The ’72 Dolphins 50th anniversary celebration: Six questions with safety Dick Anderson

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins’ Perfect Season, The Miami Herald is running weekly conversations with members of the 1972 team that went 17-0.

Six questions with 1973 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Dick Anderson, who had 34 career interceptions and was a first- or second-team NFL All-Pro three times:

▪ Your favorite moment or memory from that ‘72 season?

Anderson has a memory from the calendar year 1972, but not the 1972 season. Instead, he cites the 21-0 win in the AFC Championship game against the Colts in January 1972, from the 1971 season:

“The photo I have up on a wall of the 62-yard interception where there were five or six perfect blocks in the playoff game against Baltimore. I had two interceptions that day. That pops up the most.

“I just followed my players around and they kept knocking people down and I scored a touchdown. I remember Jake Scott, our arms on each other shoulder’s walking off the field, after that play.”

PERFECT MEMORIES

Join us each Wednesday as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the perfect 1972 team

▪ Who was an unsung contributor on that team?

Anderson rattled off the names of most of the defensive starters and then noted that “one of players who doesn’t get as much notice as the others was [tight end] Marv Fleming. He was a magnificent blocker, and he also never dropped passes.”

And Anderson said former Dolphins executive and personnel man Joe Thomas “didn’t get near the credit he deserved based on the talent he brought in. He drafted the entire team. We were all there prior to coach [Don] Shula coming. He even drafted the ‘70 team and then they hired coach Shula. There were only two or three players on that team that Joe Thomas didn’t draft.”

▪ You were a key person in the tradition - which has been sensationalized a bit over the years - of 1972 Dolphins players having a toast when the NFL’s last undefeated team lost a game. What’s the true story about that toast?

“Nick Buoniconti and myself started that when the last undefeated team lost a game. It kind of grew a little bit when people found out about it. For at least 10, 15 years, Nick, Bob Griese and I lived within five doors of each other in Coral Gables. [The first time, sometime in the 1980s], I went to Nick’s house and we had champagne and sat around and talked. That continued until Nick moved to Connecticut [early this century].

“Even then, we would call each other when the last undefeated team lost [before Buoniconti suffered cognitive issues and passed away in 2019]. What happened to Nick was a terrible tragedy.”

Anderson said Don Shula “was involved a few times” in the toast and “I have a photo of six or seven of us doing it” one year.

But the genesis was a small gathering with Anderson, Buoniconti and at times, Griese.

▪ You and Jake Scott formed one of the NFL’s best safety combos ever. He was known for being somewhat quirky. What do you remember most about him?

“It was Jake’s way or the highway. He was a remarkable teammate. He led a life that was pretty unique.

“In the heyday, we had no problems and we were very close. He moved to Hawaii and we went to dinner and had a drink a couple times when I was out there. We bought a ranch in Colorado that I still own. I eventually bought him out [many years ago]. We didn’t communicate much after that.”

But there were no hard feelings when Anderson bought out Scott’s ownership of the ranch.

When Anderson thinks of Scott, he will always think of former Jets quarterback Joe Namath.

“Every time Namath sees me, he cusses at me,” Anderson said. “He says, ‘You blank, blank guys were never where you were supposed to be.’ I say, ‘we were where we were supposed to be; you just didn’t know where it was going to be.’ Jake and I would take a false step” to trick opposing quarterbacks. And it often worked.”

Scott died in 2020 at age 75.

▪ You have had a very successful post-NFL career; you’re the only member of that team who was elected to public office as a state senator. What stands out about your post-playing career?

“The year I retired, I ran for the state senate and spent four years there. I had name recognition. Having played for the Dolphins and played for that [undefeated] team, I had the ability to have a successful life.

“I started Dick Anderson and Associates,” which he still runs today, with a few large accounts.

Anderson sells life insurance and accident insurance to major companies.

“I started selling credit life insurance at the beginning [after his political career],” he said. “I was making 10 times as much doing that as playing football. As a rookie, I made $15,000 a season. I was [AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year] and the next season I made $17,500.”

▪ Will another NFL team ever go undefeated?

“It might be more challenging today because we were in a situation where the owners owned the players and you didn’t have the ability when your contract was up to go somewhere else.

“Because of that, we could play together as a team and nobody screwed up. With free agency, teams don’t have that continuity. That makes it harder.”