- Mike Kolen passed away at 76
- The two-time Super Bowl-winning linebacker retired from the game in 1977.
- But he announced his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2017.
Former Miami Dolphins linebacker Mike ‘Captain Crunch’ Kolen has passed away at the age of 76.
His alma mater, Alabama’s Auburn University, said the linebacker died Wednesday, although details about how he died are currently unknown.
Kolen joined the big leagues by enrolling at Auburn, where he twice earned ALL-SEC honors during his junior and senior years.
He also led the team in tackles in 16 of the 25 games he started from 1967-1969. As a result, fellow Auburn linebacker Robert Margeson nicknamed him for being a great hitter.
Kolen was also the first recipient of the National Christian Athlete of the Year Award.
Former Miami Dolphins linebacker Mike ‘Captain Crunch’ Kolen (pictured, center) has passed away at the age of 76.
Kolen’s role as a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins led them to win two Super Bowls as part of a dynasty that went undefeated into the 1972 season and won consecutive Super Bowls.
Kolen’s role as a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins led them to win two Super Bowls as part of a dynasty that went undefeated into the 1972 season and won consecutive Super Bowls.
He remained there for eight seasons, before retiring in 1977 and entering the real estate sector. He also owned several businesses of his own, including gyms and financial services companies.
Despite his prowess on the field, he had admitted on several occasions that playing football at the highest level for years took a toll on his body.
In 2014 he said during an interview: “I never tried to hurt anyone, but football is a physical game. I enjoyed that part. I’m not really enjoying it much now, because everything is coming home to me.
‘In the last year and a half I’ve had a couple of joint replacements. When you start playing in first grade and play through college and eight years in the NFL, that’s going to happen.”
Three years later, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Despite his prowess on the field, he had admitted on several occasions that playing football at the highest level for years took a toll on his body.
Kolen revealed in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
He told the Miami Herald that he believed his long football career was the cause.
“I think it’s the only way to have cognitive problems,” Kolen, who had no family history of dementia or Alzheimer’s, told the newspaper.
The sports world has already begun to mourn Kolen’s passing.
The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame said in X: “We mourn the passing of 1985 inductee Mike Kolen.” Kolen was the leading tackler in 16 of the 25 games he started at Auburn University from 1967-69.
“Kolen was one of the toughest linebackers on the Miami Dolphins’ ‘no name defense’ for eight years.”
“Mike Kolen is one of the best men I’ve ever known,” said former Auburn athletics director and sports information director David Housel. ‘Being a football player was secondary to Mike Kolen. He is one of the best football players Auburn has ever had, but he was so much more. A rock, a lighthouse.
‘When I think of Mike Kolen, I think of toughness, competitiveness and a quality of kindness. He was a great football player but he was a better man.”
Mike is survived by his wife, Nancy, his two children, Kelly and John, and his five grandchildren.
