Like Father, Like Son For These Dolphins

Miami coach Don Shula, 54, was discussing the traits he shares with his oldest son, David, 25, the team's receiver coach.

"Our energy is limitless," Don said. "We're both driven. We refuse to be licked...."

David, who was listening from the other side of the room that he and his dad share at training camp, interrupted.

"Stubborn!" he shouted.

"Stubborn?" Don said. "I'm not stubborn."

"We're both stubborn, Dad," David said.

In December '82, Dolphin assistant Wally English left to take the head job at Tulane, and Don asked David, who was home from his first semester of law school at the University of Baltimore, to fill in "for a couple of weeks...doing basic breakdowns of films."

David, who grew up cleaning Larry Csonka's cleats and had played one year with the Colts after a successful career as a receiver at Dartmouth, has turned out to be one of Don's greatest finds. By last season, he had transformed a raw Mark Duper into Super Duper—the first Dolphin receiver to gain more than 1,000 yards. This summer his big project was barn burner Mark Clayton. Clayton is a good bet to start at the other wideout when he recovers from a hip pointer.

David is also credited with the Mellowing of Don. "My father has learned to laugh and not to be so tunnel-visioned," David said. "Actually, Danny Shula's the guy who mellowed him."

Danny is the 10-month-old son of David and his wife, Leslie, and the first grandchild of Don and his wife, Dorothy.