Former Dolphins star running back Mercury Morris, a two-time Super Bowl champ, dies at 77

Eugene “Mercury” Morris - a three-time Pro Bowl running back, a two-time Super Bowl champion, a radiant and playful personality and perhaps the most vocal advocate for the undefeated Dolphins in any discussion about the best team in NFL history - died on Saturday night at 77, his son Troy-Jeffery Morris said in a social media post on Sunday morning.

The Dolphins confirmed his passing.

Morris played seven seasons for the Dolphins (1969 through 1975), sometimes butting heads with coach Don Shula but consistently providing speed, elusiveness and reliable production for one of the league’s best teams and most feared running games.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Eugene “Mercury” Morris, legendary Miami Dolphins running back and cherished member of the NFL family, at the age of 77,” his family said in a statement.

“Known for his electrifying speed and dynamic play, Mercury was a cornerstone of the Dolphins’ historic 1972 undefeated season and a two-time Super Bowl champion. His talent and passion left an indelible mark on the sport, and his three Pro Bowl selections only solidified his place among football’s greats.

“Beyond the field, Mercury was a dedicated father, a loving brother, a loyal friend, and a pillar in the community. His presence extended far beyond football, as he touched the lives of many throughout his time in Miami.”

Morris ran 190 times for 1,000 yards (5.3 average) and a league-leading 12 touchdowns during the Dolphins undefeated ‘72 season and formed an elite running back triumvirate with Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick.

“It’s a very sad day for me and our Dolphins family,” Csonka said on the social media platform X on Sunday.

In seven years with the Dolphins, Morris ran 754 times for 3,877 yards (5.1 per carry) and 29 touchdowns, while catching 46 passes for 491 yards. He also was one of the NFL’s most electrifying special teams players, averaging 26.5 yards and scoring three touchdowns on 111 career kickoff returns.

He finished his career playing a single season for the San Diego Chargers in 1976.

His 5.1 career per carry average is tied with Aaron Jones for ninth in pro football history, just behind Jim Brown’s 5.2.

In 1982, Morris was convicted of cocaine trafficking and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, with a mandatory 15-year term. In 1986, his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court because evidence he had offered to prove his entrapment defense had been excluded under a mistaken characterization as hearsay.

Morris was granted a new trial and agreed to a plea bargain with the prosecutor in which he pleaded no contest to cocaine conspiracy charges.

He was released from prison in 1986, after serving 3 1/2 years. He later appeared in an anti-cocaine public service announcement where he talked about his time in prison.

In subsequent years, he became a motivational speaker and his fame only grew when he starred in a Reebok “Perfectville” commercial and became the most outspoken member of the 1972 team in defending the team’s legacy.

With an endearing smile and authoritative voice, he forcefully challenged anyone who asked about another team “surpassing” the Dolphins’ record.

In a 2022 interview with the Miami Herald, Morris said he doesn’t believe the ‘72 team has been disrespected, but it galls him when anyone suggests the Dolphins’ undefeated season could be overtaken.

He said that’s simply not possible, and he doesn’t suffer fools who suggest it is possible.

“When the Patriots went 18-0 and then 18-1 [in the 2007 season], a guy from ESPN came up to me before the Super Bowl against the Giants and said, ‘if the Patriots go 19-0, they’re going to be better than you.’ I said, ‘How?” He said, ‘how many games you play?’ I asked him, ‘When were you born?’ He said, ‘1972.’

“I said, ‘Don’t say another [expletive] word to me about the ‘72 team; you were [expletive] on yourself then and you are now. It’s like asking what’s the second-largest canyon? There is no besting 17-0.”

Morris said his most enjoyable post-career project was “by far the Perfectville ad because there was so much drama around it. They chose me and I chose every guy in it. The whole thing was, ‘Who can break the Dolphins’ record?’ Actually, nobody can.”

Two days before the Patriots attempted (and failed) to complete a perfect season by losing to the Giants in the February 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona, Morris, Kiick, Garo Yepremian and Hall of Fame guard Larry Little took photos in front of a faux road sign that said, “Welcome To Perfectville, Pop. 1, Founded 1972.”

Commercials were shot to either welcome New England as a second resident to “Perfectville” or to cement Miami’s continued status as the only perfect team in NFL history.

Morris gave Reebok the inspiration for the commercial with his original comments to “tell me when [the undefeated Patriots] are on my block and ready to move in.”

Born in Pittsburgh, Morris attended Avonworth High School in the northwestern suburbs of the city. He attended West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M University) from 1965 to 1969, where he was an All American. In 1967, he finished second in the nation to Southern California’s O.J. Simpson in rushing yards with 1,274 and set a college record for rushing yards in a game (340).

In 1969, the Dolphins selected him in the third round of 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft.

He immediately made an impact as a rookie, rushing 23 times for 110 yards and averaging 26.4 yards per kickoff return, leading the AFL in kickoff returns with 43 and in kickoff return yardage with 1,136. Both totals would have also led the NFL.

His 105-yard return was the longest in the AFL that season, and he was also one of the AFL’s leading punt returners that year.

