Doug Swift ’70: Miami’s Forgotten “No-Name” Linebacker
Miami’s Community News – “Former Miami Dolphins linebacker Doug Swift proved you don’t have to attend a big-time college football powerhouse to have a successful NFL career,” begins an article by Jay Rao. “Not only did Swift make the team, he became a starter as a rookie and was part of one of football’s all-time great defenses, appropriately named the ‘No-Name Defense.’”
The article describes how Swift arrived at Dolphins training camp in 1970 as “a complete unknown from tiny Amherst College, a school more known for producing doctors than football players.” By 1976, he had played “in 78 regular season games and started in 71 of them. He was a starter on 3 AFC championship teams, 2 Super Bowl championship teams and the NFL’s only undefeated team.”
Though he had an opportunity to sign with the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Swift chose medical school instead and “went on to a long career as an anesthesiologist in Philadelphia.”