Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Smith, 48, advises on life after sports
Emmitt Smith, the guest speaker at the All-Arkansas Preps banquet in Little Rock on Saturday, is 15 years removed from the fishbowl life of a high-profile Dallas Cowboys running back.
But he can speak from experience.
Smith, 48, played for the Cowboys from 1990-2002 and led the team to Super Bowl championships in 1992, 1993 and 1995. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
Last season, a new star running back — rookie Ezekiel Elliott — emerged, becoming a key part of the Cowboys’ 13-3 NFC East championship season in 2016.
Elliott, drafted fourth overall in the 2016 NFL Draft from Ohio State, rushed for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns and was a first-team All Pro selection, can’t be compared to Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards.
But Smith might be able to help Elliott deal with the responsibilities that come with fame and understand the ramifications of getting involved in car accidents, or other off-the-field headlines.
Smith said he would like to speak with the young Cowboys star before he heads to training camp in Oxnard, Calif., next month, to give him advice and to explain what it’s like to be playing for one of the NFL’s premier franchises on and off the field.
“We haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk,” Smith said before speaking at the Statehouse Convention Center. “I’m going to place the blame on myself. I do have his number now. I haven’t had a chance to reach out to him, to have dinner. I’m going to get
that done over the next cou- ple of weeks.
“We can talk about life, football and business. We can talk about what it really means to be a Dallas Cowboy, what this can actually do for him as an individual football player.”
Elliott may want to take the advice of the NFL’s all- time leading rusher.
Smith broke Walter Payton’s record of 16,726 yards (1975-1987) on Oct. 27, 2002 against the Seattle Seahawks at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas.
“It was a surreal moment,” Smith said. “I always had it on my goal list from 1990 up until the day I broke it. That’s something I wanted to achieve in the National Foot- ball League. To see it come to fruition, in front of our home crowd at Texas Stadium, was a complete joy for me.
“Football is not a selfish sport. It takes a lot of unself- ish individuals to be on the same page competing at the same level and to win championships. To achieve something of that magnitude was incredible.”
Also, Smith leads all running backs with 164 rushing touchdowns and his 175 total touchdowns is second alltime behind Jerry Rice’s 208.
“Sometimes in life, the numbers speak for themselves,” said Keith Jackson, a former Little Rock Parkview and NFL tight end. “This guy is the G.O.A.T. The greatest of all-time.”
Smith follows pro football players Peyton Manning (2013) and Drew Brees (2014), baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr. (2016), and college basketball analyst Dick Vitale (2015) as speakers at the All-Arkansas Preps banquet.
This year, more than 350 athletes and coaches in 12 different sports were honored.
The All-Arkansas Preps teams during the 2016-2017 season were chosen by Democrat-Gazette staff members, with nominations from the state’s coaches.
Smith retired from the NFL in February 2005 at the age of 35 after two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and 15 seasons overall, Smith said he realized it was time for him to leave the game and admitted to the banquet crowd that he should have retired after the Cowboys did not re-sign him.
He told the high school
athletes that it’s important to plan for life after athletics.
“You will retire from sports at a young age,” Smith said. “35 is a young age. Many players in this room and in sports have retired before 35. Some of them retired after high school. Some of them retired after college. Some of them played five, seven years in pros.
“I got a lot more things to do after 35.”
Football has prepared Smith for life, he said Saturday. But he said that when his mother Mary died in November at 72, it was a sting that will never go away for him.
“Every day is a new day without my mom,” Smith said. “My mom was such a force to be reckoned with in our house. Our mom gave us the motivation that we can become anything we want to in this country.
“There’s nothing in life that I’ve had to deal with in my life that surpasses that. Nothing.”
Smith said he likes the direction the Cowboys are headed, but said that he’s concerned about the defense losing cornerbacks Brandon Carr (Baltimore), Morris Claiborne (New York Jets) and safety Barry Church (Jacksonville) to free agency.
“We have some talent,” Smith said. “I want to see how it all comes together. That’s extremely important.”