Adam Joseph Duhe Jr. (born November 27, 1955) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

who played eight seasons for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

from 1977 to 1984 in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Early life

Born in Reserve, Louisiana, Duhe played football at Leon Godchaux High School on offense and defense, earning selections for All-District on both sides in his senior year, with him serving as defensive end and punter. He enrolled at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and starred as defensive tackle for the Tigers with an All-SEC and All-Academic honors.

Career

He was drafted in the first round of the

1977 NFL Draft The 1977 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977, at the Roosevelt Hotel ...

by the

. He was the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

year; unofficially, in his rookie year at Miami, he recorded seven sacks while recording 83 tackles. He was a one-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

er, in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. He switched from

Defensive End Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

Inside Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in 1980. In the 1982 AFC Championship game, Duhe intercepted Richard Todd three times as the Dolphins defeated the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

14–0. He returned the third interception 35 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal Miami's trip to

Super Bowl XVII Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1982 Miami Dolphins season, Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1982 Washington Redskins season, Washington Reds ...

. His last season saw the Dolphins reach

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1984 Miami Dolphins season, Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1984 San Francisco 49ers season, San Francisco 49 ...

(with him starting eight games and playing in four others due to grueling workouts from him), but he played for only a small portion due to a knee problem that left him unable to move laterally and a shoulder with diminished hitting capacity. By the time he was 29, he had already gone through four surgeries for problems with torn ligaments and shoulders. In August of 1985, the Dolphins placed him on medical wavers and released (which meant he received just over twenty percent of his planned $275,000 salary).

Personal life and honors

Duhe also has done work as an actor. Duhe was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. As of that year, he was working for

Caesars Entertainment Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corpora ...

while residing in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

with his wife, with whom he has three children.

References

External links

* * 1955 births Living people Players of American football from New Orleans American football linebackers LSU Tigers football players Miami Dolphins players National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winners American Conference Pro Bowl players Rhein Fire coaches People from St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana {{linebacker-1950s-stub