Shula has fond memories of Orange Bowl, Schnellenberger

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

The man who has been the face of the Miami Dolphins for most of the franchise’s history was in attendance at the Orange Bowl Saturday to watch the game that has been named in his honor.

Don Shula reminisced about the Orange Bowl, his relationship with FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger, and he discussed the New England Patriots’ assault on the perfect season established by his 1972 Dolphins.

“A lot of favorite (memories),” Shula said as he relaxed in a chair in a luxury suite at the Orange Bowl, his jaw still every bit as firm as it was when he led Miami to five Super Bowls in 25 years.

“I think the ‘85 Bears game, I’ve often said that’s the best first half of football I’ve ever been around,” Shula said. “And then all the games that year of the perfect season were played at the Orange Bowl. The San Diego game (1981 playoffs) was one of the great games at the Orange Bowl.”

Shula said that before the 1985 win against the Chicago Bears – which ended Chicago’s hopes of a perfect seasn – he arrived three hours before kickoff to find the stands already half-full with Dolphins supporters.

Shula hasn’t been to the Oramge Bowl often since the Dolphins moved to Joe Robbie Stadium in 1987, but he vowed to take some souvenirs from the place he earned so many victories – “maybe some chairs, some sod,” he said.

Shula goes back almost 50 years with FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger, to a time when Shula was an assistant coach and Schnellenberger was a graduate assistant at the University of Kentucky in 1959.

“I’ve known Howard for a long time, and when he sets out to do something, it’s going to get done,” Shula said. “You look at his track record; it’s pretty amazing.”

As for the ‘72 Dolphins’ national reputation as curmudgeons who sit around waiting for the last unbeaten team to lose each year, Shula said with a laugh, “That’s not true. One year when (Nick) Buonoconti and Dick Anderson were neighbors down in Coral Gables, they took a bottle of champagne out in the parking lost and toasted each other. They were too cheap to invite the rest of the team.”