The Dophins were formed in 1978 by Gord Baxter and his ex-ball-player friends, including John Mclean. They chose ‘The Dolphins’ because the NFL Miami Dolphins were the dominent team at the time.

After a first year loss in the semi-finals the team was looking for a QB --but found one internally, Dale Baxter who had spent the first season as their rusher. [See Dale Baxter ]
As captain Dale made it a mission to make the team better each year. The mandate was to add 2 players a year from other teams, so they would scout teams, learn their tenancies, how to beat them and who their best players were.
There early rivalrys included the Average White lead by Robbie Moe at QB, and the Vancouver Bears lead by Craig Lingaard and Duncan Kerr. And the Vancouver Hawks who were all ex-Maralomas tackle football players lead by an All American QB from Kansas state.

1981 was the start of 24 straight Provincial championships.

“From 81 to 84 - we happened to win. There were teams that could beat us, like the Vancouver Bears, but they didn’t,” says Dale. “In 85 the team took a turn that put us over the top and a step above everyone. We got Jim Harris (from the Razorbacks) and Don Quart [See Don Quart ]
.“

Jim Harris meets Dale Baxter.
Harris came back to the huddle and he’s looking at Baxter. And he’s asking why Baxter didn’t throw the ball to him. And Baxter is like because you had two guys on you. And Jimmy says “doesn’t matter just throw the ball -- I’ll catch it.”
Baxter doesn’t like anyone telling him what to do. He’s likely to send you on a hook and throw it at the back of your head, so when you turn it's right in your face -- and you better catch it -- or its going to hit you smack dab in the face. So the next play Baxter sends Jimmy on a hook.
And he stares him down so the defence converges on Jimmy. 4 guys. And then Baxter throws a bullet and somehow Jimmy catches it. In the middle of all those guys and he comes back to the huddle with the ball. And Baxter shrugs and says “doesn’t matter just throw it!”

In 86 - We got the Dyment Brothers and that changed our whole team,” says Dale. [See Doug Dyment ]
For the next six years -- they were unbeatable. “ Sometimes there was an electricity in the huddle.

"I don’t know how to describe it. But you could just feel it. Feel that we were going to score. We could be down 6 at our 30 (yard line) with 2 minutes to go and you could feel it. We were going to score,”"

-Larry Doan

1997 - Vancouver Dolphins

Beat the 3rd ranked touch team in the US.

Jim Harris - 1986 Defensive MVP at Nationals

Dan Walker - 1991 MVP offence Nationals

Lorne Roberston - 1991Defensive MVP at Nationals

John Iannone - 1997 MVP Offence at Nationals

Harvey Alter had 4 Canadain championships with the Montreal Panthers before joining the Dolpins. He would end his career being part of 10 National championship teams.

John Iannone - Best single game performance:

"He scored 5 TDs in one game.“every time the ball went up he was under it." In the 1997 National Finals

-Dale Baxter

"We kept stats for years and many of the other Dolphins dominated at their positions. Lorne Robertson, Doug Dyment, Don Quart, Chris Holbecht, Danny Walker, Albert Green and Myself to name a few.
We had such a desire to be the best all the time and we worked hard for it. We were always committed to winning and did whatever it took to win. When we were making a run for the nationals we would practise hard 2 times a week where we would get the best workouts and greatest challenges.
It was a true honor for me to have played for so many years as a Dolphin and to have so much success."

- Paul LeBlevec

One year they went to Penticton for 2 a-day-practices in the sweltering heat of the interior. There are stories of having to catch 200 balls in practice before going home. They would scrimmage at the end of every practice “and those were the most intense games. Those practices were harder than the games we played.” Fist fights were not uncommon.

“There were lots of nights when practice wouldn’t end until it was too dark to see. But in a game - you never dropped a pass you never looked to where the defender was coming from - you never heard footsteps cause you knew the defenders couldn’t do any of the things you had experienced in practice.” says Larry.

First loss was 6 years to the day they had began the winning streak. They had won the game and Larry Doan had brought out a cake to celebrate 6 years of being undefeated.
The next game they lost to the Bears lead by Craig Lingaard. [See Craig Lingaard ]