Talk around the NFL this week has brought back sweet memories for me. With nine straight wins, there is a lot of speculation that the New England Patriots could become the second NFL team in history to boast an undefeated season. The title for a perfect season is presently held by the 1972 Miami Dolphins and their 17-0 season. Former Miami coach Don Shula was on television this weekend answering questions about the likelihood of New England going all the way.

“They’ve got a chance to do it,” Shula said. Other teams have had chances, but no one has yet done it.

I happen to have been working in the ticket office for the Miami Dolphins during their halcyon years in 1971 – 1973. Back then, the Dolphins played in the Orange Bowl. There were 80,010 seats to be sold every game. When they starting winning in 1971, selling tickets was not much of a problem. In fact, in 1973, they established another NFL record with 74,961 season tickets sold.

The team was still very young when the Dolphins started their winning streak in 1971. The Miami Dolphins were an NFL expansion team that was founded in 1966 by Joseph Robbie. George Wilson was their first coach and Shula came on board in 1970, just a short time before I joined the team in the front office.

I have always found the story of how Robbie came to start the Miami franchise interesting. Before there was a Miami Dolphins, Robbie was a hard-working attorney living in Minneapolis. Robbie and his wife, Liz, both practicing Catholics, had 11 children. He always had an interest in politics and he once served in the legislature in his birth state of South Dakota. At one time he ran unsuccessfully for governor there.

According to the story Robbie told me, in the mid-60’s he represented a client who was thinking about starting a football team in south Florida. At the time, no one thought an NFL team would be successful in the tourist Mecca. Robbie was asked to accompany his client to Miami to advise him during the tentative, early discussions. Robbie always swore he advised his client it was a great idea, but the client backed out of the proposal.

Robbie returned to Minneapolis in a fever to pick up the piece his client had dropped. The only problem was he had a large family to support and not a lot of money in the bank. What he did have were nerves of steel and political contacts. Robbie said he needed $2 million to start the franchise, which back then was a King’s ransom. He told me he went to Chicago to visit a banker friend of his. He said the banker asked him, “If you were me, would you loan you two million dollars?” Robbie told his friend, “No.” The banker loaned him the money and the rest, as they say, is history. He packed up his family and moved to south Florida.

Robbie was good at blazing new paths. It was often said that he “stole Shula from Baltimore.” It could more accurately be described as “enticed Shula from Baltimore.” To get Shula to leave the team he had taken to two NFL championship games, Robbie offered him part ownership in The Miami Dolphins. A coach having part ownership in a team was something that was unheard of at the time. Shula hopped on board.

Robbie often had run-ins with the City of Miami about their Orange Bowl facilities. It was not unusual, even back in the early 70’s, for Robbie to threaten to take his team somewhere else to play. He was not a man to make idle threats. It took him a few years, but he built his own stadium.

With Robbie running the front office, Shula running the field with players like Bob Griese, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Paul Warfield, Manny Fernandez, Bill Stanfill and Jim Langer — it was a winning combination. It resulted in the perfect season.

I will be one of many people waiting to see if the New England Patriots can match their record.