Player Wives & Girlfriends

The Story

• Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins Tony Sparano has dated exactly one person in his life, wife Jeanette. I suppose that's what happens when you meet your and begin dating your future wife at the age of 16, and she 13.
  After seven years of dating, Tony Sparano married Jeanette in 1984. In a profile piece on ESPN.com, writer Matt Mosely recounts the story of their engagement:
  He [Tony] arranged to propose to her [Jeanette] during a Central Park carriage ride, but she became ill.
  As the two drove toward a party on Christmas Eve in 1983, Jeanette was upset about being sick during the holidays and also not having something new to wear. As usual, Sparano had a plan.
  "I have something beautiful for you to wear," he said as he slipped an engagement ring on her finger. When they married a year later, Jeanette remembers her mother saying, "I love him. Don't screw it up!"
  27 years later, and it looks like Jeanette has heeded her mother's advice. The couple has three children; sons Tony and Andrew who both play football at the University of Albany, and daughter Ryan Leigh.