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Who Would Join Shula on a Dolphins Mount Rushmore?

Hall of Fame coach Don Shula would be a slam dunk as one of the most important figures in Miami Dolphins history and Dan Marino certainly would belong, but there could be an interesting debate as to the other two
Alain Poupart|
Who Would Join Shula on a Dolphins Mount Rushmore?
Who Would Join Shula on a Dolphins Mount Rushmore?

Don Shula, who passed away Monday morning at the age of 90, stands alone as the most significant person in Miami Dolphins history and his inclusion on a Mount Rushmore of the franchise would have to be unanimous in any kind of poll.

Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, who owned all the major passing records when his career ended after the 1999 season, also would be an easy choice and likely also unanimous.

But what about the other two spots?

That's where it gets a little tricky because there are some worthy candidates.

The Dolphins have had 10 Hall of Famers through the years, and that's a good place to start.

Those 10 are:

Center Jim Langer, center Dwight Stephenson, guard Larry Little, fullback Larry Csonka, quarterback Bob Griese, wide receiver Paul Warfield, defensive end Jason Taylor, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, Shula and Marino.

Then there's original owner Joe Robbie, who not only brought professional football to Miami in 1966 but also built the Dolphins' current home — though since renovated — using strictly private financing.

Even though he's not in the Hall of Fame yet, linebacker Zach Thomas (who was a Hall finalist this year), belongs in the conversation for what he meant to the Dolphins defense for more than a decade.

For those 10 years, the Dolphins defense was about "Zach and JT" or "JT and Zach," so one could argue that Thomas should get the same kind of accolades as Taylor.

Of the Hall of Famers, Warfield needs to be eliminated because he spent eight of his 13 NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns. The two Hall of Fame offensive linemen from the 1970s Super Bowl teams (Langer and Little) kind of cancel each other out in a way.

Stephenson just might be the best Dolphins player have ever had, but it's tough to include him because of the position he played and because his career was cut short in his eighth season when he sustained a devastating knee injury in a Monday night game against the New York Jets.

Griese, Csonka and Buoniconti were three key components of the Super Bowl teams of the 1970s, though Griese missed a good chunk of the perfect season in 1972 because of a lower-leg injury. Csonka was the key figure behind the Dolphins running game, though Mercury Morris also reached 1,000 yards in that 1972 season and both players operated behind an offensive line with two future Hall of Famers.

As for Buoniconti, he was the leader of what was known as the No-Name Defense, and he played exactly half of his 14-year career with the Boston Patriots of the AFL.

Besides, the 1972 team was the perfect example of a team greater than the sum of its parts, and Shula was the one who brought it all together.

It's probably unfair to place any player from that team — the whole 1970s group — above another.

In the final analysis, Robbie deserves a nod because who knows if football ever comes to South Florida without him making it happen and he also earns major points for privately financing the construction of a new stadium.

That leaves one spot, and because he was the face of the franchise for most of the 2000s and he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the nod here goes to Jason Taylor.

So there it is, the Miami Dolphins Mount Rushmore: Don Shula, Dan Marino, Joe Robbie, Jason Taylor.

Published
Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of Miami Dolphins On SI and host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press and the Dolphins team website. In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books, such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

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