Shula tribute, Tua tales, Uncle Vante

The Miami Dolphins will be honoring the memory of legendary coach Don Shula during the 2020 season with a patch on their jersey.

The patch will feature the name Shula over the number 347.

The number, of course, represents the final number of victories in the brilliant coaching career of Shula, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, a little less than two years after he began his final season with the Dolphins.

This will be the first time in the Dolphins’ 54 seasons that a patch will be worn to honor an individual. In 2019, the team wore special helmet decals with the initials of Hall of Fame alumni who passed away, including linebacker Nick Buoniconti and center Jim Langer. The team had previously worn helmet stickers with their uniform numbers to honor the memories of active Dolphins players who had passed away, including running back David Overstreet (1984) and linebacker Larry Gordon (1983). The Dolphins wore a black armband on their jerseys with the initials “JR” in 1990 to honor the passing of team founder Joe Robbie.

Shula died May 4 at the age of 90, and the organization allowed fans three weeks later to drive by his statue outside Hard Rock Stadium to pay their respects.

Tales from Tua

The Fitz jersey: Tua Tagovailoa showed up for his first Zoom media session of the summer wearing a Dolphins jersey with number 14, which obviously is the number worn by veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Tagovailoa joked that he wanted to break the ice with the media, but it also was a big sign of respect. “To start it off with Fitz, very, very down-to-earth person,” Tua said. “Very humble.”