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Bobby Bowden and others recall last day on the job

Here are a few of the memories: Marlins made-up ticket numbers, wishing it wasn’t the end, cursing Don Shula during a game against the Bucs then thanking him.
 
FSU coach Bobby Bowden is carried off the field by his players after winning his final game, 33-21 over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl after the 2009 season.
FSU coach Bobby Bowden is carried off the field by his players after winning his final game, 33-21 over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl after the 2009 season. [ Tampa Bay Times (2010) ]
Published May 26, 2020

What do you remember about your last day on the job?

The simplest questions bring the best answers.

David Samson, former Miami Marlins president: “It’s a well-known fact that we would make up attendance numbers. It’s not that we committed any financial fraud, because for every announced fan over actual tickets sold we had to buy the ticket for a dollar. But the attendance numbers would have some significance to them — at least to me they did. And I’m the one who made them up. Sometimes it was to reach a total average or an inside joke. My last game, I knew the team was being sold to Derek Jeter. If you look back at the attendance number — and this is my No. 1 memory of that game — the number I came up with was 25,222. Because Derek Jeter wore No. 2. I knew it was the last game of my career with the Marlins. I never mentioned it to Jeter. There was no reason. But the number was because I knew he was buying the team.”

Bobby Bowden, former Florida State coach: “The thing I remember most about my last game is thinking, ‘I don’t want it to be my last game.’ I didn’t want to retire. I wanted one more year. That’s all I wanted. I wanted one more year. I knew I was getting old and would be having to retire. But I knew we had a good ball club coming back and wanted to go out that way. It was a good team, too. They won 10 games that year. That’s the year I wanted to go out on.”

Manny Fernandez, former Dolphins defensive tackle: “Preseason game against Tampa Bay in 1977. I couldn’t believe Don Shula was playing me. I was pissed. That’s when they had six preseason games. Veterans didn’t play them all. Yet I was out there playing. Then, after that game, I got cut. I’d been hurt for a while. That was it. I didn’t know it, but that preseason game vested me for a 10th year for my pension. Shula was doing me a favor. That 10th year was important. I got that and had two years left on my contract to collect and so I left with some money.”

Michael Vick, former NFL quarterback: “My last game in the NFL was missing Antonio Brown on the deep ball in Pittsburgh. I predetermined where I was going to go with the throw, not trusting Antonio Brown versus (Arizona cornerback) Patrick Peterson. I decided before the play to trust Martavis Bryant versus another corner. I threw it to Martavis on a deep throw. It was incomplete. Antonio Brown had made a move on Peterson, who fell down. Antonio was running by himself. I looked at the film on the sideline on the iPad and saw what happened. The next possession, I pulled my hamstring and never played again. I was benched when I got healthy. If I had just made the right throw, I still think they would’ve waited for me to heal from that hamstring. The fact that I missed that throw and it was a little confusing on the sideline between me and Antonio, I never played again. I’ve thought about it a lot. I don’t let it get me down. I just knew I was second-guessing myself, and you shouldn’t do that. You can’t line up under center and not feel comfortable about what you’re doing.”

Leo Armbrust, former UM, Dallas Cowboys and Dolphins team chaplain: “My last game was the last game of (Dolphins) interim coach Jim Bates, just before (Nick Saban) took over. I didn’t know it was the last, but I do remember a couple last games that had a profound effect on me. In the fourth quarter of the Dolphins’ playoff game against Jay Fiedler’s Jacksonville team (in 1999 season), when they were losing sixty-something to seven, I stood next to Jimmy Johnson in the fourth quarter. I said to him, ‘This is no way for you go to out and end your career. You’re still the best as far as I’m concerned.’ When his Cowboys beat Buffalo in Atlanta in the Super Bowl, I closed the door to his room after the game and said, ‘This is the last game with this team, isn’t it?’ He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know.’ He took off his shirt and threw it on the floor. I said, ‘Can I have this?’ I have his shirt from his last games with the Cowboys and Dolphins. He’s since autographed them for me.”

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Keith Sims, former Dolphins guard: “I hurt my Achilles in the second game of the 2000 season with Washington. I couldn’t walk the next day. I literally hopped into Redskin Park. I’d strained it but had no major damage. (Coach) Norv Turner and (owner) Dan Snyder told me to do whatever it took to be on the field on Sundays. We came up with a plan. I would not practice all week. Sundays, I would get a shot to numb my Achilles. I took that shot along with Toradol. That was the most fun in my 11-year NFL career! I had a weekly movie review spot on the local news and I did a movie review column in the Washington Post. I arrived in the mornings and left by lunchtime. The plan worked perfectly until three weeks left in the season when Norv was fired. Terry Robiskie was named interim head coach. He called me in his office and told me he needed all his players to practice. So I practiced that week. It was Cowboys’ week and we needed a win to make the playoffs. The third play, I was blocking and heard a loud “pop.” I thought someone had kicked me in the lower leg. I hopped on one foot looking for the player that kicked me. No one was around on the ground. I tried (to) put my foot on the ground and the most intense pain I had ever felt took over and I fell to the ground. I’d torn my Achilles. Unfortunately, I had major issues and needed three surgeries in 10 months, the last to save the foot. That’s how my career ended.”

Mercury Morris, former Dolphins running back: “In 1976, I was with the Chargers. I told the GM John Sanders I planned on quitting. He said Bum Phillips would like you in Houston, if you don’t want to retire. I said, ‘I’m not retiring, I’m quitting.' You retire when the game has has had enough of you. You quit when you’ve had enough of the game. I quit. At that time, I walked away from $270,000. I was making $135,000 a year, which at that time was tops of the team. I quit. I walked away when I was in charge.”