MIAMI DOLPHINS PRESS CONFERENCE

March 13, 2000

Dan Marino

DAN MARINO: Hello, everybody. I want to thank you all for coming. After 17 years I would like to announce my retirement from the Miami Dolphins. After playing the game of football for most of my life, this was an extremely difficult decision. But I know that I had made the right decision for me and my family. I am very proud of the success that we have had as a team for 17 years as well as all my individual accomplishments. Not many people have an opportunity to spend 17 years of their life doing what they truly love to do. And I stand here before you today, I can say that I had been blessed with a career greater than I could have ever imagined. I am extremely proud of the fact that I was able to play 17 years for the Miami Dolphins. And I am going to miss it. I am going to miss everything about it. I am going to police the relationships with the players. I am going to miss the fans. I am going to miss the great friends that I have made over this time. I am going to miss all the good times that we have had together. But most of all, I am going to miss Sunday afternoons. There are not many situations in life that can compare to the emotions, the competition and the preparation that go into a football game. It is a great game. I have been blessed over the years to have great family and support from them and today they are here. My mother and dad are here. I want to thank them for everything over the years, the support that they have given me and it is special because through my whole career ever since I have been a little boy, they have been able to watch every game that I played. There is not many guys that can say that. To my dad, he is the best coach I have ever had. Thank you, both. To my wife, Claire, we have been through this 16 years together. We have had a lot of ups and downs, but we have accomplished a lot of things. You have always been by my side. You are an incredible mother and you are my best friend. Thanks. We have five fabulous children, Michael, Dan, Joey is just smiling, what, Joe, this is not easy, Joe. Is Ally and Niki, guys I was always hopeful that I would play long enough for them to see me play the game that I love and they were able to do that and I hope that always have fabulous memories of me being a Miami Dolphin. Thanks, guys. There are so many people that I would like to thank, starting with the Robbie family. I want to thank the late Joe Robbie and his son, Tim, for giving me the opportunity to play here and a special thanks to the Huizenga family, Wayne and Marty, you have always been very supportive and it was an honor to have been a part of your football team, but most importantly, I want to thank you for your friendship. I am honored that Coach Shula is here today. Coach, not only have you been a tremendous impact on my career, but you have taught me how to be a true professional. I am very proud of the fact that we were able to win more games than any other coach/quarterback combination in the history of football. Thank you to all the coaches that I have worked with over the years and all of the great players. To the Dolphins staff, the people that in the building here that you see each and every day; to our team president, Eddie Jones, thank you, to the guys that work and help the players with what they are doing each and everyday; the equipment staff, Tony Egues, Charlie, Joey, guys that are important to the players; a guy that is not here anymore is Bobby Monica, he is a friend. Trainers, guys that take care of me, getting me in shape, try to make me the players that I am, Ryan Vermillion, Troy Maurer, Brad Roll is here and John Gamble, thank you. And the Public Relations staff, Harvey Green has been great, 11 years I have worked with Harvey. Fudge Browne, Community Relations, thank you, Fudge. There is one person that is kind of unique, our video man Dave Hack, he is the only person that has seen every touchdown pass that I have ever thrown. I thought that was kind of neat. I have played with so many different players over the years and thrown touchdown passes to 20 or 51 different players, but there were some special players in my career that I would like to acknowledge. When I started out here with the Miami Dolphins, I had a great group of receivers, Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, Nat Moore, Jim Jensen, Jimmy Cefalo, but there will always be a special place in my heart for Duper and Clayton. They caught more touchdown passes than anybody that I have ever played with. As they have always said, they made me look good; they made me a star. (laughter). Don Strock, thanks for helping me when I was a young quarterback. Thanks to Dwight Stephenson who was the most incredible leader on the field. He is a Hall-of-Fame player as well as a Hall-of-Fame person. Thank you, Dwight, and more recently to Richmond Webb who was on my left side and taken care of me for so many years and to probably the toughest football player I have played with O.J. McDuffie. Thanks to all of you guys, you have made life easy for me. Some special friends that are here Marvin Demoff, we have been through a lot this past month. I want to thank Marvin for coming from Los Angeles. Another person Ralph Stringer who has helped me a lot in my community work here. I want to thank him. I want to thank the members of the media for covering me throughout my career and supporting a lot of things that I do charitablewise. I have some close friends that have done a lot of work with me and I appreciate that. Finally, to the Dolphin fans. It has been an honor to play here in front of great and supportive fans. Together we have shared many memories. I feel that I have always had a special relationship with Dolphin fans everywhere. I thank you for being behind me throughout my career. I hope you have enjoyed these 17 years as much as I have. I want to thank everybody in the organization, all the players I have ever played with, my family and for the media coming out here today. It has been great. Thank you very much.

