Dolphins Add Latest Five Players To 50th Anniversary Team
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DAVIE (CBSMiami) – The Miami Dolphins are celebrating their 50th season and one of special things they are doing is selecting the top 50 players in team history.
The list is created by four different groups who vote on the composition of the team. The groups are fans, Dolphins alumni, South Florida media and a select blue ribbon panel.
Each group represents 25% of the overall vote.
Every week over a ten week span, five players on the 50th anniversary team will be announced leading up to the Dolphins home game against the New York Giants on Monday, December 14th.
The entire top 50 team will be honored as part of a tribute to the 50 seasons of Miami Dolphins football.
In addition, the Dolphins will be wearing throwback uniforms that night for only the second time in franchise history.
So far there have been 20 players named to the team. Dick Anderson, Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, O.J. McDuffie and Jake Scott were the first five, followed by Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Jim Mandich and Dan Marino. Week three saw the Dolphins add Doug Betters, Bryan Cox, Bob Kuechenberg, Tony Nathan and Richmond Webb to the prestigious list, and last week Tim Bowens, Manny Fernandez, Larry Little, Mercury Morris and Bill Stanfill were brought on board.
On Tuesday the team announced the latest five players. They are Brent Grimes, Jim Langer, Reggie Roby, Paul Warfield and Ricky Williams.
Grimes is currently playing in his third season with the Dolphins. He's started every single game snice joining Miami, stretching back to 2013. Grimes tied for the team lead in interceptions in 2013 with four before leading the Dolphins with five last season. He was named to the Pro Bowl in both of his seasons with Miami, becoming just the third cornerback in team history to be selected to the annual all-star game.
"It is a great honor to be included in such a prestigious group. I'm proud of the work I put in and extremely humbled to be voted into the top 50," Grimes said.
Langer played ten seasons with the Dolphins, centering Miami's offensive line during their run to three straight Super Bowls in the early 1970s. He was selected to the Pro Bowl six times, including five times as a starter. Langer was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987 and was selected to the Dolphins Honor Roll in 1990.
"It's a great honor to be selected to the 50 player roster for the all-time Miami Dolphins team. Playing for the Dolphins was a great part of my life. I had some of the greatest coaches of all-time -- Don Shula, Monte Clark, and that bunch -- and the great players I played with, especially on the offensive line -- Bob Kuechenberg, Larry Little and everyone else," Langer said. "It is indeed an honor to be considered with this group of great athletes and great men. They are very dear to me and I sincerely appreciate the honor."
Roby played ten seasons as a punter with the Dolphins from 1983 to 1992. He has the third most punts in Miami history with 555 and his 43.3 average yards per kick ranks third. Roby is the only punter in Dolphins history to be name to multiple Pro Bowls. He was one of the first punters to use just two steps before kicking the ball, a technique that is now used by every punter in the NFL. Roby passed away in February of 2005.
"Not much else could give me more pride than to be able to, on behalf of Reggie, myself and the whole family, to say thank you," Reggie Roby's wife Melissa Roby said. "Thank you for acknowledging Reggie for his incredible talent as an athlete and his dedication to the sport. It's an amazing honor to be a part of such an elite Dolphins team, and I know Reggie is smiling with pride as we reflect upon all 50 men and their accomplishments that add to their journey as NFL football players."
Warfield played five impactful seasons with the Dolphins as a lethal receiving threat on Miami's great Super Bowl teams in the early 1970s. When he left the team Warfield ranked first on Miami's all-time list in receiving yards and touchdowns and his 21.5 yards per reception is still the highest average in Dolphins history. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and selected to the Dolphins Honor Roll in 1990.
"I'm very elated to be named to the Dolphins' all-time team. As I reflect back to those years in the 1970s with the Miami Dolphins, I feel so gratified personally about being a part of the organization and that team during a time that was one of the great eras in professional football. To be a part of an undefeated, untied championship team is what team sport is all about. My life-long participation has been in team sport and to reach a paramount level such as that in one season (1972) certainly stands out," Warfield said.
"As I reflect back to the Miami Dolphins organization when I arrived in 1970, it was, for the most part, a team that was searching for an identity, a team that had not accomplished very much in its initial years and started that 1970 season with a confluence of factors coming together. That team completely turned its fortunes around to become the finest team in all of professional football -- the flagship of the fleet."
"We did it with great players, we did it with a great coach and coaching staff. That is the essence of team sport which I love so much. And so I am immensely honored, in reflecting back at the great history of this organization, that they have elected me to one of those prestigious spots as one of the outstanding players who have been privileged to wear the aqua and orange."
Williams played seven seasons at running back for the Dolphins, ranking second in team history with 6,436 rushing yards and 48 touchdowns. He set a Dolphins record in 2002 when he led the NFL with 1,853 rushing yards and followed that up in 2003 with 1,372 yards. No player in Miami history has come within 100 yards of either of those two totals.
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