Morris had several squabbles with Shula during their six years together but they had an affectionate relationship before Shula’s passing in 2020.

“We were close when it was over and I wrote him a letter after I came back from San Diego that I got more from him that means something than stuff I want to hang onto that means nothing,” Morris said.

“We were close from then on. Coming from a team with George Wilson coaching, when it was too hot, we would go swimming instead of practicing — to Don Shula, where we never had a drink of water on the field in six years. To go from 3-10-1 (under Wilson) to 10-4 and then going to a Super Bowl and then 17-0” was special.

Here was the background on his spats with Shula:

Early in his Dolphins career, Morris angered Shula by seeking a second opinion on a leg injury, which Morris didn’t appreciate.

“He’s reaming me out for talking to another doctor to see what I should do about my thigh!” Then Shula angered Morris by not giving him a carry in the 24-3 loss to Dallas in the Super Bowl in January of 1972.

“I was mad because I didn’t get a chance to play. I was the only running back on the team who could run sweeps.

“The only time I was off bench that day — except for kickoffs — was for the national anthem. One of the coaches told Shula [I was upset] and he comes up to me after the game and said, ‘If I find out you said anything to the press, I’ve had it.’”

But in a calmer moment, Shula told him: “I wouldn’t want a guy on this team who didn’t want to play” and “we wanted to go with the guys who got us here” — meaning Csonka and Kiick.

“I said coach, ‘getting here wasn’t the thing. Winning was the thing. Don’t you think I would give us a spark?’

“After the Pro Bowl that winter, Tom Landry [the winning coach in that Super Bowl game against the Dolphins] said I could have made a difference in that game and he’s glad I didn’t play against them.”

Months later, Shula “called me into his office before camp started and said ‘I’m going to give you an opportunity to play to see if you’re capable of doing it.’ I said that’s all I wanted. He didn’t want to break up Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka, but he understood it was best for the team [to add me to the mix]. And Jim understood that.”

During the undefeated 1972 season, Csonka ran 213 times for 1,117 and 5 TDs. Morris had 190-1,000 and 12 TDs and Kiick finished 137-521-5 TDs. Kiick caught 21 passes, Morris 15 and Csonka 5.

“It isn’t easy to gain equality with two guys, not to break up Butch and Sundance but bring another element so we could win,” Morris said.

“Speed is what I came with. I loved playing with Jim and Larry because we won. It was only about winning. My breakout started halfway through the season in ‘72; I scored five touchdowns in two games against the Bills and Jets in the middle of the season.

“Before the Super Bowl, Don said Washington ‘is going to be keying on you.’ He said ‘we’re going to use you as a decoy.’ But all I cared about was winning.” Morris ran 10 times for 34 yards in that Super Bowl win against Washington, capping the only undefeated season in NFL history.

Csonka and Kiick left for the Word League after the 1974 season, breaking up one of the most famous running back triumvirates in NFL history.

“I didn’t really like it because it forced [the running game] to be rebuilt,” Morris said. “When Benny Malone came, he wasn’t that much bigger than me. He tried to run like he was Csonk. And that left him with a shorter career.

“In 1975, after the first six games, I was second in the league in rushing and Malone had gotten hurt earlier in the season and wasn’t playing. Shula said he was going to alternate me with Benny. We had a back and forth in the locker room. After one game in the second half of the season, I said, ‘it doesn’t matter because I’m out of here after the season.’”

Morris said he would be happy to go to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Oakland, “any place but San Diego.”

Days before the 1976 season, he was traded to San Diego, where he played his final NFL season. The Dolphins received a fourth-round pick in return.

“I told reporters, ‘You tell Shula he will do no better than wherever I’m going. The Chargers were 6-8 that year and Shula [and the Dolphins] were 6-8.”

In a statement on Sunday morning, the Dolphins said: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dolphins great Mercury Morris, two-time Super Bowl champion and beloved member of the 1972 Perfect Team. Morris left a lasting impact through his dynamic play, personality and record-breaking performances. He loved the Dolphins, the fans and the community of South Florida and will forever be remembered as one of the greatest players to don the aqua and orange. Our hearts are with his family, loved ones and teammates as they honor his life and mourn his passing.”

Morris was considered fiercely loyal by his teammates. Before Kiick died in 2020 at 73, after years of cognitive decline, Morris drove from his South Dade home to Kiick’s Broward assisted living facility to have lunch with him every week.

Morris was also a vocal advocate for players who played before 1993 and were automatically excluded from the NFL’s pension plan and other benefits. He filed a complaint against the league.

“I proved [in his complaint] that what they’ve done to us [players before 1993] and what they’ve done to the players like Nick Buoniconti and Jim, who could have had a better quality of life, they instead opted to have these kids today to be able to walk out on the field and wear $50,000 earrings in each ear – which amounted to the same pay Kiick, Csonka and I had in 1972. And they wear them as earrings.”

Morris is the 22nd player from the 1972 team who has died. He is survived by his children Geno, Tiffany, Maceo, Troy and Elliott and siblings Cynthia, Valerie and Janice.