Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 5-8-20

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Tampa’s Mumphord Remembers Coach Don Shula
Tampa Chapter Of The Links Makes Masks For Dress For Success
Links members, Patsy Greene, left, and Julie Sneed, right, are shown with Dress For Success Executive Director, Katie McGill, center.
BY FRED HEARNS fhearns@netzero.net
As millions of National Foot- ball League (NFL) fans all around the world pay tribute this week to the late Miami Dolphin Coach Don Shula, an East Tampa native knew him as the man who taught him how to win Super Bowls, won more football games (347) than any other NFL coach and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Lloyd Mumphord, who grew up in the 1960s in East Tampa’s College Hill Homes Public Housing Development, graduated from George S. Middleton High School in 1965. The Tiger’s football team captain won the Most Valuable Player Award his senior year and became an All-Southwest- ern Athletic Conference (SWAC) defensive back at
In this 2007 AP photo from left to right are: Coach Don Shula, Larry Seiple (20), Jim Kiick (21), Mercury Morris (22) and Lloyd Mumphord (26), former members of the 1972 unbeaten Miami Dolphins team.
Texas Southern University in Houston.
In 1969, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins, made the team and played defense for Head Coach George Wilson. Mumphord became a start- ing cornerback for the Dol-
phins.
In 1970, Shula was named
Miami’s head coach. “One day he called me into his office,” Lloyd remembers. “He told me he was taking me out of the starting cornerback position because he wanted more size there (Curtis Johnson and Tim Foley). Mumphord was 5’10” and weighed less than 190 pounds. “Coach Shula told me I would be playing in a new spot – the nickel back position, the fifth defensive back” Mumphord said. “I was the first NFL player to play the nickel posi- tion. Actually, I liked it, be- cause Coach Shula allowed me to line up wherever I wanted to before the ball was snapped, based on what the of- fense dictated. He gave me free run – I was like our wild card on defense. He told me to just go for the ball!”
The results? Mumphord and the Dolphins won the Super Bowl in 1972 and again in 1973. Their perfect 17-0 record in 1972 represents the only time in NFL history a team has gone undefeated through an entire season. Lloyd played ten years in the NFL, five with Miami and five with the Baltimore Colts. Cap- tain of the Dolphins’ special teams (kicking) unit, he holds the team record for blocking field goal, extra point attempts and punts. He talks to Eu- gene (Mercury) Morris and other teammates every year when the last undefeated NFL team loses a game. “We have a toast of champagne. Coach Shula used to have a toast with us,” Mumphord said. A long-time resident of Opelousas, Louisiana, Mumphord says Shula will go down as “the best coach ever.”
Coach Shula died earlier this week. He was 90 years old.
On Monday, April 27, 2020, The Tampa Chapter of The Links, Incorporated do- nated approximately 50 cloth masks to the ladies of Dress for Success Tampa Bay.
The Links members:
Patsy Greene, Willa Pe- terson, Mary Dance, Priscilla Howard, Ozepher Wilds and Julie Sneed all contributed to the project. Several of The Links made masks using their sewing skills. The ladies of Dress for Success were glad to receive the masks as they will assist them in hopefully
avoiding the Coronavirus while they perform the neces- sary tasks of work, grocery shopping, and care giving.
The Links donated a total of 71 cloth masks. All of the masks were handmade and the great majority of them were made by members of The Links.
Dress for Success pro- motes economic independ- ence by providing a network of support and development tools to help women thrive in work and life. The Links are a long-standing supporter of Dress for Success.
PAGE 10-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020