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Nov 16, 2006 · Diane Herbst. Published on November 16, 2006 12:00AM EST. It was a partisan crowd that cheered former NFL great Emmitt Smith onto victory at the Dancing with the Stars finale on...
- Overview
- Early Years
- College Career
- Professional Career
- Life After Football
- Personal Life
- Dancing with the Stars 3
- Dancing with the Stars 15
- Trivia
Emmitt James Smith III is the winning celebritiy from Season 3 and a contestant on Season 15 of Dancing with the Stars.
Smith was born in Pensacola, Florida, the son of Mary Smith and Emmitt James Smith, Jr. He attended Escambia High School in Pensacola, where he played high school football and ran track for the Escambia Gators. During Smith's high school football career, Escambia won two state football championships, and Smith rushed for 106 touchdowns and 8,804 yards, which was the second most yardage in the history of American high school football at the time. Emmitt rushed for over 100 yards in 45 of the 49 games he started for Escambia (including the last 28 in a row) and finished with a 7.8 yards per carry average. Twice, he broke the 2,000-yard rushing mark in a season. In track and field, Smith competed as a sprinter and was a member of the 4x100m (42.16 s) relay squad.
For his efforts, Smith was named the USA Today and Parade magazine high school player of the year for 1986. In 2007, twenty years after Smith graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) named Smith to its "All-Century Team," recognizing him as one of the thirty-three greatest Florida high school football players of the last hundred years. As part of its "100 Years of Florida High School Football" awards ceremony, FHSAA named Smith as its "Player of the Century."
Smith accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Galen Hall's Florida Gators football team for three seasons from 1987 to 1989. He did not start the first two games of his college career in the fall of 1987, but made the most of his opportunities in a second-week rout of Tulsa in which he gained 109 yards on just ten carries, including a 66-yard touchdown run. That performance earned him a spot in the starting lineup the following week in the Gators' SEC opener against Alabama at Legion Field.
In his first collegiate start, Smith promptly broke Florida's 57-year-old all-time single game rushing record, carrying 39 times for 224 yards and two touchdowns as the Gators upset the Crimson Tide. Smith went on to break the 1,000-yard barrier in the seventh game of his freshman season, the fastest any running back had ever broken that barrier to begin his college career. He finished the 1987 season with 1,341 yards and was named Southeastern Conference and National Freshman of the Year. He also finished ninth in that year's Heisman voting.
Smith and the Gators began the 1988 season strong as Smith averaged over 120 yards per game, leading his team to 5-0 start. During the sixth contest against Memphis State, Smith injured his knee and was forced out of action for several weeks. The Gators lost the game in which he was injured plus their next three games, and with starting quarterback Kyle Morris also injured, they were unable to muster a single touchdown over fourteen quarters of play. Once Smith returned to the lineup, they rebounded to finish the season 7-5, including a win in the 1988 All-American Bowl in which Smith ran for a 55-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and was named the game's MVP. Smith rushed for 988 yards on the year (not including the bowl game) at 110 yards per game, the lowest totals of his college career.
Smith stayed healthy throughout his junior season in 1989 and found success again. He finished the campaign with Florida records for rushing yards in a season (1,599), rushing yards in a single game (316 versus New Mexico in October 1989), longest rushing play (96 yards against Mississippi State in 1988), career rushing yards (3,928), career rushing yards per game (126.7) and career rushing touchdowns (36), among many others. In all, Smith owned 58 school records at the conclusion of his Florida career despite playing on Florida teams with virtually no passing game, which made him the focal point of opposing defenses.
At the conclusion of his junior season in 1989, Smith was named a first-team SEC selection for the third year and SEC Player of the Year, was a unanimous first-team All-American, and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
On 1 January 1990, Florida hired Steve Spurrier to coach the Gators. Smith, concerned about his potential role in Spurrier's reportedly pass-first offense, decided to forgo his senior year at Florida and enter the NFL draft (Smith's school rushing record would be broken by Errict Rhett, Spurrier's first starting running back at Florida, albeit over four seasons instead of three and on 173 more rushing attempts). Smith returned to the university during the NFL off-season and completed his bachelor's degree in 1996.
Despite his collegiate success, some NFL teams still felt that Smith was too small and slow for the pro game. He fell to the 17th pick in the first round of the 1990 NFL Draft, when he was chosen by the Dallas Cowboys, who traded up to draft him.
