Griese was born in Evansville, Indiana to Ida (Ulrich) and Sylverious “Slick” Griese. Slick owned a plumbing company in Evansville and died in 1955 when Bob was ten years old. Bob played baseball primarily, and excelled as a pitcher. He also starred in basketball and football at Evansville’s Rex Mundi High School. He earned 12 varsity letters for the Monarchs.

Griese was a two-time All-American at Purdue, finishing at #8 in the 1965 Heisman Trophy race and was the runner-up to Steve Spurrier for the 1966 Heisman Trophy. Purdue finished second in the Big Ten in 1966, and he led the school’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl, where they defeated USC 14-13. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1992. He was also awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor for excellence in athletics and academics.

Griese was selected by the AFL’s Miami Dolphins as the fourth player in the 1967 Common Draft. Griese threw for 2,005 yards and 15 touchdowns his rookie year.

Griese married Purdue classmate Judi Lassus in June 1967, following their graduation, and they had three sons. A nurse, she lost a six-year battle with breast cancer at age 44 in early 1988. He now resides with his second wife, Shay, in Jupiter, Florida, and Banner Elk, North Carolina. His youngest son is Brian Griese (b. 1975), who also played quarterback in the NFL. In 2006, Griese made an appearance on the game show, Wheel of Fortune. Griese won and sent the winnings to Judi’s House.

Dolphin owner Joe Robbie brought in Don Shula from the Baltimore Colts in 1970, and the team’s personality and fortunes turned quickly. The Dolphins found a new discipline, and learned what it took to become a winning team. They went from a 3-10-1 record in 1969 to 10-4 in 1970, making the playoffs.

In 1971 the Dolphins made it to the Super Bowl, losing to 24-3 to the Dallas Cowboys. Griese was named the 1971 Newspaper Enterprise Association NFL Most Valuable Player award, and was awarded the Jim Thorpe Trophy.

In Griese’s 14 pro seasons, he threw for 25,092 yards and 192 touchdowns. Griese also rushed for 994 yards and seven scores. Griese was a six-time Dolphins’ MVP and was All-Pro in 1971 and 1977. He played in two AFL All-Star games and six Pro Bowls.

The 1972 season began with the Dolphins winning their first four games. In the fifth game of the season, Bob Griese was tackled hard by Deacon Jones and Ron East of the San Diego Chargers, and went down with a broken leg and dislocated ankle. Earl Morrall, fresh off the waiver wire from Shula’s former team, the Baltimore Colts, guided the Dolphins through the rest of the regular season, and maintained an unbeaten record in the process. Morrall also led the NFL in five passing categories during this time, including passer rating. As the playoffs began, the Dolphins were not as strong as they needed to be to go deep into the postseason, barely winning against the Cleveland Browns, a team that they should have beaten easily. The second game of the playoffs the team got off to a slow start against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Shula asked Griese to relieve the ailing Morrall, simply asking Griese at halftime, “Are you ready?” Griese replied with, “Yes, I’m ready.” Griese took the field and completed 3 of 5 passes for 70 yards as the Dolphins beat the Steelers by a score of 21-17 to clinch their second straight Super Bowl appearance.

The Miami Dolphins had the highest winning percentage in all professional sports in the 1970s, and Bob Griese was its starting quarterback throughout the decade, except when he was injured for several games in 1972, 1975, and 1978.

In 1973 Griese led another strong Dolphins team, but they did not make it through the season undefeated. They reached the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season and defeated the Minnesota Vikings 24-7.

In 1974, Griese and the Dolphins had an 11-3 regular season record, but lost to the Oakland Raiders in the divisional round of the playoffs.

In 1975, Griese and the Dolphins started strong, but late in the season in a game against the Baltimore Colts, Griese suffered a broken toe and was out for the rest of the season. The Dolphins finished a respectable 10-4, but missed out on the playoffs for the first time in the Shula era.

In 1975, Griese received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

In 1976, the Dolphins had many injuries, and the team finished the season at 6-8, the first time Don Shula ever suffered a losing season in his career.

1977 was a rebound year for both Griese and the Dolphins; he began to wear eyeglasses on the field. On Thanksgiving, 1977, Griese threw six touchdown passes in three quarters to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 55-14. Bob again led the AFC in touchdown passes thrown but the Dolphins rebound to a 10-4 record was again not enough to get the team into the playoffs.

In 1979, Bob suffered from some nagging leg injuries that affected his throwing. He was not as effective, and he began to hear some criticism. However, he was able to lead the Dolphins to a 10-6 record. The Dolphins then found themselves dominated by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional round of the playoffs.

In 1980, Griese had found that he had lost his starting spot in the roster to either Don Strock or rookie David Woodley. However, Griese came off the bench for several games in a row to lead comeback wins. Griese won back the starting spot in the fifth game of the season, but was tackled hard by Mike Ozdowski of the Baltimore Colts. The tackle tore up Bob’s shoulder, and he was out for the rest of the year. The injury eventually led to Griese’s decision to retire from the game at the age of 35. Bob was eventually elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

To stay in touch with the game, in 1982 Griese decided to take a job as an announcer for NBC Sports, teaming with Charlie Jones for NFL games. While there, he called Super Bowl XX.

Griese’s achievements during his college career earned him induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984. Purdue does not have a practice of retiring jersey numbers, but he was inducted as an inaugural member of the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

The Dolphins retired his number 12 during a Monday Night Football game in 1985, telecast on ABC, the network which would prominently be featured in his post-football career.

In 1987, Griese was hired by ABC Sports, where he began to provide color commentary for college football games.

On January 1, 1998, Bob got to broadcast the Rose Bowl game, the last college game of his son’s career. Brian was named MVP of the game, leading his Wolverines to an undefeated season and the national championship title with their Rose Bowl victory. Bob and Brian were emotional at that moment, as they thought of Bob’s wife Judi, who had died from breast cancer in 1988 but whom they both felt was there at that special moment. Bob and Brian later wrote a book, entitled Undefeated ( ISBN 0-7852-7021-3), which discussed not only their football connection, but also their love for Judi.

During the 2009 and 2010 seasons, Griese served as the lead commentator for ESPN’s noon college football broadcasts. He retired from ESPN on February 3, 2011.

In 2011 Bob Griese joined the Dolphins Radio Broadcast team as a color commentator, replacing former teammate Jim Mandich.

On December 11, 2014, the Big Ten Network included Griese on “The Mount Rushmore of Purdue Football”, as chosen by online fan voting. Griese was joined in the honor by Drew Brees, Rod Woodson and Leroy Keyes.