Dwight Stephenson arrived in Miami as a second-round pick out of Alabama in the 1980 Draft. He spent most of his first two seasons on special teams while he learned the pro game. By 1982, he had taken over at center and was ready to show what he could do.

From 1983 through 1987, he made the Pro Bowl every year. The timing lined up with Dan Marino’s arrival in 1983. As Marino became one of the league’s most dangerous passers, Stephenson was the man in the middle of the line protecting him. From 1984 to 1987, he was first-team All-Pro each season. Very few defensive players got through him cleanly, and even fewer managed it twice in the same game. Off the field, he was known for his community work and received the NFL Man of the Year Award in 1985.

What made Stephenson stand out was how he controlled the interior. He was not the biggest center in the league, but he was quick off the snap and rarely lost leverage. Teammates and opponents both talked about the way he could deliver a shot and then recover to stay in front of the play. With him in the lineup, the Dolphins’ offensive line allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL for six straight seasons from 1982 through 1987. That stretch covered Marino’s early peak and two Super Bowl trips.

Stephenson also started in three AFC Championship Games and in Super Bowls XVII and XIX. He was quiet by nature and preferred to stay out of the spotlight, but his consistency forced people to notice. Don Shula later said Stephenson always wanted to be the center, but never the center of attention. His reliability and technique made him the clear choice as the best center of his era.

A serious left-knee injury late in the 1987 season ended his run. He tried to return the next year, but the knee did not respond, and he retired. Even with a relatively short career, the quality of those peak seasons was enough for voters to put him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998. The Dolphins had already added him to their Honor Roll in 1994.