How They Got Their Name: Miami Dolphins

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The American Football League had been played for half a decade by the time a franchise was awarded to the city of Miami in the mid 1960s.  They would become the ninth team to join the league that was a competitor to the NFL, and was the first professional football team the South Florida city had since the Miami Seahawks played one year in the All-America Football Conference in 1946.  So, in 1965 a naming contest was held in Miami to determine what their new team would be called.

Out of 19,843 entries, name finalists included the Mariners, Marauders, Mustangs, Missiles, Monns, Sharks, Suns, and Dolphins.  Owner of the team, Joe Robbie, liked the name that 622 participants in the naming contest chose: the Dolphins.  “The dolphin,” he said, “is one of the fastest and smartest creatures of the sea.  Dolphins can attack and kill a shark or a whale.  Sailors say bad luck will come to anyone who harms one of them.”  The Miami Dolphins began play in 1966 and have been one of the more successful franchises in football since.

Garett