colts ' head coach -- and he went on to be named the NFL's Coach of the Year three times in seven seasons with Baltimore.
His Colts teams never had a losing record. The team, with Bill Arnsparger and Chuck Noll on the defensive coaching staff, finished the regular season at But in the Super Bowl , the upstart AFL Jets pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history, downing Shula's Colts, -- ironically, in the Orange Bowl, where Shula would later have so much success. It was, Shula maintained throughout his career, his most difficult loss, and it began to sour his relationship with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom.
Shula and Namath later became good friends, though, in part because at subsequent Super Bowl s after both retired, the NFL often seated them in the same box. After the season, Shula moved to Miami, where he was given a 10 percent stake in ownership of the team he later sold it. His first team made the playoffs. His second made it to the Super Bowl. His third and fourth teams won championships and established themselves as South Florida legends, complete with a famous story about the time former Dolphin Manny Fernandez captured an alligator from the Everglades and put it in Shula's shower after practice.
When Shula ran into the locker room, fullback Larry Csonka informed him that players had taken a vote -- with Shula prevailing by just one -- to decide whether to tape the alligator's mouth shut. During his 26 years in Miami, Shula was also a longtime member of the influential Competition Committee. He was such a stickler for playing by the rules that he publicly criticized New England's Bill Belichick -- the only active coach right now with even a remote chance of topping Shula's victories record -- after scandals involving improper videotaping of opponents and underinflated footballs.
But in , when the Dolphins were celebrating the 35th anniversary of the perfect season and the Patriots were crafting an undefeated regular season, Shula said he would call Belichick to congratulate him if the Patriots were to finish undefeated. The Dolphins went to two more Super Bowls after the two championships -- with David Woodley and Marino as quarterbacks -- giving Shula six Super Sunday appearances in all. Shula's teams won with a no-name defense and offenses so diverse that Shula named his collie after Csonka, to honor how much Shula loved short-yardage situations with his crooked-nosed runner, and later relied so heavily on the prolific passing attack of Marino that the coach once said in an interview, "If I would have had Marino establish the running game, every defensive coach would have been patting me on the back.
Certainly, no coach who opposed Shula would do that. But former Buffalo Bills head man Marv Levy once offered something more meaningful. He called Shula the greatest coach in the history of professional football. The flag at the Hall of Fame museum will be flown at half-staff in Shula's memory, Baker said. Coach Shula was the rare man who exemplified true greatness in every aspect of his life. He will be so missed by so many but his legacy of character and excellence will endure.
There are nearly 7. How many will say they've impacted as many people at DonShula. He was an imperfect man striving for perfection and got it once. The rest of the time he came really close. What a legacy we were given. You've touched hundreds of thousands, you've coached thousands and each has their story.
The Shula legacy still lives on today as some current NFL head coaches served under former assistants that were once assistants under Shula. A former player under Shula was responsible for starting of the greatest coaching staffs in NFL history. The Shula legacy is impressive as they come, a tree whose branches continue to grow 25 years after Shula walked away from coaching.
Shula played for Brown in and with the Cleveland Browns. A ninth-round draft pick of the Browns, Shula was just one of two rookies to make the team that year. Brown finished with a record in 25 seasons with the Browns and Cincinnati Bengals. The tackles coach under Brown when Shula was playing in Cleveland, Ewbank was the head coach of the Baltimore Colts when Shula was there from to Wilson was the head coach of the Detroit Lions from to , when Shula served as the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator.
Wilson won the NFL title with the Lions and compiled a record in 12 seasons. Wilson was the first head coach with the Dolphins -- who Shula replaced in McCafferty was an offensive backfield coach under Shula from to and became his successor as head coach of the Baltimore Colts in McCafferty won the Super Bowl in his first season as Baltimore's head coach and went in 33 games leading the team. He went in his only season coaching the Detroit Lions in A longtime assistant under Shula, Sandusky only was a head coach for nine games after the Colts fired McCafferty.
Baltimore went under Sandusky as he was tasked to lead the Colts into a rebuilding period. Sandusky severed as an offensive line coach under Shula from to and reunited with Shula in as the Dolphins offensive line coach, where he remained until
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