May 8, 2026
63. “You Son of a B*tches!” — Bo’s Wild Rookie Camp Story | Out to Pasture Moment
As the Miami Dolphins prepare for rookie minicamp, Kim Bokamper looks back at his own unforgettable introduction to the NFL in 1976 — and the conditioning test that haunted generations of Dolphins players: Don Shula’s infamous 12-minute run.
From flying coach across the country and arriving completely unprepared, to hearing teammate Larry Gordon’s bells slowly fade lap after lap, Bo shares the hilarious and brutal reality of what rookie minicamp looked like under legendary head coach Don Shula.
Rookie minicamp in the 1970s was DIFFERENT
No team shoes. No easing in. No excuses.
And if you stopped running? Shula was waiting.
Out to Pasture is presented by Ed Morse Sawgrass Automall
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WEBVTT
00:00.031 --> 00:07.179
[SPEAKER_00]: And Kim Bonkamp, here with a beautiful afternoon in South Florida, just in here thinking about the next iteration of the Miami Dolphins as we move forward.
00:07.300 --> 00:10.884
[SPEAKER_00]: Many camp, rookie mini camp, is coming up this weekend.
00:11.745 --> 00:27.844
[SPEAKER_00]: Media will have one day to cover it, and so I'm sure you'll see a lot in the new spapers online, and everything about what's going on, the good, the bad, the ugly, and so there'll be a lot of things to write about, they'll probably try to stretch until the next mini camp rolls around.
00:27.824 --> 00:34.432
[SPEAKER_00]: But as I'm thinking about these many camps, I'm kind of thinking back to my many camps, my first many many camp when I was a rookie, 1976.
00:35.133 --> 00:46.426
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that year, they were trying to abolish the draft on anti-trust situations and the players association want everybody to be free agents and go where they wanted to go.
00:46.486 --> 00:55.637
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they canceled the draft initially, which was probably
00:55.617 --> 01:25.337
[SPEAKER_00]: And then so we just would sit there and wait and wait and wait and wait and when is the draft going to be and when is it going to be a draft so it took till I think it took till like mid April late April almost where the draft is now a days and all of a sudden we get to call hey everything's over the draft is going to be in two days and here we go so you get to call from if I get to call from Don Shula and say you know
01:25.317 --> 01:48.483
[SPEAKER_00]: in the draft, and it wasn't like, you didn't talk to General Manager, you talked to Don Shula, and he was very succinct, and he said, get ready, get ready to work, you've got to be here on Thursday, and on Friday we're going to start mini-camp, and I know what's mini-camp because, well, I'll tell you this, just be ready to run the 12-minute run, and you'll see what the rest of it's about.
01:49.003 --> 01:53.468
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I get there, and look, these guys, I don't know what they're going to do.
01:53.448 --> 01:59.784
[SPEAKER_00]: for conditioning, but this was cultural, this was his pet baby, the 12-minute run, this was the whole conditioning thing.
02:00.465 --> 02:07.322
[SPEAKER_00]: So Larry Gordon was the first draft pick on our first round, he had to use 17, I was 19, so we had two first round picks out here.
02:08.197 --> 02:25.485
[SPEAKER_00]: and we've gone through all start games all this and as the draft rolled on or was continued to not to be known when it was, you kind of maybe didn't work out as much as we should have and didn't really realize what we're going to run into with this 12-minute run.
02:25.986 --> 02:28.129
[SPEAKER_00]: So I remember if I remember flying in,
02:28.379 --> 02:28.799
[SPEAKER_00]: coach.
02:29.040 --> 02:32.183
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I sat by the last seats by the bathrooms.
02:32.584 --> 02:33.985
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm San Francisco to Miami.
02:34.506 --> 02:35.187
[SPEAKER_00]: Got it out there.
02:35.227 --> 02:37.669
[SPEAKER_00]: Got into Miami about six o'clock in the evening.
02:38.210 --> 02:39.331
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured I'd better try to run.
02:39.531 --> 02:43.516
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in Miami likes ran around the block and was huffing and puffing and nothing.
02:43.536 --> 02:44.096
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.
02:44.597 --> 02:46.119
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing I can do between now tomorrow.
02:46.139 --> 02:47.741
[SPEAKER_00]: So then we go to the to many camp.
02:48.001 --> 02:52.366
[SPEAKER_00]: First practice and we had to do all the conditioning girls.
02:52.386 --> 02:54.488
[SPEAKER_00]: 40 yard dash, shuttle runs.
02:54.468 --> 03:01.617
[SPEAKER_00]: pull-ups, push-shops, you know, all the different drills that we did, and last thing last you ran the 12-minute run.
03:02.118 --> 03:08.186
[SPEAKER_00]: So the one thing I remember was Larry Gordon, for whatever reason, first we had to bring our own shoes.
03:08.226 --> 03:09.267
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't give a shoes.
03:09.608 --> 03:11.891
[SPEAKER_00]: We had to bring your own shoes for a mini camp.
