Miami Dolphins

History, Mascot and Uniforms

The Miami Dolphins were founded by Joe Robbie in 1966. The Dolphins were a part of the AFL league between 1966 and 1969. In 1970 the Dolphins became a part of what is known today as the NFL. The Miami Dolphins play at Pro Player Stadium.

Mariners, Marauders, Mustangs, Missiles, Monns, Sharks, Suns. None of those names suggested to the AFL expansion franchise in 1965 could raise a fin to the runaway winner. "Dolphins" was submitted by 622 entrants in a contest which attracted 19,843 entries and more than a thousand different names. The dozen finalists were delivered to a seven member screening committee of local media.

On Friday, April 18, 1997, the first "official" mascot of the Miami Dolphins was introduced. The winning entry, was announced at the annual Dolphins Awards Banquet on June 4, 1997.

The club had a live dolphin, "Flipper", who was situated in a fish tank in the open end of the Orange Bowl during the team's early years, and "Dolfan Denny", has prowled the sidelines for many seasons. However, this marks the first time the club actually has an official mascot, one who participates in many of the team's programs in addition to his game-day activities.

Uniforms

In 1997, dark blue was added to the logo and uniforms as an accent color. The hashmarks around the perimeters of logo's sunburst were removed, while the dolphin's features were accentuated. The Dolphins also changed from numbers outlined in orange to drop-shadow numbers.

In 2005 and 2006, the Dolphins wore the all-white combination. From 2000 through 2004, the Dolphins usually wore all-white at home and aqua pants with white jerseys on the road under former coach Dave Wannstedt (2000-2004) and interim coach Jim Bates (2004).

On three occasions, the Dolphins have worn an all-aqua combination for prime-time games: defeating the Chicago Bears in 2002, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2003, and defeating the Cleveland Browns in 2004.

In February 2007, it was announced that the Dolphins would make slight alterations to their uniforms. The navy blue outline on the Dolphins numbers will be thinned in hopes of making them easier to read for viewers. Despite this news and contrary to rumors, the Dolphins have no plans to change the team's logo.