By Jim Gehman, Engagement Insider
In 1968, the still-wet-behind-the-ears Miami Dolphins, in their third year of existence, selected you in the fifth round of the draft. What was your reaction to becoming their halfback?
“I wasn’t real happy. I wanted to go to the Giants, being from New Jersey. I was disappointed that Miami drafted me, but as it turned out it worked out pretty well. We weren’t very good at the beginning. About the third season we started winning.”
The Dolphins also drafted fullback Larry Csonka in 1968. The two of you would go on to be known as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Did you guys hit it off right away?
“Yeah, more or less. I don’t know who came up with the names “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” but I guess the writer saw the movie and said that we were like that. We were in a serious business, football, but we made light of it and had a good time. We had a sense of humor.”
What was your first impression of Don Shula when he became Miami’s head coach in 1970?
“I didn’t like him. [Laughs] I get along with him now, but back then we didn’t. He started playing Mercury (Morris) and he’d alternate us back and forth. Mercury and I both weren’t real happy with the situation. But we had good teams, obviously.’
Three consecutive trips to the Super Bowl, winning it twice [VII and VIII], and becoming the NFL’s only team to have an undefeated season [1972]. What was the key to that success?
“We just played as a team. We weren’t about individual statistics, we were about winning.”
Now over 40 years later, surprised no other team has had a perfect season, too?
“No, it’s a little more difficult. A lot of teams today, if they win their division maybe after 11 or 12 games, they start to rest their players because they don’t want them to get hurt before the Super Bowl. We played the whole thing. Nobody really knew what to do or what it was like to be undefeated.”
There’s talk every season that after the last undefeated team finally loses, Miami’s 1972 team get together for a champagne toast. True?
“That stopped a long time ago. After 40-something years we don’t celebrate any more. Everybody lives in different parts of the United States so it’s difficult for all of us to get together.”
In 1975, the World Football League signed Csonka, wide receiver Paul Warfield and you away from the Dolphins. Hindsight being 20/20, any regrets?
“No, I have no regrets. I think at the time I was making $15, $20 thousand, somewhere around there, and the next thing I know I was making $300 thousand. So it was quite a jump.
“(Shula) was mad. He blamed me for taking Csonka. But Csonka’s not stupid. He wasn’t going to play football his whole life so it was an opportunity to make some money quickly. And then others in the NFL were concerned about other guys jumping, so the owners started paying them more.
“When I came back (to the NFL in 1976 after the WFL folded) I went to Denver and after making $15 thousand or whatever, Denver paid me $100 thousand.”
Now doing promotions and speaking engagements, and lining up others to do engagements, as well, how has the success you enjoyed with the Dolphins helped especially in Miami and South Florida?
“It’s been 40-something years, so a lot of people don’t even know. Most of the people I run into, even Dolphin fans, don’t even realize that we were the only undefeated team. So it’s pretty much forgotten. Basically, we get appearances. Csonka gets a lot more. But as far as the team-wise we really don’t get together that often.”
And finally, you’re not the only professional athlete in the Kiick family.
“I have a daughter, Allie, who’s a tennis player. She’s ranked in the world. As a matter of fact, she’s in France right now playing. She plays all over. She made more money in two weeks than I did my whole first year.”