The Dolphins’ most recognizable fan explains what it takes to get into the Hall Fame
Roger Avila is about to become the Miami Dolphins’ most unlikely Hall of Famer.
Better known as the “Dolfan Maniac,” Avila will make history Thursday in Canton, Ohio. The 56-year-old from Miami is one of three fans selected as part of the inaugural Hall of Fans class at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He will enter the first class alongside Don Wachter, a Chicago Bears fan, and Rick Holman, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, after all three were voted as finalists through an online poll. The Hall of Fame then decided to honor all three with a place in Canton.
Avila has been a fan of the Dolphins since the 1970s, and a staple in the crowd since the 1990s when a Topps contest prompted him to start painting his face and donning outrageous attire in support of his team. Nearly a quarter of a century later, Avila will always be able to claim his place as one of the best fans in NFL history.
Avila took some time earlier this week to discuss the unique honor with the Miami Herald.
Herald: What does this honor mean to you?
Avila: “It’s mind-blowing. It’s exciting. Let’s put it this way: It’s so strong of an event in my life that I’m not right yet until this is over. I’m not right, man. I’m not right right now. It’s so mind-blowing. It’s like I’m living a dream that I haven’t woken out of yet and I probably won’t wake out of it until it’s over, until it’s said and done, and I see it there, until afterward. The event goes by, days go by and then I’m in there. It’s mind-blowing.”
MH: How did this honor come about?
RA: “I’m getting older. I’m not burning inside as I used to. Try to comprehend this: In my gig — the “Dolfan Maniac” — I’m mostly a crowd motivator. I watch the game, I focus on it, but I crowd motivate before the game starts, during the game and after the game when we’re all trash-talking. What happens is I was about to retire two years ago. I was going to say that I’m going to stop, not being a Dolphins fan, I was just literally going to say I’ve got to slow down. I’m going to kick back and watch my screen at home. I’m going to give up my season ticket or just pass it over to my son. I literally was going to give up the “Dolfan Maniac” the year before Ford came up to me with this. I took a financial hit and I had a friend of mine that found out, and was spreading the word I was going to give up because of the financial hit, so I had a friend that said, ‘Listen, let me help you out.’ And she went and helped me out, and got me one more season ticket for another season. That season that she helped me out in is the season they came to my house and started interviewing me, and they told me that it was just an interview because I was one of the nominees to be inducted.
“Even after that year, I was going to say, ‘OK, I’ll give it one more year.’ I was going to retire and when this happened, this just boosted me for another five years. If they acknowledged me as a superfan and the dedication since 1994 as the “Dolfan Maniac,” I can’t let my team down.”
MH: What was the interview process like?
RA: “At first it was normal for me. I was walking them through my closets, my memorabilia that I have and it was normal. It was just like normal, it was cool, but I was noticing they have a truck outside, they have all this equipment. It was like, ‘Wow, are they going to do a commercial?’ I don’t know what it is. It got out of normalcy, it got over to another level when I got that knock on the door. That’s when I said it wasn’t normal anymore.”
MH: For those who might not know your background, how did the “Dolfan Maniac” begin?
RA: “Like I’ve always told everyone: I’ve been a Dolphins fan since I was a child here in the Orange Bowl days — 8, 9, 10 years old. I’ve seen my team go to the Super Bowl five times, I’ve seen them win two years in a row. I’ve seen the whole history as a child going with my father at the Orange Bowl, then what happened is I went to the military, came back, got married and I started going seasonally on my own in 1994, so in 1994, that year they had a contest. Topps Stadium football card had a contest and if you win, if you dressed up and they picked you, you get to be on the back of football cards. That day I stayed dressed up. In the long run I won.
“That day after the contest, we took pictures and everything, I stayed dressed up and I got into the stadium like that. People loved it, but it was used as a motivation. What I mean is, somebody would holler out, Hey, maniac, get the crowd going. Get up, man! Say something! So I got up like, Get up! Get loud on defense! And they responded, so I was like, Maniac? ‘Dolfan Maniac?’ And it caught on. From 1994 on, I started adding on to my gig and I worked from the top of the stadium where I had my tickets all the way down to where I’m at now in the end zone.”
MH: What does it mean to now be recognized nationally?
RA: “That’s a level that is going to be worldwide, man. Back in the days in ‘94 — I’m also a father with three children back then, and I also coached football and baseball in little league for 13 years, so I took them to the parks. The recognition was always there. My hometown knew that. My city knew that, so that’s the kind of recognition. Wow, wherever I went, There’s the ‘Maniac.’ This level it’s at now is crazy. This is a high level. ... The Hall of Fame? Inaugural season. No matter how you look at it, if this goes on forever, we’ll always be the first guys.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 12:12 PM.