Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 â May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his career, Shula is the NFL’s winningest head coach at 347 career victories and 328 regular season victories. He held his first head coaching position with the Baltimore Colts, whom he led for seven seasons, and spent his next 26 seasons with Miami. Shula had only two losing seasons during his 33 years as a head coach and led the Dolphins to two consecutive Super Bowl titles in Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII. His first Super Bowl title during 1972 is the only perfect season in NFL history.
He started his career as a football player, but was interrupted when he was called up to train in preparation for deployment in Korea in January of 1952 with the 145th Armoured Regiment, Company C of the Ohio National Guard. Shula spent almost a year at Camp Polk in Louisiana before the unit was disbanded in November 1952.
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