Smith was the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,400 rushing yards or more in five consecutive seasons. Smith, Jim Brown, and LaDainian Tomlinson are the only players with seven straight ten-touchdown seasons to start their careers. With 1,021 rushing yards in 2001, Smith became the first player in NFL history with 11 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons and the first to post eleven 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a career. He is the NFL's all-time leader in rushing attempts with 4,409. Smith is the only player to post three seasons with nineteen or more touchdowns. He also holds the record for most games in a season with a touchdown and most games in a season with a rushing touchdown (15), set in 1995.
Smith currently holds the NFL record in career rushing yards with 18,355, breaking the previous record held by Walter Payton, on 27 October 2002. He leads all running backs with 164 career rushing touchdowns, and his 175 total touchdowns ranks him second only to Jerry Rice's 208. The total of his rushing yards, receiving yards (3,224) and fumble return yards (−15) gives 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. (The others being Jerry Rice, Brian Mitchell and Walter Payton)
Smith also accumulated several 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 twenty-one with Thurman Thomas. With the Cowboys, Smith won three Super Bowl rings and rushed for over 100 yards in two of those games, Super Bowl XXVII (108 yards and a touchdown, and six receptions for twenty-seven yards), and Super Bowl XXVIII (132 yards and two touchdowns, and four receptions for twenty-six yards). Smith received the Super Bowl MVP award for Super Bowl XXVIII, becoming the only Cowboys running back ever to win that award. He also scored two touchdowns in Super Bowl XXX.
In 1995, Smith broke two of Tony Dorsett's Dallas franchise rushing records. The first, he had 100+ yards rushing in each of the first four games of a season. And second, Smith rushed for 1773 yards, breaking Dorsett's single season rushing record of 1646. Both records would hold for nineteen years, until in 2014, DeMarco Murray rushed for 100+ yards in each of his first eight games. Murray also broke his single season rushing record with 1845 yards.
In his last season, Smith became the oldest player in NFL history ever to throw his first touchdown pass, throwing a 21-yard touchdown strike on a halfback option play. It was the only passing attempt of his career.
In September 2005, Smith signed on to serve as a studio analyst on the NFL Network show, NFL Total Access.
At halftime of the Cowboys-Redskins game broadcast 19 September 2005 on Monday Night Football, Smith was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor with his long-time teammates Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.
On 23 July 2006, Smith was a judge at the Miss Universe 2006 pageant.
On 12 March 2007, Smith joined ESPN as a studio analyst for their NFL pre-game coverage alongside Chris Berman, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, and Chris Mortensen. However, he was removed from this coverage for the 2008 season. Instead, he appeared Sunday mornings during the NFL season on SportsCenter. He performed with Steve Young and Stuart Scott at the Monday Night Football site each week on Monday Night Countdown. His contract was not renewed for the 2009 season.
Smith was criticized by some in the media and sports blogs as being inarticulate. Jimmy Kimmel Live! created a video called "Emmitt Smith: Wordsmith" mocking his numerous malapropisms. Sports Illustrated's Peter King called Smith's comments regarding Michael Vick's involvement in the Bad Newz Kennels "idiotic and inappropriate."
Smith was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, in his first year of eligibility.
Smith was initiated as a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity at the University of Florida. He returned to the university during the NFL off-season to complete his coursework, and graduated with his bachelor's degree in public recreation in May 1996.
Smith has a daughter, Rheagen Smith, with ex-girlfriend Hope Wilson. Smith married former Miss Virginia USA beauty queen Patricia Southall 22 April 2000. They have a son, Emmitt IV—who was born on Smith's 33rd birthday 15 May 2002—and daughter Skylar, who was born 15 October 2003. She brought to their marriage her daughter Jasmin Page Lawrence, from her previous marriage to comedian Martin Lawrence.
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.Scores
He returned to Dancing with the Stars in its fifteenth season as one of the "All-Stars" contestants. Smith once again had Cheryl Burke as his professional dance partner. They were voted off during the ninth week of the competition.Scores
•Emmitt is the first NFL player (retired or active) to win Dancing with the Stars.
•His former Cowboys teammate Michael Irvin, appeared in Season 9, finishing in seventh place.
Dancing with the Stars - Season III: Emmitt Smith. AlatarielElendil. Come watch all 17 videos of Emmitt and Cheryl from Season 3 of Dancing with the Stars. Thanx to Ch...
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