The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami, Florida metropolitan area. They play home games at Land Shark Stadium, in the suburb of Miami Gardens. They are headquartered at the Miami Dolphins Training Facility in Davie, Florida. The Dolphins belong to the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Dolphins were founded by Joseph Robbie, began play in the American Football League as an expansion team in 1966, and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger. The Dolphins are the oldest major-league professional sports franchise in the state of Florida.

The team made its first Super Bowl appearance following the 1971 season in Super Bowl VI, but lost to the Dallas Cowboys. In 1972, the Dolphins completed the NFL's first and only completely perfect season culminating in a Super Bowl win, winning all 14 regular season games, two playoff games and Super Bowl VII. To date, they are the only team to have done so. The 1972 Dolphins held the fourth perfect regular season in NFL history. The team also won Super Bowl VIII, becoming the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, and the second team (first AFL/AFC team) to win back-to-back championships. Miami also appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games.

For most of their history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula, the most successful head coach in professional football history. His Dolphins teams posted losing records in only two of his 26 seasons with the club. Six future Hall of Fame members played for Miami during the 1970s, including running back Larry Csonka and quarterback Bob Griese. During the 1980s and 1990s quarterback Dan Marino became the most prolific passer in NFL history, breaking numerous league passing records. He led the Dolphins to five division titles, 10 playoff appearances and Super Bowl XIX before retiring after the 1999 season. The Dolphins recently clinched the AFC East on December 28, 2008 to win their first AFC East division title since 2000. In winning their division, it was even more miraculous how the team came into the season with a record of 1 win and 15 losses from the previous year and finished out their 2008 season with 11 wins and only 5 losses.Fact: date=May 2009

History

main: History of the Miami Dolphins Miami joined the American Football League (AFL) when an expansion team franchise was awarded to lawyer Joseph Robbie and actor Danny Thomas in 1965 for $7.5 million dollars, although Thomas would eventually sell his stake in the team to Robbie. A contest was held in 1965 to find the name of the new Miami franchise for the American Football League. A total of 19,843 entries were submitted with over a thousand different names. A dozen finalists were screened through by a seven-member committee made up of the local media, names considered included the Mariners, Marauders, Mustangs, Missiles, Moons, Sharks, and Suns. The winning name, "Dolphins," was submitted by 622 entrants. Mrs. Robert Swanson of West Miami won lifetime passes to Dolphin games when her nickname entry successfully predicted the winner and score of the 1965 football game between Notre Dame and the University of Miami, a scoreless tie.