PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — As the Dolphins get ready to battle the Bills on Sunday for the AFC East crown, WPTV went looking for some of the most hardcore Fins fans in our area.
We found one superfan who said her love for Miami convinced her to move to Florida from New York.
Once you walk into Maria Caraballo's house, you are greeted with an array of Dolphins memorabilia.
In every nook and cranny, you'll find everything from a Dan Marino Wheaties box to a 1972 perfect season football signed by many of the players from that historic team.
Even on the walls, she has a picture of some of the Dolphins' greats, both past in present, that she calls her "pride and joy."
"How long did it take to collect all of this?" WPTV reporter Todd Wilson asked Caraballo.
"Many years," she said. "I always collect."
Her love for the Fins began roughly 50 years ago. It's tough too believe that she grew up in a New York family who loved the New York Jets, Giants and Dallas Cowboys.
"It was not a pretty picture," Caraballo said. "I used to get ridiculed all the time, 'How could you go for a team that's no good,' and I'm like, 'because they're good to me.'"
When she and her husband retired in 2018, they decided to move to Florida. They immediately bought season tickets and went to games with their daughter.
"She says, 'Mom your dream is coming true,' and I'm like, 'Yeah,'" Caraballo said.
She showed WPTV some of the pictures she's taken with many former players, including Marino and others.
Caraballo and her husband, Dennis, began tailgating at games and met other fans of the team.
She even petitioned the team for their fan group, the "East 12 Tailgaters," to become an official fan club of the Dolphins.
The club isn't just about having fun on game days, they also help with fundraising for the Dolphins Challenge Cancer annual event. They're raffling off a Dolphins-themed golf cart that has a painted picture of legendary coach Don Shula along with the two Lombardi trophies that he won with the team.
Cancer is a disease she's all too familiar with.
"Eleven family members passing away from it — from my mom to my aunt, who was like a mom to me," Caraballo said.
She said she's a Fins fan for life, surrounding her with a football family.
[I] couldn't have a better family in the world," Caraballo said.
The "East 12 Tailgaters" have raised more than $16,000 for the Dolphins Challenge Cancer.
