The Miami Dolphins’ Jim Kiick goes head-first over the Steelers’ Glen Edwards as Kiick scores in the third quarter of the AFC championship game at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium on Dec. 31, 1972. (AP file photo)

The former University of Wyoming star was part of a formidable backfield that included his best friend, Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka. They earned the nicknames Butch and Sundance, inspired by the popular 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Kiick (“Butch”) made the American Football League All-Star team in his first two seasons and played on Miami’s back-to-back Super Bowl championship teams in 1972-73. Kiick had two touchdowns for the ’72 Dolphins in the AFC championship game, and also scored in the Super Bowl victory that capped their 17-0 season under Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Don Shula.

Shula died May 4 at age 90.

Kiick lived in an assisted living home in recent years. Allie Kiick said that because of the coronavirus, visitors weren’t being allowed in his room.

Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, left, talks with former players from the 1972 undefeated team during a halftime ceremony at a game against the Baltimore Ravens at Dolphin Stadium in Miami on Dec. 16, 2007. From left are Shula, Larry Seiple (20), Jim Kiick (21), Mercury Morris (22) and Lloyd Mumphord (26). The perfection of the 1972 Miami Dolphins has earned them the nod as the NFL's greatest team. The 1972 Dolphins edged the 1985 Chicago Bears for the NFL's greatest team in balloting by 59 national media members as part of the NFL's celebration of its 100th season. (AP file photo)

“I miss my dad,” she wrote Thursday on Twitter. “It’s pretty hard when you’re sitting on the outside of the glass and can’t do anything to cheer him up. He’s lost the spark in his eyes as anyone would in this situation.”

In his NFL heyday, Kiick and the speedier Mercury Morris split playing time with the Dolphins during the 1972-73 seasons, which gave Shula a potent 1-2 punch at halfback but sometimes led to second-guessing by fans.

“Kiick and Mercury Morris both contributed,” Shula said. “Every Monday there was a controversy, but the bottom line wasn’t bad.”

Csonka compounded the challenge for opponents. He and Kiick met at an all-star game the summer they joined the Dolphins, and as running mates they roomed together, partied together and briefly held out together seeking better contracts.

In 1975, Kiick, Csonka and future Hall of Famer Paul Warfield left the Dolphins for the WFL. The package was a watershed worth nearly $4 million over three years for the three players, who played for the Memphis Southmen.

Ex-NFL running back Jim Kiick attends Mike Ditka's Gridiron Greats Autograph Extravaganza event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Jan. 30, 2009, in Tampa, Florida. (AP file photo)