(AP Photo/Joel Auerbach)MIAMI – Howard Schnellenberger was a pipe smoker with a push-broom mustache and gruff baritone, and he paired his grandiloquent manner with grandiose visions for football at Miami, Louisville and Florida Atlantic that caused snickers. He revived the sport at Miami and Louisville and started the program at Florida Atlantic during a coaching career that spanned a half century. His legacy includes on-campus stadiums at Louisville and Florida Atlantic. He then founded the program at Florida Atlantic and retired as coach after 11 seasons highlighted by back-to-back bowl victories. AdAt Miami, Schnellenberger took over in 1979 amid debate about whether the moribund program should fold.
FILE - In this Nov. 14, 1993, file photo, Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula is carried on his team's shoulders after his 325th victory, against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. Not long after came a seismic jolt, the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills that reverberated across sports and across continents. Football lost a big piece of its heart: Don Shula, Gale Sayers, Paul Hornung, Bobby Mitchell. The losses, of course, came against a backdrop of a pandemic, its number of fatalities rolled out daily on TV screens. Kurt Thomas in 1978 became the first U.S. male gymnast to win a world title but lost an Olympic shot in 1980 because of the boycott.
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2020, file photo, the Olympic rings for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 pass by on a barge by tugboats off the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo. Tokyo Olympic officials said Thursday, Dec. 24, they have reached a basic agreement with all 68 domestic sponsors to extend their contracts into next year to support the postponed Games. Facing increasingly long odds, some mega-events — the Olympics, March Madness, the Boston Marathon and Wimbledon — pushed the starting line into 2021. … Continue to push (against) everything that’s the opposite of love.”If only for a moment, the pandemic receded into the background. “If we can continue to do that, all of us,” James concluded, “America would be a much better place.”
The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.
Scott, the star safety who was the most valuable player in the Super Bowl that completed the Dolphins 1972 perfect season, died Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in Atlanta. Scott played in three consecutive Super Bowls, won back-to-back championship rings and made the Pro Bowl five years in a row with Miami. At Georgia, Scott was an All-American and the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 1968. Shula suspended Scott and then traded him to the Redskins for safety Bryant Salter, who lasted only one season. He grew up in Athens, Georgia, and was recruited as a receiver by Dooley, who then moved Scott to safety.
MIAMI Tua Tagovailoa was easy to identify Thursday even though he wore teammate Ryan Fitzpatrick's jersey and a mask to his first media session of training camp. Tagovailoa is happy to keep a low profile befitting his rookie status, even though he's widely hailed as the Miami Dolphins' future franchise quarterback. A former star at Alabama, Tagovailoa knows how to deal with the pressure of great expectations. But Tagovailoa will be difficult to overlook because he's full of potential and personality. As far as how I feel right now, everything is going well.That's what the Dolphins want to hear.
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula on the Red Carpet at the 2017 NFL Honors on February 04, 2017, at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas. Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history and Hall of Fame inductee, died Monday morning, according to the Miami Dolphins. "Don Shula was the patriarch of the Miami Dolphins for 50 years," the team said in a statement. Mary Anne Shula said Sunday that Shula had been admitted to the hospital "due to fluid retention and sleep apnea." Shula, who coached the Dolphins from 19701995, led the team the only perfect season in NFL history in 1972.
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