WAYNE HUIZENGA: Danny, I know that I speak for all your fans when I say that we will miss you on the field. To put it simply, Danny, nobody did it better than you. You are the greatest quarterback ever, holding countless records including over 61 thousand yards passing, which is about 34 miles, or approximately the distance from here to Palm Beach. And you your 420 touchdown passes is a record that will probably never be broken. I know that is the one that you are the most proud of because it directly correlates to putting points on the board and winning. But records alone don't fully measure your contributions that you have played more games as a Dolphin than anyone in team history. Your dependability and your durability guaranteed that your teammates could and would count on you each and every week. You were a team leader and one of the toughest competitors the game has ever known. Your only concern was winning and everything else, records, and personal statistics didn't matter. I remember after a loss, I walked in the locker room and said to you, Danny, you played a great game. You said, it doesn't matter, we didn't win. Well, it is no wonder that your teammates looked up to you for leadership. And while it is hard to hear that you are retiring, it only seems proper that you are doing so as a Dolphin. You spent your entire career here. And I can't think of any athlete who is more identifiable with his team and his community than you - Dolphin fans and throughout South Florida, I know I speak for every one of your fans not only here, but around the country. The greatest disappointment that I have as a team owner and as a long time Dolphin fan, is that you never won the Super Bowl. There is no one more deserving of winning that Championship than you and I just wish that we could have gotten that for you. But just because you didn't win a Super Bowl doesn't mean that you are not a champion because we all know otherwise. Especially in the light of all that you have done for the South Florida community - you established the Dan Marino Foundation which was created to benefit children's charities in this area and you led the way to build the Miami Childrens Dan Marino Center will benefit so many young children with chronic diseases. Whether it is a countless make-a-wish, promises that you fulfilled, or the many other charitable causes you have championed, you have always been there for this community and for that, we thank you very much. It is only fitting, Danny, that you were selected as the NFL Man-of-the-Year, the highest off-field honor that the NFL bestows for all of your community and charity work. You have always conducted yourself with class and you have served as a role model for children and adults alike. You have followed those same principles in your private life as well and above all you have always been an outstanding family man to your fantastic wife, Claire; to your five children and to your parents, you never forgot your roots and no matter how important football was to you, your family always came first. I consider myself fortunate that I have gotten to know Claire and the kids, too, and I want to thank them for the support that they have given you. Yet with everything you had going on, you still found time to have a well-rounded life. You have become an accomplished golfer. I don't know anyone that can hit the ball any farther than you, Danny. Your acting debut in Ace Ventura was, well, shall we say it was memorable and you appeared in a Hootie and the Blowfish music video called: Only want to be with you. Obviously, you were thinking of the Dolphins at that time. And, Dan, because you have meant so much to this community and this team, there is really no way that we can thank what you have done over the last 17 years. But we can try. We have discussed the number of ways to express our appreciation and we will talk to you in the coming weeks about the proper ways to recognize your many contributions. However, I can say right now, that no Dolphin will ever wear the No. 13 again. By the way, your timing has always been impeccable because today is the 13th of the month. We will retire No. 13 forever and you will be inducted into the Dolphin honor role at halftime of our first regular season game at home this year. We will name a street after you at the stadium and, by the way, it just might pass by the new statue that will be erected there in your honor. We are also planning many other activities to honor you for your many accomplishments throughout your career. We also know that so many of your fans want to express their appreciation for all that you have meant to them and so we will hold a huge, and I mean huge, special ceremony before the start of the season that will be open to the public to celebrate your career. Finally, I know that I speak for all Dolphins everywhere when I say that we are also looking forward to watching you make the trip to Canton to be inducted into the Pro Hall of Fame. It is an honor that no one deserves more. Danny, I consider myself privileged to have watched you play and I feel very, very fortunate that you are my friend. You have brought honor to yourself, your family, your team and your community. I know I speak for Dolphin fans everywhere who just want to say thank you so very, very much for everything you have done,.

DAN MARINO: Wow. Thank you, Wayne. I guess we are going to open it up for question and answers. Not any tough ones, please.

DAN MARINO: Well, it is hard for one play to make a difference in 17 years of playing the NFL. It is hard to pick one play, but I think there was a touchdown pass that I threw to Mark Duper that helped us get into the Super Bowl, Orange Bowl in 1984, something that I talked about preparing going to the week for playing a championship game and it worked perfect all week in practice and it worked perfect in the game. When those things happen, it is very special. But it is hard to pick one.

DAN MARINO: That is a good question. Boy, I really struggled with this. This has been the toughest month of my life as far as dealing with playing football or retiring. After the season I pretty much thought that I was not going to play anymore and I felt that way for a while and I think it was because of the physical aspects of the game, I just -- it kept coming back to how my legs felt during last season going through the neck injury; not knowing whether I was going to be able to throw the football, and family reasons also, but Claire, I mean and the kids, they were great. They wanted me to play, be honest with you. Really, it was my decision - family decision and a health decision.

DAN MARINO: I am not sure that I know that. I have a sense of loss that is huge right now because I know that I am not going to be out there playing anymore and that is a huge loss for me and I know that the fans of the Dolphins, it is a huge loss for them and I appreciate that. All having a good time? This will be a good, positive day.

DAN MARINO: Well, there is no doubt that was a factor in some of my decisions in not playing anymore. In this day and age, playing 17 years for one team is something very special and like I said earlier, I am very, very proud of it. There is not many players that get that opportunity these days and I am glad I did.

