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DOLPHINS COMPLETE FIRST PERFECT SEASON

Monday, January 15, 1973

Luther Evans

The Miami Dolphins have no more promises to keep. They reached pro football’s utopia Sunday by winning Super Bowl 7.

They became the first team in the storied history of the National Football League to complete an undefeated season by outmuscling the favored Washington Redskins, 14-7, before a Super Bowl record crowd of 90,182.

It became 17 down and none to go for the incredible Dolphins at precisely 6:28 p.m. Miami time when players hoisted Coach Don Shula on their shoulders and proudly carried him out of the Los Angeles Coliseum.

First-half touchdowns furnished the Dolphins with a 14-0 advantage. The first,

a 28-yard pass from Bob Griese to Howard Twilley, capped a 63-yard drive, and Nick Buoniconti’s 32-yard interception return set up a one-yard TD plunge by Jim Kiick.

At long last, Shula could say the 14 regular-season triumphs – and the playoff victories over Cleveland and Pittsburgh – were “meaningful.”

Humiliated by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1972 Super Bowl at New Orleans, 24-3, Shula and his athletes had waited, dreamed and schemed 363 days for this hour of redemption.

“We didn’t think about 13 and 0, 14 and 0, 15 and 0, or 16 and 0,” the happy Shula told Commissioner Pete Rozelle while accepting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. “But we’re thinking about 17 and 0 right now,” he said with a grin that stretched from here to Miami.

“We have finally accomplished the ultimate … the world championship,” Shula added.