Miami Dolphins By The Numbers: 1
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins rich history is based on the teams early success following the acquisition of one man. Don Shula. Over the decades that Don Shula ran the Dolphins, class and winning were one in the same. The 1972 Miami Dolphins today still stands as the only bench mark that has not been surpassed by any other football team although some have come close. The Dolphins have several members of their alumni honored with the tradition of number retirement.
No one will ever wear the numbers 12, 13, and 39 again. While those three numbers are no retired, many faces have donned the other 96 uniform numbers leaving only the question, who wore them best? Over the course of the next two months as we lead up to training camp, we will let you decide “who wore the number best?” Then we will see if my selections of the best for each number mesh with the popular choice. My selections will be shown in my upcoming Miami Dolphins 2014 Fan Preview Guide available on iTunes for iBooks, iPad, and iPhone in late July. The only one of the above three retired numbers that will have a poll will be the number 13. Both Dan Marino and Jake Scott wore that number so for the sake of argument, we will include 13 in our selection process. So drum up your argument for Scott if you feel the need.
Today we will look at the first number. Number one.
Perhaps the most well known adorner of the single digit is kicker Garo Yepremian who wore the jersey from 1970-1978. Yepremian was a member of both Dolphins Super Bowl teams as well as the teams loss to Dallas in 1971. Yepremian however is best remembered for his flubbed attempt at a forward pass after a bad FG attempt. The subsequent return of the intercepted pass for a TD was the only points the Washington Redskins would score in that game.
In 1988, Tony Franklin, a running back wore the number briefly before switching. That same year Kicker Willie Beecher wore the number. The last member of the Miami Dolphins to wear the number one was Matt Turk. The booming punter wore the number for both of his stints with Miami that spanned 200-2001 and 2003-2004.
Who wore the number best?