The Miami Dolphins are currently focused on prepping for offseason workouts to compete for another Lombardi Trophy in 2024, but on Wednesday night, their alumni, fans and just about everyone associated with the organization got hit with devastating news.
Former linebacker Mike “Captain Crunch” Kolen died Wednesday, his alma mater Auburn University announced.
Mike Kolen, a linebacker who started all three Super Bowls for the Miami Dolphins, was 76 years old.
The former Miami Dolphins linebacker was on the team that recorded the National Football League’s only perfect season and put together a long, impressive career with the NFL franchise.
Kolen played eight seasons for the Dolphins after being selected by Miami in the 12th round of the 1970 NFL Draft. In 1972 and 1973, the Dolphins won back-to-back Super Bowls thanks to Kolen being part of Miami’s “No Name Defense.”
In 2016, Kolen would go on to publish The Greatest Team: A Playbook for Champions, a novel about his journey in football and life. The following year, the former Dolphins linebacker revealed to the Miami Heraldthat he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Mike Kolen Was Auburn Tigers Legend Before Joining Miami Dolphins
He was just as much a legend in college with the Auburn Tigers as Kolen would reportedly return to his alma mater each spring for decades to present the Mike Kolen Award at A-Day to Auburn’s leading tackler from the previous season.
A 1985 Alabama Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Kolen led Auburn in tackles in 16 of the 25 games he started from 1967-69, earning All-SEC honors as a junior and senior
For decades, Kolen returned to his alma mater each spring — long after his NFL career with the Miami Dolphins — to present the Mike Kolen Award at A-Day to Auburn’s leading tackler from the previous season.
It’s been a real thrill for me,” Kolen said in 2016. “You’re congratulating a player from the previous year who had a great impact on Auburn’s defensive side of the ball, being the leading tackler. Being there at Auburn, being out on the field, kind of reminds you of some old memories. It’s just a really next experience, and something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed over the years.”
Kolen arrived at Auburn in 1966 after starring at Birmingham’s Berry High School.
In his 2016 book, The Greatest Team: A Playbook for Champions, Kolen wrote about his admiration for Coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan.
“I liked everything about him. He was super organized and would have been a great CEO in business. His expectations were high,” Kolen wrote. “It was an outstanding opportunity for a young man like me to be exposed to such a quality and disciplined program.”
The title of Kolen’s book refers to the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the NFL’s only unbeaten Super Bowl champion.
A man of deep faith, Kolen in 1969 became the first recipient of the National Christian Athlete of the year Award.
“Mike Kolen is one of the finest men I’ve ever known,” said former Auburn athletics director and sports information director David Housel. “Being a football player was secondary to Mike Kolen. He’s one of the greatest football players Auburn ever had, but he was much more. A rock, a beacon.
“When I think of Mike Kolen, I think of toughness, competitiveness, and a quality of goodness. He was a great football player but he was a better man.”
Kolen displayed that competitiveness at Legion Field before and during the 1969 Iron Bowl. A team captain, Kolen determined to help his team end Alabama’s five-game rivalry win streak.
“His teammates never heard him cuss,” recalled Housel. “That day at Legion Field, they were about to leave the dressing room he said, ‘All right, guys. Let’s go out there and beat the hell out of them.’
It was almost unheard of him to use a foul word during his collegiate tenure or during his career with the Miami Dolphins.
“The players say that really got them fired up because when Mike Kolen was fired up enough to say that, they knew he was serious. It gave all of them a spark.”
Auburn won 49-26.
3 Comments
Real men never die!!!
He will be always remembered!!
Those guys the Miami dolphins team mercury Morris were undefeated Loved them 1975.
When I was 17, I worked at Leeds Dept Store on South Andrew’s. He came into the store, bought something and left. I followed him into the parking lot and said, are you Captain Crunch? He turned with a smile and said yes I am.