The Dolphins team was founded by attorney/politician Joe Robbie and actor/comedian Danny Thomas. They began play in the American Football League in 1966. The region had not had a professional football team since the days of the Miami Seahawks, who played in the All-America Football Conference in 1946 before becoming the first incarnation of the Baltimore Colts. For the first few years the Dolphins full-time training camp and practice facilities were at Saint Andrew's School, a private boys boarding prep school in Boca Raton. In 1970 the Dolphins joined the NFL when the AFL–NFL merger occurred.
The first professional American football team to be based in Miami and the state of Florida was the Miami Seahawks. The Seahawks entered the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) during its inaugural 1946 season, as the first major league-level sports franchise ever in Miami. However, the team lasted only one year before being confiscated by the league.[3]