03:11.911 --> 03:19.581
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the shoes that Larry Gordon wore in Arizona State, for some reason he had bells bells on the shoelaces, right?
03:19.561 --> 03:28.636
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're lining up, and I've met Larry before, and I said, Larry, let's just stay close, man, because I'm not doing pretty well myself.
03:29.177 --> 03:33.504
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, so we started running, and I'm a little bit hell Larry, and I can hear his bells ring.
03:33.825 --> 03:37.030
[SPEAKER_00]: He's running, he's running, he's running, bells ringing, bells ringing.
03:37.010 --> 03:47.684
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going right into decent pace, make one lap, make two laps, we had to make five laps in order to qualify or to not get yelled at.
03:48.245 --> 04:01.262
[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we get around the third, come around the fourth lap, I'm here and the bills are getting a little weaker and a little weaker and all of a sudden I turn around and Larry's walking.
04:01.445 --> 04:03.428
[SPEAKER_00]: And I go, oh, good job, thank you.
04:03.468 --> 04:05.351
[SPEAKER_00]: So I start walking.
04:05.371 --> 04:06.292
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what's the big deal?
04:06.332 --> 04:08.676
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to make it, we'll walk a little bit.
04:08.716 --> 04:15.566
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the next thing you're going to do is go, you son of a bitch is like two goddamn first round after-off choices in their walk.
04:15.967 --> 04:24.820
[SPEAKER_00]: Get your asses running, and if you don't run, you're going to be running for the rest of the night, and you're going to do it again tomorrow, and you're going to do it again, and I'll tell you what.
04:24.800 --> 04:44.682
[SPEAKER_00]: we kind of ran out into a sprint, put a sprint time out to get in there, made it under the wire, and I got to tell you, I think for the until we got back to training camp, course you will always, I'm head over our head that you guys did, we didn't make it around if fast enough, we're long enough in the 12-minute run.
04:44.662 --> 05:04.054
[SPEAKER_00]: And the last time I ever stopped on a kilometer run and the last time I had to push it to get a 12-min I was going to do it for the rest of my life As much as I did for ten ten years I did it and it made it most of the time, but I think these guys will have a little different
05:04.034 --> 05:04.595
[SPEAKER_00]: program.
05:04.635 --> 05:05.315
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're going to do it.
05:05.335 --> 05:09.880
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been they've been in conditioning for a long time and they'll be able to do a lot more field work and everything.
05:10.320 --> 05:13.924
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically for us in many camp, what's we're done with the 12-minute run?
05:14.344 --> 05:19.809
[SPEAKER_00]: We still had two days to go, but camp was over as far as we were as long as you got past that 12-minute run.
05:20.630 --> 05:25.675
[SPEAKER_00]: Camp was over and now you're just thinking about, you know, coming back in July and that's what it was.
05:26.076 --> 05:33.703
[SPEAKER_00]: You were there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, after Sunday, said we'll see you guys in July and we'll see you for training camp and that's
00:00.031 --> 00:07.179
[SPEAKER_00]: And Kim Bonkamp, here with a beautiful afternoon in South Florida, just in here thinking about the next iteration of the Miami Dolphins as we move forward.
00:07.300 --> 00:10.884
[SPEAKER_00]: Many camp, rookie mini camp, is coming up this weekend.
00:11.745 --> 00:27.844
[SPEAKER_00]: Media will have one day to cover it, and so I'm sure you'll see a lot in the new spapers online, and everything about what's going on, the good, the bad, the ugly, and so there'll be a lot of things to write about, they'll probably try to stretch until the next mini camp rolls around.
00:27.824 --> 00:34.432
[SPEAKER_00]: But as I'm thinking about these many camps, I'm kind of thinking back to my many camps, my first many many camp when I was a rookie, 1976.
00:35.133 --> 00:46.426
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that year, they were trying to abolish the draft on anti-trust situations and the players association want everybody to be free agents and go where they wanted to go.
00:46.486 --> 00:55.637
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they canceled the draft initially, which was probably
00:55.617 --> 01:25.337
[SPEAKER_00]: And then so we just would sit there and wait and wait and wait and wait and when is the draft going to be and when is it going to be a draft so it took till I think it took till like mid April late April almost where the draft is now a days and all of a sudden we get to call hey everything's over the draft is going to be in two days and here we go so you get to call from if I get to call from Don Shula and say you know
01:25.317 --> 01:48.483
[SPEAKER_00]: in the draft, and it wasn't like, you didn't talk to General Manager, you talked to Don Shula, and he was very succinct, and he said, get ready, get ready to work, you've got to be here on Thursday, and on Friday we're going to start mini-camp, and I know what's mini-camp because, well, I'll tell you this, just be ready to run the 12-minute run, and you'll see what the rest of it's about.
01:49.003 --> 01:53.468
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I get there, and look, these guys, I don't know what they're going to do.
01:53.448 --> 01:59.784
[SPEAKER_00]: for conditioning, but this was cultural, this was his pet baby, the 12-minute run, this was the whole conditioning thing.
