Jake Scott, Miami Dolphins legend and Super Bowl MVP, dies at 75

Jake Scott, an All-Pro safety on the Dolphins’ championship teams and MVP of the Super Bowl that capped the 17-0 season in 1972, has died.

Scott, 75, died after injuring his head in a fall while going down steps and was hospitalized in Atlanta.

Long before Dan Marino made No. 13 a special number for the Dolphins, Scott wore it while earning Pro Bowl honors five consecutive times and making two interceptions in the 14-7 victory over Washington in Super Bowl VII to complete The Perfect Season.

Scott then had two fumble recoveries in the next Super Bowl, a 24-7 win over Minnesota.

"As a safety, he was the best partner one could ever have," Dick Anderson, his fellow All-Pro safety, said Thursday night.

Scott remains one of the greatest draft picks in team history, arriving via the seventh round of the 1970 draft out of Georgia and quickly proving there really weren’t 158 players worthy of being selected before him.

In 2010, Scott joined his old Bulldogs teammate, defensive end Bill Stanfill, in the Dolphins Honor Roll at Hard Rock Stadium.

Scott’s presence at the ceremony was a sight many members of the 1972 team thought they’d never see.

In 1976, Scott was traded to Washington after a falling out with coach Don Shula. For decades, he refused to participate in Dolphins alumni activities, the lone notable missing face in the crowd.

Scott was content to be off by himself in Hawaii — or so it seemed.

“Coach Shula and I had our differences, but time heals all wounds,” Scott once said.

A brief meeting between Shula and Scott at a card show in Virginia in the spring of 2010 led to a thawing in the divide.

When Scott walked into an interview room at the stadium for a news conference before his enshrinement in the Dolphins Honor Roll, Shula rose to greet him.

“How you doing, pal?” Shula said. “Good to see you.”

Scott had joined Anderson to form the greatest safety tandem in Dolphins history. Anderson was the league’s defensive player of the year in 1973.

Scott appeared in 84 games for the Dolphins and made 35 interceptions. He remains the team’s all-time leader in that category, having grabbed one more interception than Anderson.

Scott was at his best in the biggest games, recording seven takeaways (four interceptions and three fumble recoveries) in 11 playoff games for Miami.

In 1972, he led the NFL with 318 return yards on 33 punts (a 9.6 average). He is the Dolphins’ all-time leader in punt-return yards with 1,330.

Scott was born July 20, 1945, in Greenwood, S.C. He grew up in Athens, Ga., but played high school ball in Arlington, Va. He led the Georgia Bulldogs in interceptions in 1967 and ’68 and made All-SEC both years. In 2011, he made the College Football Hall of Fame.