Manny Fernandez, a star defensive lineman on the undefeated Miami Dolphins who had 17 tackles in that season’s Super Bowl win, died at 79, the team announced on Tuesday.
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Fernandez joined the Dolphins in their third season in 1968 and became a foundational piece of their two Super Bowl wins and three Super Bowl appearances in the early 1970s. He was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor in 2014.
“His consistent and selfless contributions on the field were instrumental to the Dolphins success in the early 1970s,” the team said in a statement.
Fernandez was named the Dolphins’ “Outstanding Defensive Lineman” from the time he was a rookie in 1968 through the second Super Bowl winning season in 1973. He was named to the Dolphins’ All-Time team in 2007.
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His 17 tackles in the 1972 Super Bowl showed a special performance by a defensive tackle. That didn’t win him the game’s MVP, which went to safety Jake Scott for his two inteceptions. But Fernandez’s game ranked him as the 10th best player in any Super Bowl by Yahoo! Sports in 2014.
No cause of death was announced by the team. Fernandez is sixth starter of the 1972 team’s No-Name Defense and believed to be the 23rd player on that team’s roster to have died. The six coaches on the team have also passed, including head coach Don Shula in 2020.
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