Miami Dolphins fans and players unite to honor the life of Eric Carmona

Miami Dolphins superfan Eric Carmona, the founder of TuAnon, unexpectedly passed away last week. The tragic news led to an outcry of support from fans and even players, including Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and Andrew Van Ginkel.

Ian Berger, 2020 NFL Fan of the Year Finalist, created a GoFundMe page to support Carmona’s wife, Vanessa, and four children. As of Wednesday, 1,200 people have raised more than $63,000.

Carmona, a Navy veteran, worked to unite fans and celebrate the Dolphins. His efforts were certainly noticed by the franchise. Tagovailoa donated $10,000 while Hill added another $7,000 to the GoFundMe page.

“I want his wife and kids to know we’re praying for them and thinking of them,” Tagovailoa said when speaking to the media on Wednesday.

Tom Garfinkel, CEO of the team, donated $1,000. Van Ginkel and his wife Samantha contributed another $1,000.

Sports serve as an outlet to unite people from different walks of life and Carmona’s light-hearted personality was recognized and celebrated by people outside the organization, too.

Chris Long, who played 11 seasons in the NFL, contributed $1,000 while Peter Schrager, senior national writer for FoxSports.com and host of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, added another $300.

“Eric and I have had countless interactions over the years,” Schrager said on Good Morning Football. “This news rocked me because we love our NFL fans, we love the interactions and I thought the least we can do is mention his name on air and honor his passing on a show we know he watched so often.

“We here at Good Morning Football wanted to recognize Eric’s contribution to the NFL fan community.”

Sports fandom can often be distorted, but that isn’t the case when remembering Carmona. His willingness to unite the Dolphins community in a positive light is a strong reminder of why we all fell in love with sports in the first place.