16 Facts About Joe Robbie

Joseph Robbie was an American attorney, politician, and the principal founder of the Miami Dolphins.

Joe Robbie was raised in Sisseton, South Dakota, the second of five children.

Joe Robbie's father was a Lebanese immigrant and restaurant manager; his mother was a baker and the daughter of Irish immigrants.

At 14 years old, Joe Robbie was the sportswriter for his local newspaper, The People's Press.

In 1934, during the Great Depression, Joe Robbie dropped out of high school to work as a lumberjack for the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Black Hills, sending $25 of his $30 monthly earnings home to his family.

Joe Robbie met his future wife, Elizabeth, while he was a senior at the school and she was a freshman.

Joe Robbie enlisted in the Navy on the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Joe Robbie saw substantial action in the Pacific theater and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service.

Joe Robbie was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives as a Democrat.

Joe Robbie was a charter member of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Commission and chairman of the Minnesota Municipal Commission.

Joe Robbie worked as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry from the 1960s until his death.

At the meeting, Foss recommended that Joe Robbie look into Miami as a potential site for an expansion franchise.

Joe Robbie formed a partnership with comedian Danny Thomas, a fellow Lebanese-American, and raised the $7.5 million required to purchase an expansion team.

Joe Robbie owned the Miami Toros and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers soccer teams of the North American Soccer League.

Joe Robbie Stadium was one of the first major stadiums in the US designed with soccer in mind.

Joe Robbie believed that given Miami's rapid growth, it was a foregone conclusion that Miami would have a Major League Baseball team: this was proven correct when the city was granted a franchise, the Florida Marlins, in 1990, two months after Joe Robbie's death.