DAN MARINO: Any time you play football for, you know, I think I have been playing since I have been eight years old, a little kid playing professionally, as long as I have, you get excited when a coach calls you and Denny Green called - he is a very persuasive guy - and be honest with you, they have some outstanding receivers, guys that I would have loved to throw to. I was excited about it. But the emotional swings that I had back and forth in those weeks or so that we had meetings and we discussed my possibility of going to the Vikings was incredible. I considered it seriously. There was times I told Claire we were going and two hours later I said no, I don't think I can go. I mean, it is the toughest thing that I kind of had to deal with professionally in my life.

DAN MARINO: I could have, but I think that, you know, the circumstances last year and the things that -- I felt that I probably wouldn't be a Dolphin after the last game and not only because of playing here 17 years, but I think just the situation, the new coach and Dave is here and just thought I probably wouldn't be playing for the Dolphins. In fact, probably wouldn't be playing anywhere. Until after I think it was two weeks ago or so, I was -- my mind was made up to retire.

DAN MARINO: That was the burning desire. Every time I talked to Dennis Green or any of the other coaches around the League, that is what I play for. That was the only reason really to continue to play - did I feel that I was going to have a chance to win a Super Bowl, and that has been a dream of mine my whole career and I am not going to have that chance. But it does not take away from what I have done personally. I just -- I think that I wanted to know what it felt like as a player to win a Super Bowl and any time you have a chance maybe to get that, you are going to want to play.

DAN MARINO: Well, Mike, I can throw it ever since I could remember. (laughs) It's been a long time throwing a football. I played early for the Catholic grade school that I grew up right across the street in Pittsburgh, played there, and had some great games. The field was right down the street from my house. I remember we would go to church and go to mass in full dress uniform before we went to the field to play. But the one memory I always remember was how fortunate I was to have a father that was there that can spend time with me every day and my dad is the one that taught me how to throw a football and I mentioned earlier how he was the best coach that I have ever had, not only in some fundamentals of the game, but in life.

DAN MARINO: I think it is going to be extremely tough. It has been tough the last month just thinking about it. I have had discussions with other players, friends of mine that have been through this same thing, and they say that it really never leaves you. After time, it does go away, but you always feel that you can play and the sensation that you get and the excitement, it never goes away.

DAN MARINO: Sure, there is a lot of options. I think really what I want to do -- I have had plenty of business opportunities that are presented me. I am going to need some time to sit back and think about what I want to do; talk with the family, see what I want to do. I always thought maybe I would want to do television. I am not sure about that. Get into business personally. The one thing, for sure, I will be able to take control of my life a little more, so I am going to look at a lot of different options.

DAN MARINO: Hey, that -- some day that might be something that I would love to do. But right now, I don't think I could -- would consider that. I think it is something that would be fun. I mean, to see what Michael Jordan is doing, I know it's probably a lot of work for him, but I am sure it is something that he really enjoys. That could be fun.

DAN MARINO: It was funny, yeah, I -- personally I went back and forth a lot with the thought of continuing playing football just because it is what I do. I have done it my whole life. I guess it was Thursday morning in my kitchen sitting around with Claire, I called my dad over and my mom. I told them it is time, it is time for me to retire. It wasn't a big deal or anything. We just kind of decided that and went on with the rest of the day. I believe that is when it was; wasn't it?

DAN MARINO: Flew all the way down here from Pittsburgh?

DAN MARINO: Thanks.

DAN MARINO: There is no doubt growing up in a competitive area where I grew up, I mean, when I was a kid sometimes the most competitive games I played were in the neighborhood in the street, the street games. It is a great city to grow up in. It's an area that just loves football, high school football there, is as good as it gets anywhere. I will always have ties, relationships in that city. It is very special to me.

DAN MARINO: Do I feel like going back to live in Pittsburgh? You never know what is going to happen. I like the beach too, though.

DAN MARINO: No, there is no way I can coach the guys that play today, no way. (laughs).

DAN MARINO: If someone called I would feel the same way that I did when Dennis Green called me about playing. I mean, you get those juices flowing, and that is just part of what makes good players good players, but I will not play football again.

DAN MARINO: There is no doubt that I have and I always have been. Last month has been kind of difficult and I think sometimes there is a lot of things that are written in the press that might not necessarily be true. But there is things, the Dolphins have done for me over the years and within the last months that have been incredible. I have been treated great here. I have no regrets at all.

DAN MARINO: You know what, I don't -- I think it comes down to a football decision and a health decision. It really didn't come down to how close a team was or how close a team is to my house in Weston. I don't think it comes down to that. It comes down to -- for me, it came down to a physical decision an a family decision.

DAN MARINO: I would just have to say that our relationship was up and down at times and Coach Johnson, we had some great, great days together and some fun times and sometimes I wasn't very happy here while he was coaching and that is just being honest. Thank you guys, I appreciate it. I guess we are going to do some individual things. Thank you so much. (applause.)