Sharon Shula recounts last week as family lay Don Shula to rest

There was no parade or public memorial. There was no filling of a church or any other ceremony. Don Shula was laid to rest with close family instead.

Last Friday, Don Shula joined his first wife, Dorothy. It was a quiet service with close family only invited to attend due to the current health crisis. For all of the joy that Don Shula brought the world, for all the lives he touched, it was, in a way fitting, that only his family were by his side as they laid him to rest.

Over on the Miami Herald, Sharon Shula, his 57 year-old-daughter, wrote a guest article that Armando Salguero published for the world to read. It was an eloquent ending to a week she described as horrible. Losing a parent or any loved one is horrible no matter the age.

Don Shula was 90 years old but that did not make her loss any easier. It is a must-read. A look inside the final days of the Miami Dolphins greatest coach. It is an invitation into a family that was adopted by the city of Miami for intent and purpose. A personal invitation for fans to connect virtually with a man most only knew from the television or newspapers.

In a way, it was closure for us. An end to the reality that he is truly gone. For some of us who remember his coaching days, there is a void with the Miami Dolphins that will not be replaced. This is not to say that having a big funeral service would have allowed any of us to attend. It is funny to even think it but there would have been news crews, there would have been segments on the local reports. There would be something. Videos of all the former players walking into the church, processional roads lined with fans holding signs saying good-bye.

We won’t get that but Sharon’s accounts of the final week allow us to understand that while we loved Don Shula, there were other’s who “loved” Don Shula the man. Her recounting of the week that was is a reminder that Don Shula was more than a legendary member of the Miami Dolphins. He was a husband, a grandfather, and a father. He was a man that most of us could never know but thanks to Sharon’s eloquent good-bye, we get to experience some of that. We get a peek into who he was away from football, even if only for a moment. For that Sharon, thank you.