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A Brief History of the Beginning of the Miami Dolphins

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The Miami Dolphins are a staple of NFL football in the mind of the football fan. A household name, the Dolphins have accomplished much in their forty-three years as a team, including:

o Two Super Bowl Championships – 1972 and 1973
o Five Conference Championships
o 12 Division Championships

As successful as the Dolphins have been, many lose sight of how this AFC team got its start in the NFL. This article will briefly cover the Miami Dolphins’ childhood as a football powerhouse.
The franchise

The Miami Dolphins started out like most football teams, as an expansion team. This extension of the American Football League was a franchise courtesy of actor Danny Thomas (“Make Room For Daddy,” “The Danny Thomas Hour”) and attorney Joseph Robbie. The equipment was awarded to the two of them for just seven dollars and fifty cents, however Danny would later sell his share of it to Joseph Robbie.

In 1965, in order to name the team, a contest was held to officially name the new licensed franchise. Over nineteen thousand proposals were submitted from over a thousand people. A seven-member committee made up of local media, titles such as Mustangs, Mariners, Sharks, Suns, Marauders, Moons and Missiles were judged, contributed by a dozen finalists.
A West Miami resident, Mrs. Robert Swanson, won the contest with her nickname. With her input, Ms. Swanson also earned lifetime passes to the Dolphins by predicting the score, a 0-0 tie, of the 1965 Notre Dame v. University of Miami game.
The logo

The logo for the Miami Dolphins of the American Football League debuted in 1966. The logo consisted of the dolphin’s head, positioned so that the head was near the center of the sunburst. Sometimes referred to as “The Fish”, due to the team’s name and mascot, this has given way to the fact that dolphins are in fact mammals, not fish.

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