Manny Fernandez, the anchor of the Miami Dolphins' legendary No-Name Defense of the 1970s, has died, the team Tuesday. He was 79.
Fernandez was a fixture in Don Shula's front seven on two Miami title rosters, including the 1972 Perfect Team.
"His consistent and selfless contributions on the field were instrumental to the Dolphins' success throughout the early 1970s, particularly in the team's three Consecutive Super Bowl appearances, in which he produced some of the most memorable defensive performances in the history of the game," the team said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and teammates as we remember one of the best players in Dolphins history."
Signed by the Dolphins in 1968 as an undrafted free agent out of Utah, Fernandez played right away for then-Miami coach George Wilson, starting 11 of 13 games played in his rookie year.
Fernandez logged at least four sacks in each of his first six seasons, including the 1970 campaign after which he earned an MVP vote. After a career-best eight-sack season and Super Bowl berth in 1971, Fernandez and Miami embarked on their finest year.
Led by Fernandez, Nick Buoniconti, Bill Stanfil, Vern Den Herder and Jake Scott, Miami's No-Name Defense held opponents to a league-best 12.2 points per game and 235.5 yards per game in 1972, logging three shutouts en route to a perfect 14-0 regular season.
"The perfect s--- was all media hype," Fernandez explained to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe in 2022. "The perfection s--- started in the playoffs. I couldn't stand it. I didn't want to talk about it. I hung up on [Edwin] Pope -- the Miami Herald sports reporter -- because he called me with the perfect talk."
The Dolphins continued their undefeated campaign in the postseason, beating the Cleveland Browns in the Divisional Round and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game to set up Super Bowl VII against Washington. In the Dolphins' ensuing 14-7 victory, Fernandez led Miami with six credited tackles (17, unofficially) and a sack against Billy Kilmer, and the Dolphins defense didn't allow a single point.
Though Fernandez was a top contender to be lauded with Super Bowl MVP honors, the award went to safety Jake Scott, who picked off Kilmer twice.
"To be honest, I don't remember the end of the game," Fernandez told Wolfe. "I don't remember the party after the game. I got a concussion the last 10 minutes of the game. I looked at my wife when I woke up in the morning and asked her, 'How did we do?' I had no recollection of the whole evening. Watching the film later, it was like a flare pass.
"The play was ... to (Washington running back) Larry Brown. I was the first one to get to him. He almost got free, and I was trying to get him down. Then Nick Buoniconti came in and tried to finish it, and his helmet speared me right in the temple. I got up on my feet. I was wobbly. I got up into the Redskins' huddle. Nick had to get me back into our huddle. ... It wasn't my first concussion. But I'm happy to say, nowadays, my mind is all good. I'm still recovering from other playing injuries -- nine back and three shoulder surgeries -- but my mind is good. And we had the greatest team of all time."
Fernandez and the Dolphins made it back to the Super Bowl in 1973, losing two games along the way but once again claiming the Lombardi Trophy, this time with a win over the Minnesota Vikings. Miami also once again led the league in scoring defense, holding regular-season opponents to 10.7 PPG.
"We didn't do it with smoke and mirrors. We did it with great players and coaches," Fernandez told Wolfe. "Our worst players were better than some team's best players. They had your back, and you had to do your best to have their back. We would talk s--- to each other. But we didn't let anybody talk s--- about us."
Fernandez played two more seasons in the NFL before walking away following the 1975 campaign and finding a second life after football.
"The greatest part of being a [member of the] '72 Dolphins was my after-football career, in sales," Fernandez told Wolfe. "It got me into a lot of doors. It was a great entree. In sales, the greatest thing is, it helped me get a lot of appointments. [The] title insurance business was good and set me up for retirement well. Everybody knew me; I made a lot of money and had a lot of fun doing it."
Fernandez finished his career with 35 sacks in 103 games played for the Dolphins. A two-time second-team All-Pro, he was inducted into the Dolphins Walk of Fame in 2012 and Dolphins Honor Roll in 2014, and is a member of Miami's Silver Anniversary Team and 50th Season All-Time Team.
Above all, Fernandez and his teammates will be remembered for the '72 perfect season, which has yet to replicated in NFL history.
"[Going undefeated is] kind of unique," Fernandez told Wolfe. "But you wouldn't know it from listening to sportscasts from other cities who say we got lucky, it was an easy schedule or this team is better. We could've been undefeated if it wasn't for blah blah blah. You know what, I say, f--- 'em."
