Emmitt Smith

Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15 1969 in Pensacola, Florida) is a former American football player, who played for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. Smith is a three time Super Bowl champion and the NFL's all time rushing leader, a record formerly held by his childhood hero Walter Payton. Smith surpassed Payton on October 27, 2002 against the Seattle Seahawks at Texas Stadium. He is the only running back to ever have won a Super Bowl championship, the NFL Most Valuable Player award, the NFL rushing crown, and the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award all in the same season (1993). Emmitt Smith is one of the three "Triplets", along with Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin that highlighted the Dallas Cowboys' offense during the 1990s.

NFL records

Big Emmie is the first player in NFL history to have five straight seasons with over 1,400 rushing yards. Smith and Jim Brown are the only players with seven straight 10-touchdown seasons to start their career. With 1,021 yards rushing in 2001, Smith became the first player in NFL history with 11 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons and the first to post 11 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a career. He is also the NFL's all-time leader in rushing attempts with 4,409.

Smith currently holds the NFL record in career rushing yards with 18,355, breaking the previous record held by Walter Payton, on October 27, during the 2002 NFL season. He leads all running backs with 164 career rushing touchdowns, and his 175 total touchdowns ranks him second only to Jerry Rice's 207 touchdowns. The sum of his rushing yards, receiving yards (3,224) and fumble return yards (-15), gave him a total of 21,564 yards from the line of scrimmage, making him one of only four players in NFL history to eclipse the 21,000-combined yards mark.

Smith also accumulated a number of NFL postseason records, including rushing touchdowns (19), consecutive games with a rushing touchdown (9) and 100-yard rushing games (7). His 1,586 yards rushing is also top on the NFL postseason chart, and he shares the total playoff touchdown mark of 21 with Thurman Thomas. Smith is one of only five NFL players who have amassed over 10,000 career-rushing yards and 400 career receptions. Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice are the only two non-kickers to score 1000 points in a career.

Playing style

Beyond his statistical excellence, Emmitt Smith was noted for being a very durable back with excellent vision, great balance, a competitive heart, and one of the most complete players to ever play the position of running back. Smith excelled at running between the tackles as a highly efficient downhill runner skilled at cutting through quickly changing gaps toward "daylight", but was also skilled in running to the outside, and catching the ball as a receiver. Although Smith is right handed, he mainly carried the ball in his left hand.

In the mold of Walter Payton, Smith was a great blocker in pass protection - the great blocking fullback Daryl "Moose" Johnston noted that Smith was better in pass protection than he was.

During his career, he was often compared to Detroit Lions Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders as both men were extremely successful for their respective teams during the 1990s. The 2 combined for 8 rushing titles during the 90's. Both had eerily similar physical makeups. Both were much smaller than the typical HB of that time. Sanders was famed for his dramatic all or nothing "east west" running style which garnered him many highlight reel runs but likewise many stalled drives and struggled in short yardage and goalline situations. Smith while provided many highlights himself was more of a "north south" runner who provided a more balanced running name and actually excelled in the short yardage game. Most consider him to be the best goalline back of all time. Many experts and fans have debated who was better with no real conclusion being drawn other than both can easily be regarded as the greatest ever and both are among the greatest players to ever play the game. In 1999, three years before becoming the game's all-time rushing yardage leader, he was ranked number 68 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

Memorable Game

The Cowboys were up 10-0 in the second quarter with less than two minutes to go. On 3rd and 2 near their own goal line, Emmitt Smith got the handoff from Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and with a block by guard Nate Newton, Emmitt ran for a long gain before being dragged down in Giant territory. On that play, Smith landed on the unforgiving Meadowlands turf, which resulted in a first-degree shoulder separation. The New York Giants came back to tie the score at 13-13 as time expired.

In overtime, Emmitt Smith was responsible for 42 of the 52 yards on the Cowboys winning drive before Eddie Murray kicked the game winning field goal. The Cowboys won the game 16-13 and this marked the only time in John Madden's broadcasting career as of yet that he went down to congratulate a player on his gutsy and resilient performance.

Smith finished the game with 168 yards on 32 carries and caught 10 passes for 68 yards. In countless interviews over the years by NFL Films, Smith went on to say that he was in pain the entire game because of the injury and that every time he was tackled he could hear cracks and popping sounds from his shoulder while tears were in his eyes due to the excruciating pain.

For his grit and determination in addition to his becoming the NFL's leading rusher, he was awarded the NFL's Most Valuable Player that year. Smith would later become the only player in NFL history to win the NFL rushing title, the NFL Most Valuable Player award, a Super Bowl title, and the Super Bowl MVP award all in the same season.

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Personal life

At one point, Smith spelled his first name "Emmit" (with only one T). Sometime in Emmitt Smith's academic career, he received a paper with his name spelled "Emmitt" (notice the two T's). Emmitt liked it and decided to start spelling his name the same way. Thus was born the new Emmitt Smith. His father is Emmit Smith II and as a child, to avoid confusion, he was nicknamed "Scoey."

He married Patricia Southall, on April 22, 2000. She is a former Miss Virginia, and the ex-wife of actor/comedian Martin Lawrence. Their son, Emmitt IV, was born on Smith's 33rd birthday, May 15. He currently has 4 children and lives in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. His entire family was on-hand and present on the sidelines that October day in 2002 when he surpassed Walter Payton for the NFL rushing title. Emmitt Smith now works for the ESPN Network.

Emmitt Smith is also a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

In retirement

In February 2005, Smith was released by the Arizona Cardinals, and signed a one day contract for no money with his former team (Dallas Cowboys) – after which he immediately retired as a Cowboy, as that was the team he played for from 1990 to 2002.

In September 2005, Smith signed on to serve as a studio analyst on the NFL Network show, NFL Total Access.

On September 19, 2005, at halftime of the Cowboys-Redskins game (broadcast on Monday Night Football), Smith was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor with his longtime teammates Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.

Smith becomes eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, and it is widely expected that he will be inducted on his first attempt. He was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame on July 21, 2007 as a 2007 Division I-A inductee.

On July 23, 2006, Smith was a judge at the Miss Universe 2006 pageant.

In the fall of 2006, Smith won the third season of Dancing with the Stars with professional dancer Cheryl Burke. Smith was praised for "making dancing look manly" and for his "natural charm", and Burke was given credit for coaching Smith while still allowing him to improvise some moves.

On September 30, 2006, he was one of the first four Gator legends inducted into the Florida Football Ring of Honor, alongside Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, and Jack Youngblood.

On March 12, 2007, Smith joined ESPN as a studio analyst for their NFL pregame coverage. Smith will join Chris Berman, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski and Chris Mortensen. He, Mortensen, Jackson, Berman and analyst Steve Young will do the Monday Night Football countdown each week.

External links

Official Website : http://www.emmittsmith.com/