Dolphins replace team legend Jim Kiick's lost Super Bowl ring

Here’s a nice gesture that went (almost) unnoticed: the Miami Dolphins have replaced the Super Bowl ring that legendary franchise running back Jim Kiick lost long ago.

Kiick was a running back on those early-’70s Dolphins juggernauts, including the perfect 1972 squad. He’s fallen on harder times of late, having lost the ring at some point in the past, but some of his former teammates and the team worked together to get a replacement. (Unfortunately, it was a duplicate of the ring he didn’t lose, the 1972 season/1973 Super Bowl, rather than the one he did from the next year, but the gesture is the same.)

Many former NFL players, particularly those who played before the days of significant contracts, have suffered severe financial and physical downturns. Kiick said recent media reports painting him as broken are short of the mark.

“My memory is not as bad as made out to be,” he said. “They give you a test to test dementia and the doctor said, ‘How many fingers do I have up?’ He held two. Kiddingly, I said five. The testing is ludicrous. It doesn’t show anything. I have longevity in my family. My mother passed away at 99. I feel fine.”

Kiick is a two-time Super Bowl winner and a two-time All-Star for the Dolphins in the AFL prior to the team joining the NFL.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.