02:00.465 --> 02:07.322
[SPEAKER_00]: So Larry Gordon was the first draft pick on our first round, he had to use 17, I was 19, so we had two first round picks out here.
02:08.197 --> 02:25.485
[SPEAKER_00]: and we've gone through all start games all this and as the draft rolled on or was continued to not to be known when it was, you kind of maybe didn't work out as much as we should have and didn't really realize what we're going to run into with this 12-minute run.
02:25.986 --> 02:28.129
[SPEAKER_00]: So I remember if I remember flying in,
02:28.379 --> 02:28.799
[SPEAKER_00]: coach.
02:29.040 --> 02:32.183
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I sat by the last seats by the bathrooms.
02:32.584 --> 02:33.985
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm San Francisco to Miami.
02:34.506 --> 02:35.187
[SPEAKER_00]: Got it out there.
02:35.227 --> 02:37.669
[SPEAKER_00]: Got into Miami about six o'clock in the evening.
02:38.210 --> 02:39.331
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured I'd better try to run.
02:39.531 --> 02:43.516
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in Miami likes ran around the block and was huffing and puffing and nothing.
02:43.536 --> 02:44.096
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.
02:44.597 --> 02:46.119
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing I can do between now tomorrow.
02:46.139 --> 02:47.741
[SPEAKER_00]: So then we go to the to many camp.
02:48.001 --> 02:52.366
[SPEAKER_00]: First practice and we had to do all the conditioning girls.
02:52.386 --> 02:54.488
[SPEAKER_00]: 40 yard dash, shuttle runs.
02:54.468 --> 03:01.617
[SPEAKER_00]: pull-ups, push-shops, you know, all the different drills that we did, and last thing last you ran the 12-minute run.
03:02.118 --> 03:08.186
[SPEAKER_00]: So the one thing I remember was Larry Gordon, for whatever reason, first we had to bring our own shoes.
03:08.226 --> 03:09.267
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't give a shoes.
03:09.608 --> 03:11.891
[SPEAKER_00]: We had to bring your own shoes for a mini camp.
03:11.911 --> 03:19.581
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the shoes that Larry Gordon wore in Arizona State, for some reason he had bells bells on the shoelaces, right?
03:19.561 --> 03:28.636
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're lining up, and I've met Larry before, and I said, Larry, let's just stay close, man, because I'm not doing pretty well myself.
03:29.177 --> 03:33.504
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, so we started running, and I'm a little bit hell Larry, and I can hear his bells ring.
03:33.825 --> 03:37.030
[SPEAKER_00]: He's running, he's running, he's running, bells ringing, bells ringing.
03:37.010 --> 03:47.684
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going right into decent pace, make one lap, make two laps, we had to make five laps in order to qualify or to not get yelled at.
03:48.245 --> 04:01.262
[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we get around the third, come around the fourth lap, I'm here and the bills are getting a little weaker and a little weaker and all of a sudden I turn around and Larry's walking.
04:01.445 --> 04:03.428
[SPEAKER_00]: And I go, oh, good job, thank you.
04:03.468 --> 04:05.351
[SPEAKER_00]: So I start walking.
04:05.371 --> 04:06.292
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what's the big deal?
04:06.332 --> 04:08.676
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to make it, we'll walk a little bit.
04:08.716 --> 04:15.566
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the next thing you're going to do is go, you son of a bitch is like two goddamn first round after-off choices in their walk.
04:15.967 --> 04:24.820
[SPEAKER_00]: Get your asses running, and if you don't run, you're going to be running for the rest of the night, and you're going to do it again tomorrow, and you're going to do it again, and I'll tell you what.
04:24.800 --> 04:44.682
[SPEAKER_00]: we kind of ran out into a sprint, put a sprint time out to get in there, made it under the wire, and I got to tell you, I think for the until we got back to training camp, course you will always, I'm head over our head that you guys did, we didn't make it around if fast enough, we're long enough in the 12-minute run.
04:44.662 --> 05:04.054
[SPEAKER_00]: And the last time I ever stopped on a kilometer run and the last time I had to push it to get a 12-min I was going to do it for the rest of my life As much as I did for ten ten years I did it and it made it most of the time, but I think these guys will have a little different
05:04.034 --> 05:04.595
[SPEAKER_00]: program.
05:04.635 --> 05:05.315
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're going to do it.
05:05.335 --> 05:09.880
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been they've been in conditioning for a long time and they'll be able to do a lot more field work and everything.
05:10.320 --> 05:13.924
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically for us in many camp, what's we're done with the 12-minute run?
05:14.344 --> 05:19.809
[SPEAKER_00]: We still had two days to go, but camp was over as far as we were as long as you got past that 12-minute run.
05:20.630 --> 05:25.675
[SPEAKER_00]: Camp was over and now you're just thinking about, you know, coming back in July and that's what it was.
05:26.076 --> 05:33.703
[SPEAKER_00]: You were there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, after Sunday, said we'll see you guys in July and we'll see you for training camp and that's
