17 stories from 'Undefeated: Inside the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ Perfect Season’

Writer Mike Freeman explores the undefeated season of the Florida team in his book.

14. Bench cooling, not warming

Don Shula Wilfredo Lee/AP

The heat in southern Florida was brutal enough, as Larry Csonka once said, to vaporize a player. Shula drove the Dolphins so hard in searing preseason heat that the players joked they were primed to scrimmage on the surface of the sun. Shula, however, knew that come game time, even his well-conditioned players could use a break from the heat and allowed them to put their feet in trays of ice water while sitting on the bench during games.

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