On a quiet charter flight to the Dolphins’ first road game of the season in 1976, a massive rookie named Kim Bokamper was walking down the aisle of the plane when Jim Mandich, a tough-nosed, overachieving veteran, stopped him in his tracks.

“Sit down with me, boy,” said Mandich, a member of the only perfect team in NFL history.

If Bokamper was intimidated (he was), it was only because he hadn’t yet understood what he and everyone else who met Mandich would eventually learn: Nobody was kinder. Nobody cared more. Nobody had a larger heart than him.

On Tuesday, Mandich died from bile-duct cancer. He was 62.

“I don’t know why he asked me to sit next to him that day,” Bokamper said Tuesday night. “I don’t know the reason. But he was a part of my life ever since.”

Dozens – no, hundreds – of others in the South Florida sports community can definitely say the same. Mandich, who later became as popular as a sports broadcaster, impacted lives as quickly as he entered them. He left a legacy that will not be forgotten.

“He was like family to my wife and me,” Dolphins quarterback and fellow Michigan alum Chad Henne said Tuesday night. “He was a great mentor and friend. He has been and always will be an idol to me.”

After a battle with cancer that began when he began experiencing pains in 2009, Mandich ended his fight. It wasn’t before he battled in the same fashion that made him a success on the football field.

“In the last year and a half, I found out he’s a fighter,” said Joe Rose, who called Dolphins games in the broadcast booth alongside Mandich. “God, he’s a fighter.”

That’s not to say Rose didn’t already know about Mandich’s toughness. Everybody did. That’s what defined him as a football player. But in his final years, the tight end who played eight seasons for the Dolphins showed an unfathomable level of grit.

Despite receiving chemotherapy and radiation, Mandich still relentlessly showed up to every Dolphins game in 2010 – home and away – just so he could deliver those classic lines that his loyal listeners came to cherish.

His catch phrases became a part of South Florida sports lexicon – including “Awwwright Miami!” and “just riding around with my windows down.” But it wasn’t just the catch phrases that were memorable. Sometimes, it was also his ability to improvise.

On Tuesday night, Bokamper recalled one of his favorite Mandich radio moments. During one particular game, Mandich wouldn’t stop criticizing the conditions caused by a muddy baseball infield during a rainy game at the Dolphins’ stadium.

During a commercial break, then-owner Wayne Huizenga heard enough. So he marched up to the broadcast booth to tell Mandich to settle down. When the broadcast returned, one of Mandich’s fellow broadcasters brought up Huizenga’s visit on the air.

“If (Huizenga) wants me to stand up here in pasties and a g-string and sing God Bless America, I’ll do it,” Mandich replied.

The situation described Mandich perfectly: He was quick. He was funny. He was critical. And he was loyal.

“The thing about him in the broadcast booth,” Bokamper said. “He was as much as a homer as you’ll find, but he was also as honest of a guy you’ll ever hear.”

His life as a broadcaster wasn’t very different from his life as a football player. Always charismatic, Mandich made up for a lack of size with an amazing level of tenacity and work ethic.

“Jim wasn’t a big player,” said CBS announcer Dan Dierdorf, his friend and former teammate at Michigan. “He wasn’t a physical imposing guy physically. But he was such a relentless competitor.

“He was brash, confident, larger than life. He was one of the great college players of all time. He was the life of the party. He was captain of the team, and the guy we all followed around. We always addressed him as Captain Mandich.”

Mandich, an All-American at Michigan, was drafted by the Dolphins with the 29th pick of the 1970 draft and played eight years, before finishing his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1978.

Mandich then became one of the most popular sportscasters in South Florida history as a talk show host and as the Dolphins radio analyst from 1992 to 2004, and then from 2007 through last season.

Mandich, who had 23 touchdown catches in his NFL career, has a restaurant in Islamorada (Ziggie and Mad Dog’s) and owned Lotspeich, a Hialeah-based construction company. On Tuesdays during football season, Mandich hosted Miami Touchdown Club luncheons, which raised money for former Dolphins players in need.

“I was sad to hear about Jim’s passing,” legendary coach Don Shula said. “I know he fought a courageous battle, but that was typical of his fighting spirit.”

Former Dolphins teammate Nick Buoniconti said he and Dick Anderson “had a chance to say goodbye to Jim at his home on Sunday” but “I didn’t think it would happen this quickly. I was kind of shocked.”

Buoniconti said of his visit Sunday, “It was a very emotional hour, talking about the Dolphins and his alma mater and Chad Henne. He laughed. [One of his sons] was supposed to be married in July and the family sensed the end was near, so they had a very small ceremony, as his son got married with Jim able to attend. If you had to see a friend go out like that, it was a beautiful afternoon.

“Jim was always his own man. He was a tough kid from Ohio who watched his dad labor in the bar and give him an opportunity to go to college and better himself. Just a good soul.”

University of Miami radio voice Joe Zagacki, one of Mandich’s longtime close friends, said, “You won’t ever find a more reliable, more trustworthy person. You didn’t need a contract with Jim. His word was his word. His outlook on life was tremendous. 
“He enjoyed everything about life. He enjoyed stories, he enjoyed laughing. He rooted for people to do well. There wasn’t a mean bone in the guy’s body. He was strongest, most fierce competitor I’ve ever met.”

No matter how South Florida remembers Mandich – as a player, a broadcaster or a mentor – it became quickly clear Tuesday after his passing that nobody has any plans to forget the legacy Mandich left on the community.

“There will never be another Jim Mandich,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said. “His passion for this team and this community will forever live on among the generations of Dolphins fans who watched and listened to him.”

He is survived by his wife Bonnie and three sons, including Mark, Michael and Nick. Funeral details were not immediately available.