The ’72 Dolphins anniversary celebration: Five questions with a Miami player in the stands
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins’ Perfect Season, the Miami Herald is running weekly conversations with members of 1972 team.
Five questions with Ed Jenkins, who had the distinction of watching the January 1973 Super Bowl in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum stands, instead of the sidelines, despite being a member of the Dolphins at the time:
▪ You have a unique story in that you were on the ‘72 team but watched the Super Bowl in the stands. How did that happen?
Jenkins — who was moved from wide receiver to running back because of his blocking ability and the Dolphins’ depth at wide receiver — was playing behind three great backs and did not get a single rushing attempt that season. After playing the first three games (on special teams), he injured his knee and spent the remainder of the season on the taxi squad.
PERFECT MEMORIES
Join us each Wednesday as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the perfect 1972 team
“For the Super Bowl, I thought I would be allowed on the field, but they wouldn’t allow me. So I sat next to [New Orleans quarterback] Archie Manning during the game [in Los Angeles]. I said, ‘Who is this guy signing autographs?’ They said it was Archie Manning, and he said, ‘I’m pulling for you guys because your franchise is like ours [the Saints]. If you can win one, we can.’
“I was in a good seat at the 30-, 40-yard line. It was the craziest thing that I was the only Dolphin player that wasn’t dressed for the game. I remember watching Don Shula’s face during the game.
“I came down to the locker room after the game, wearing casual clothes, and they threw so much champagne on me. I had to take a shower. Then there were 400 people waiting for me in a bar in Los Angeles after the game and I didn’t even play.”
▪ What was your role on the taxi squad that year?
“What happened was I got injured and came back and there were no spots open [on the active roster] so I continued on the practice team and getting those guys ready every week.
“When we played Buffalo, I played [the role of] O.J. Simpson in practice. I played Franco Harris when we played Pittsburgh. I was one of a few running backs that was on the practice team. I had to study the opponent’s plays and the [Dolphins defensive players] would go at me on Tuesday.
“I remember Nick Buoniconti getting rough with me and I got back in his face. Nick said we’re both from great Catholic schools — Nick from Notre Dame, me from Holy Cross — and to just chill out.’
“Three rookies made the Dolphins that year: Charlie Babb, Larry Ball and myself. I was the youngest.”
▪ What do you remember from Super Bowl week, aside from the game?
“The Dolphins put us in Long Beach; Shula said that from Long Beach, ‘you’re not going into Los Angeles’ during the week. That was a deterrent to players partying during the week.
“It was a dumpy hotel we stayed in, and we see all these rigs coming in with big ships. But that captured everything this blue collar team was about.”
▪ What’s one of the best things the team has done in the aftermath?
“One of the smartest things we did — and I have to give credit to Dick Anderson and Marv Fleming and Earl Morrall — is they held this team together by developing a corporation [with regular autograph and memorabilia signings].
“That is what held us together and got us reuniting. Imagine something you did 50 years ago that you get paid for. I can look at that check every Thanksgiving [and appreciate it]. And I have a kinship with players from that team. Larry Little still looks at me as a rookie.
“Players from other teams have said to me: ‘I don’t know any team that comes together like your team.’”
▪ When you were on the bubble with Green Bay in 1975, what did Packers coach Bart Starr tell you?
“I said I was thinking of going to law school if didn’t make the team. Bart Starr said, ‘You’re going to make a great lawyer.’ I started law school two days later.”
Jenkins earned his law degree from Suffolk Law School in 1978 — the same school where Buoniconti receiver his law degree — and has practiced criminal law in Boston for 45 years.
He was a candidate for Suffolk County district attorney in 1990, losing to a more heavily financed candidate after Jenkins decided against taking the advice of political operatives and declining to talk about his football career during the campaign.
“People close to me said, ‘talk about being a pro football player.’ Being a candidate is a like beauty contest. I refused to do it.”
Besides practicing law, Jenkins has worked as a law professor at Suffolk Law School for 25 years and brought Mercury Morris in to be a guest lecturer.
