Don Shula respected not just for what he did on the field, but his character off it as well … and for winning despite this: “Don Shula's greatest victory was overcoming his most devastating defeat”

Don Shula in his glory days

Photo: Crux

… he considered becoming a priest

Don Shula’s numbers are exceptional: He won 347 games in his career, going 347-173-6 (.667).

However, what I remember about him is his character and grace, both on an off the field. So many coaches today win games, but do not have what Shula did. 

As ESPN writer Ian O’Connor said after the legendary coach of the Dolphins and Colts passed away at the age of 90, the one thing that he had to overcome was his greatest loss, the one the stuck with him for the rest of his life: The 16-7 loss to Joe Namath’s New York Jets in Super Bowl III,

"I really was devastated," he said. "We were 19-point favorites, and the first team from the old league to lose to the upstart league. It was a very difficult time after the game, a disappointment of that magnitude. I just told my players, 'We're all disappointed, but no matter what we're not going to be able to change the score. It's something we're going to have to live with and face up to. The most important thing is what we do from here on out, how we atone for it’.”

Ian O’Connor, “Don Shula's greatest victory was overcoming 

his most devastating defeat,” ESPN, May 4, 2020

Defeat also devastated his DC, Chuck Noll

In reading Chuck Noll’s biography last year, I realized that he and Shula, teammates on the Cleveland Browns in the 1950s, had many similarities that I never realized. One was how religious they both were, and I will return to that later.

However, second was the way in which they had to deal with the loss of the Baltimore Colts to the Jets in the 1968 Super Bowl. Noll was Shula’s defensive coordinator, and the loss was as overwhelming to him as to Shula, the head coach. His defense was picked apart by Namath, but the loss really lay on the Colts’ offense. 

Both men rebounded from that loss to become NFL icons. Noll was named the head coach of the Steelers right after that loss, and in the 1970s, he became the pre-eminent coach when he won four Super Bowls in six years. 

Shula also atoned for that devastating loss

What I remember about Shula and the 1968 loss was that he handled it with dignity. He did not complain about the officiating or about anything else. He took the blame, and then moved on. 

The way in which he did it was to leave Baltimore, where he had fallen out with the owner, and take the Miami job. There, he was able to erase the sting of that loss,

How did Shula get over the stinging defeat of Super Bowl III? "Super Bowl VII," he said of Miami's 14-7 victory over Washington on January 14, 1973.

Shula atoned for it like few coaches have ever atoned for anything, although he had to leave Baltimore after one more season to do it. He fell out of favor with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom, who was embarrassed by the Jets loss and forever reminded about it by his friends in New York. "When somebody called and asked about the Super Bowl," Shula said, "he'd pass the phone to me."

The Miami Dolphins had won 15 games in their first four years and were coming off a 3-10-1 season in 1969 when Shula was hired. Two years later, they advanced to the Super Bowl.

Ian O’Connor, ESPN, May 4, 2020

Shula and Noll were very religious

I never realized how Don Shula and Chuck Noll were very religious, both Catholics raised in the Catholic schools in that community. Both went on to attend Catholic universities, Shula at John Carroll in Ohio and Noll at Dayton. 

The priest who was pastor of the church that Shula attended in recent years - and who anointed him in his final days — talked about the unassuming coach who attended mass every day, 

Miami Dolphins fans knew Don Shula for his success on the field. But those blessed to see Shula off the field knew that he was every bit as successful in his Catholic faith. He just wouldn’t show it,

“What impressed me the most was that he did not lord it over people,” said Father Juan Sosa, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Miami Beach, where Shula attended the last ten years of his life. Sosa anointed the football coach the morning of May 4, the day the legendary coach died. 

He was a great symbol for Miami, but he didn’t overdo it. He knew how much he was respected and loved. But he did not draw from that fame, but rather the love of children and grandchildren and his wife,” Sosa said. 

The priest recalled how Shula told him that Detroit Cardinal John Francis Dearden, when he was a priest, include him almost to the point of entering the seminary.”

Lynn Ramsey, “Dolphins Coach Don Shula remembered as 

unassuming, daily Mass-going man,” Crux, May 6, 2020

“Perfectly”

In concluding his story, O’Connor wrote this about Shula overcoming the loss in Super Bowl III,

Until his death Monday at age 90, Shula lived and relived Super Bowl III with profound dignity and grace. As much as that game made Namath a cultural icon, it could have destroyed a young coach still trying to figure out how to win the big game.

Instead the late, great Don Shula handled his worst defeat like he handled the 1972 season. Perfectly.

Ian O’Connor, ESPN, May 4, 2020

Amen.