Bruce Smith: A Football Life

I'm holding person s you man do you know what first doesn't mean shoes me bad things man I mean bad things clues that I just you just can't possibly talk about you know what Bruce would do if he found me messing with this shoe man bad things man [Music] [Music] this movie is rated off adult language and five lots up john elway if you don't control it so you beaten guys control pretty bad that you play a position that's generally considered dangerous Bruce Smith you face him two times a year wasn't it what does he bring that year he's the kind of defensive player that can change a game and there's not many guys like that he's just a guy that's got great strength and great speed his arms are so long and he's so strong but he can actually rip you just grab your jersey and throw you to the ground Reggie likes running people over making them physically humiliated we're a reimbursement makes them you know we're than what tackles like I got Jake I see I don't know I don't know where he went I lost them it isn't easy getting a handle on Bruce Smith perhaps that's because there's more than one of them [Music] there's the Bruce Smith football fans know whose ability to be everywhere during his 19-year career meant one thing with the NFL what is so amazing about Bruce Smith is how big he was and how athletic he was think of like LeBron James is a basketball player playing football and playing defensive end everything Bruce did it was dancing it was smooth it was it was haha it was just like you know come on with it he could almost be on the ground like he's racing at Talladega son he grew up hop on the PERS he could we had a 45-degree angle offensive linemen didn't like to you know anyone be paired up against him what they're afraid of he hadn't made it look as stupid does that spin back to the inside the pictures to me are like the best there's always like a lineman at the edge of the frame they're just priceless every time as I oh well there he goes the Bruce Smith the world watched spent Sunday's climbing all-time leaderboards he made more tackles than any defensive lineman in history and his two hundred sacks put him atop the pantheon of NFL pass rushers there's also the Bruce Smith who's a beloved brother to his Buffalo teammates he gives us hugs all the time on the TechSoup he sends me so much encouragement and support numbers MLM larger brother Bruce is always be here for me there's the Bruce Smith brimming with confidence Bruce met love help some personnel he left him 278 man and the Bruce Smith who came to no humility get on your knees and pray and ask for help and that's what I did there's the Bruce Smith who travels the world trying to make it better this is a question of fairness and we've got to do something about it but no matter where he's been or which Bruce Smith he is his heart has always been here in his native Virginia right there you and your food yeah or they call bell bottoms I grew up in the inner city in Norfolk Virginia I was the youngest my brother George four years older than I and my sister is 10 year older than I my father worked at a plastic factory for minimum wage my father worked construction making minimum wage if not for George Smith senior his son's football career would have ended after one day at Booker T Washington high school it was in the middle of August roughly 95 degrees outside and I just couldn't stomach it it was too hot it hurt I felt pain like I'd never felt before in my life the next day when it's time to go to practice I didn't go I quit my father said son you think I enjoy what I do for a living getting up at sunrise and coming home at sundown coveting dirt you think I enjoy this get back out there and show them what you're made of whatever you do in life don't ever quit still to come I was at my boiling point and I couldn't take it in father I went home I got my father's God I was bigger than the normal sized kid but I was timid I was picked on jokes laughed at he was pretty much what bigger than everybody else it won't too much of that that I was well y'all y'all didn't know about it cuz I kept it to myself one day riding home on a school bus this kid started bullying I was at my boiling point and I couldn't take it any longer got off of the bus I went home and got my father's gun I thought I knew were the bus stopped after that went around the neighborhood and thank God that I didn't see him when he got off of the bus because I probably wouldn't be sitting here today I didn't come into my own until I started playing sports I was a high school Allstate basketball player I could dunk anyway you could possibly think of I wasn't a kid that they laughed at anymore I was able to transition my athleticism agility my speed my quickness my endurance from the basketball court onto the football field I was able to run as fast as guys that were 30 40 50 pounds lighter than I was on a football field there were some things that I saw the spin the spinner was one of my favorite moves that that might have come from the spin moves on basketball court we had the great pleasure of having Bo Schembechler coming to this gym to watch Bruce Smith play basketball to practice basketball [ __ ] overview on this bleacher and after the practice he came to me into saying you got a heck of a sleeve they didn't they didn't come to see me play football they came to see you play they wanted to know what kind of athleticism did he possess out here on the court because if you can do it on this court you can definitely do it on the football field way back in the day in spring recruiting I was at North Carolina State and rolling through a school late in the afternoon in Norfolk Virginia there was nothing like nobody in the hallways or anyway no and that walked by the gym and there was a guy Duncan in the gym you know it was all by himself and that was Bruce Smith to see a guy like the of his size you know Duncan he was just standing on the hoop and just jumping up into handling we wound up going through the whole process of recruiting them and all the way down to the very end right to the final day and the whole thing at the last minute I said this is not where I really want to go school I didn't want to go too far away from home I wanted to make a name for myself in the state of Virginia I just knew that Virginia Tech was right for me [Music] my father said son when I went off to college I don't have much to give you but you've got a good name don't mess it up in just a few years Bruce Smith timid kid had become Bruce Smith top college recruit but not all the changes in his life were for the better his father who kept him from quitting football developed emphysema