However, in Super Bowl III and despite being heavy favorites over the 19 1⁄2 point underdog New York Jets, the Colts were defeated in a massive upset by a score of 16–7.

Shula was born on January 4, 1930, in Grand River, Ohio, a small town along the Lake Erie shore in the northeastern part of the state.

To meet the family's financial needs, his father obtained a job in the local fishing industry for $15 a week, and later worked at a rayon plant in nearby Painesville, Ohio.

He did not try out for the team because of his mother's prohibition and because he was recovering from a bout of pneumonia, but an assistant football coach noticed him in a gym class and convinced him to join.

[5] As Shula prepared to graduate from high school in 1947, many men whose football careers were delayed by service in World War II were returning and competing for college athletic scholarships.

That summer, however, he had a chance meeting at a gas station with former Painesville football coach Howard Bauchman, who suggested he ask about a scholarship at John Carroll University.

[8] Cleveland had won the NFL championship the previous year behind a staunch defense and an offense led by quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and end Dante Lavelli.

[10] The Colts waived Shula at the end of training camp in 1957 season, the last player cut as the team reduced its squad to 35 men,[22] and the Washington Redskins picked him up.

[6] The Lions posted winning records in each of Shula's three seasons there under head coach George Wilson and finished in second place in the NFL West in 1961 and 1962.

[30] Weeb Ewbank, under whom Shula had played in Cleveland and Baltimore, was fired as the Colts' head coach in 1963 following three disappointing seasons and disagreements over team strategy and organization with owner Carroll Rosenbloom.

[31] Shula was only 33 years old, making him the youngest coach in league history at the time, but Rosenbloom was familiar with his personality and approach from his playing days in Baltimore.

[6][33] The team was still led by Johnny Unitas, who was Shula's teammate during his final year as a player in Baltimore and had helped the Colts win championships in 1958 and 1959.

[34]: 121–123  The Colts were heavily favored to win even by sportswriters in Cleveland, due in large part to their strong receiving corps and Unitas, who had 2,824 passing yards and won the league's Most Valuable Player award.

[34]: 123 The Colts tied the Green Bay Packers with a 10–3–1 record at the end of the 1965 season, forcing a playoff to determine which of them would play in the championship game.

[37] Baltimore got out to a 10–0 lead at halftime while using halfback Tom Matte at quarterback, but the Packers, coached by Vince Lombardi, made a comeback in the second half and tied the score at the end of regulation.

[36][38] Shula said after the game that while his team could not expect to execute its usual strategy without Unitas and Cuozzo, the Colts "don't belong in this league" if they could not beat Green Bay once in three tries.

[45] Shula tried to ease Unitas back into the lineup, but the quarterback's injury flared up numerous times, culminating with a game against Cleveland in which he had just one completion and three interceptions.

[47] He compiled a 71–23–4 record in seven seasons in Baltimore, but was just 2–3 in the postseason, including upset losses in the 1964 NFL Championship Game and Super Bowl III, where the Colts were heavy favorites.

[50] League commissioner Pete Rozelle found the Dolphins in violation of the tampering policy because they did not seek permission to negotiate and did not notify the Colts of the hiring before its announcement.

[63] In 1972, Shula led Miami to the NFL's first and only perfect season, ending with a 17–0 record and a 14–7 victory in Super Bowl VII over the Washington Redskins.

[74][75] The playoff loss in the 1981 season against the San Diego Chargers was a hard-fought back-and-forth battle that many sportswriters, players and coaches consider one of the greatest games ever played.

[78] The offense was led by David Woodley and Don Strock, who shared duties at quarterback following Griese's retirement after the 1980 season, and fullback Andra Franklin, who was second in the NFL in rushing.

[81] The 1983 season marked the beginning of a new era in Miami with the selection of quarterback Dan Marino out of the University of Pittsburgh in the first round of the NFL draft.

[93] "I've been accused of being a conservative, 'grind'em-out' kind of coach, because that was the style of my teams in 1972–73, but I point out that when I was at Baltimore, and Johnny Unitas was my quarterback, we used to have a wide-open, explosive passing attack," Shula said in 1985.

[97] He remained active in the branding business during his retirement, and the company bearing his name expanded, although his son Dave assumed management of the firm during his later years.

[95][98] Shula also became a frequent product promoter in his later years, working for Miami-based auto dealership Warren Henry, HearUSA hearing aids, NutriSystem diet plans, Humana health insurance and Budweiser beer, among others.

[102] On February 3, 2008, he attended Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona, in which the Patriots could have matched his Dolphins team's perfect season, but lost.

[118] Shula was known as a tough and practical coach who worked players hard and put an emphasis on discipline, which helped reduce errors in games.

[120] During the last 20 years of his coaching career, Shula served on the NFL's Competition Committee, an era when the body pushed through rules that made the league more pass-oriented.

[122] Shula has the distinction of having coached five different quarterbacks to Super Bowl appearances: Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall in 1968, Bob Griese in 1971, 1972, and 1973, David Woodley in 1982, and Dan Marino in 1984, three of them future Hall of Famers.