Former Washington Commanders Defender Has Died

Former Washington Commanders/Redskins defensive tackle Bob Heinz, a two-time Super Bowl champion best known for his role on Miami’s 1972 perfect team, died October 31 in Fresno, California. He was 79.

Heinz spent the bulk of his nine-year NFL career with the Dolphins after the team selected him in the second round (37th overall) of the 1969 draft out of the University of the Pacific.

A 6-foot-6, 265-pound defensive tackle, he became a reliable presence on the unit later dubbed the “No-Name Defense.”

He started eight of the 11 regular-season games he appeared in during the undefeated 17-0 campaign of 1972, helping the Dolphins hold opponents to an NFL-best in points and yards allowed. Miami repeated as champions the following year; Heinz started every game in 1973.

He closed his career with the Redskins in 1978, long before the team officially became known as the Commanders.

After Miami released him in training camp, Washington signed him in late November.

Heinz appeared in the final two games of the season—December 10 at Atlanta and December 16 against Chicago—both losses that left Washington at 8-8 under first-year head coach Jack Pardee. He played as a reserve and did not start.

The brief Washington chapter carried an ironic note.

In Super Bowl VII on January 14, 1973, Heinz was part of the Dolphins’ defensive line that helped hold the Redskins to seven points in a 14-7 Miami victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum—the clinching game of the only perfect season in NFL history.

After football, Heinz worked for years as an advertising executive in the Palo Alto and Menlo Park area of California, where he and his wife, Carol, raised three children. The family later relocated to Fresno.

He was diagnosed with heart failure roughly four years before his death of natural causes, according to his son John.

A private family service was planned; in lieu of flowers, the family requested donations to the Miami Dolphins Foundation.

Heinz is survived by his wife of 56 years, Carol; children Julie, Joe, and John; and two grandchildren.

While his time in burgundy and gold was short, he remains part of the franchise’s extended alumni community—a champion who spent his final NFL season with the team then known as the Redskins.