Dick Anderson sat down to write an e-mail to his 1972 Miami Dolphins teammates Tuesday morning about the one-year anniversary of Don Shula’s death when it hit him again how many of them are gone.
They were his friends, his teammates, his football family through life. Sixteen players and coaches of this 1972 team — four just this past year alone — are gone, their deaths coming in a world so full of death they couldn’t get a proper goodbye from the team.
“Don’s death, that hit all of us,’' said Anderson, the former Dolphins safety. “He meant so much to us right from our start with him.