Manny Fernandez, two-time Super Bowl champion and anchor of the Miami Dolphins' No-Name Defense, passed away on Tuesday, May 26. He was 79. The team broke the news in an official announcement.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Manny Fernandez," the Dolphins put out a statement on Tuesday. "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."

Nobody wanted Fernandez coming out of high school. He went to Chabot Junior College, then got his shot at the University of Utah in 1965. When the 1968 NFL Draft came around, every single team passed on him.

Miami picked him up as an undrafted free agent anyway. He started 11 of 13 games that first season. Every team that skipped his name on draft day had no idea what they had just walked away from.

Miami came back in 1973 with another Super Bowl run. They dropped two games that season, but it did not matter. They beat the Minnesota Vikings and brought another Lombardi Trophy home.

His passing comes 20 days after the anniversary of Don Shula's death on May 4, 2020. Shula spent 26 years in Miami and won 347 games in total. Nobody in NFL coaching history has topped that number.

He took Fernandez under his wing, and the former defensive back played under him for five years.

Manny Fernandez's Journey From an Undrafted Utah Ute to the Greatest Defense in NFL History

Four sacks a season, six years in a row. In 1971, he got to eight and made his first Super Bowl. Then 1972 happened. Miami gave up 12.2 points and 235.5 yards a game all season. They shut three opponents out completely.

They went 14-0. Beat Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Then came Super Bowl VII. Fernandez turned in 17 tackles and a sack as the Dolphins won 14-7.

Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti had one way of putting it.

"Super Bowl VII was the game of his life. In fact, it was the most dominant game by a defensive lineman in the history of the game," Buoniconti said in an interview back in 2010.

Fernandez was typically unbothered by the attention that came with the perfect season.

"The perfect s--- was all media hype," he told NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe in 2022. "I hung up on the Miami Herald sports reporter because he called me with the perfect talk."

By the time it was over, Fernandez had 35 career sacks across 103 games. Two-time second-team All-Pro. Inducted into the Dolphins Walk of Fame in 2012.

How do you remember Manny Fernandez and his contribution to the Miami Dolphins' greatest era? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar