Robert Sowell, who played with the Dolphins from 1983-85 and 1987, passed away on June 22, 2015 in Tampa, Fla. He was 54 years old.
Sowell took the long road to the NFL. He dropped out of Howard University in 1980 and went to work rust-proofing cars. In 1981, he went to Canada to try out for the Toronto Argonauts, who cut him. He next went to Sacramento to play semipro ball for the Twin City Cougars, where he played for $50 a week, an apartment and food stamps. In 1982, he quit his job at a warehouse, where he was making $2 an hour, for a promise of a tryout with the Chicago Blitz of the USFL.