it was hurtful to see him struggling and every weekend we would drive up to see you play and there were times we didn't feel like really going but never missed again but you never missed the game cuz I was driving come on Linda we going to the game hey pack up and get in the car we heading up the Virginia Tech that's one of the reasons I wanted to stay close to home I was eating in the cafeteria and I saw her walk by and it just hit me and said that's the one I dropped everything I was doing I left my lunch on the table and ran out and it was Karma hope you have a beautiful more and then and I hope to talk to you soon that's the Wow what a gentleman he flashed me that great big beautiful smile he had you know I took a few more seconds and I gave him my number as an upperclassman Smith was ready to collect digits of a different kind in his junior season he led the nation in sacks with 22 as a senior he led the nation with 16 and won the Outland Trophy for college football's top interior lineman if the quarterback drops back seven yards and can and you can beat your man by one step it's a great deal of fun because all you have to do is really do it a seven yard sprint and you beat him to that point he's yours I was just having fun it didn't quite calculate in my mind that I was about to make history the bills need it they passed Russia I was told two months ahead of time I was going to be the first player picked in the draft Bruce Smith is with his parents George and Ann Smith and his nephew Kevin Bruce if you had a chance to talk to the people of Buffalo right now what would you have to say to them I'll be looking forward to playing up there in Buffalo and getting all the fan support that they have in Buffalo Bruce Smith is still big as is the namesake meal on the menu at his favorite restaurant the view to ask for the Lou Smith deal you get a platter and I want to sit here and watch I watched him eat that and I could not figure out when a hill he put it I can't put it anywhere I just didn't know how to be a pro I saw him come in as an entitled young draft pick the fat guy who not too many guys got along with he was arrogant I think it was a little bit of selfishness we go to restaurants together we couldn't be seated fasten them can we get some bread on the table can we can we get some drinks I'm hungry kind of thing in fact oh we're all hunger that's why we had the restaurant Bruce is gonna tell you what he wanted how he wanted it and when it was gonna be done I said anything you want to do you can do just as long as you back it up I wouldn't consider myself to to be arrogance but what I will tell you I felt extremely fast [Music] [Applause] [Applause] and he tackles Tommy Cramer oh he's gonna be a pain in the ass oh what a pain in the ass is he gonna be fast agile and angry as a rookie Smith also had size so much so that like defensive tackle William Perry in Chicago the bills lined their mini fridge up at fullback I remember coming in our rookie year we had this bike that they used to test us all coming in that would measure the power in your hips and legs and we all had to do it I just remember Bruce getting on that bike and it was like you blew the bike up when I first got to the Buffalo Bills in 1985 I was roughly around 290 we ate a lot of southern food soul food and stuff like that and buffalo chicken wings and beef on weck I love pizza that's one of my my weakness is I got it for 310 pounds he realized that you couldn't get to the passer in two to three seconds I lugging a weighted vest on him he had so much self pride that I don't think he wanted to embarrass himself being a number one pick in this league and being a bust our straight conditioning coach rusty Jones used to tell him the stairmasters really one of those exercises that translates to running would be like running without running we had one and he got on it he liked it and he went crazy on it he'd get on he'd kill that thing wear it out he would rust the chains he would sweat so much the chains who become rusty it was a lifesaver for me it proved to not put as much stress on my my joints it helped him have on 19-year career because he didn't have to get out and pound the pavement as far as training he had one at his house - you know I by the pool he was crazy man with that the Stairmaster knee and he was uh he was a warrior honor I knew what weight I had to be it I knew the meals that I needed to eat during the course of the week ended up getting my body fat down to about six point one percent the end game was to be this this player that nobody would ever forget about Bruce wanted to be the all-time sack leader from the very beginning he wanted to get to the passer we used to have a little saying give me some heat meat I need some heat I didn't care where it came from get your big butt kick it outside and come down hill and I don't care what you tear up over there [Applause] Smith brought enough heat to warm Buffalo's winters 33 and a half sacks in his first three seasons but Bruce Smith the budding star was still a Bruce Smith with hard lessons to learn in 1988 he was suspended for games for violating the league's substance abuse policy being a [Music] pretty much a young kid becoming a millionaire at the age of 20 years old made some some poor decisions I thought he'd felt like it sabotage his ability to be everything he wanted to be as a good football player now I had this stain on his career that he was going to have to deal with I have an opportunity here to do something special I'm gonna refocus myself and I'm gonna become that player this got his eyes on the prize and once I got past that that suspension in 1988 my career just soared in 1988 Bruce Smith returned from suspension determined to prove himself the game's premier defensive end playing against him it was it was it was always just a grind just a mental grind a chess match he'd come up the fill and press you and then come back with the spin move he wasn't predictable you can be a Hall of Fame player you're gonna be a really great player ya play for downs you got to stuff the run - and I'll be darned if he didn't start doing it no and but if he could stuff the run on first in a second all of a sudden his third long he gets a chance to rush the passer he was smart enough to know he got to do all of it and he did all of it Smith was putting it all together and so were the bills with the addition of coach Marv Levy and future Hall of Fame players like running back Thurman Thomas quarterback Jim Kelly and wide receiver Andre Reed it was a volatile mix of talent and personalities that earned the team the nickname the bickering Bills Jim had a lot to learn about being a leader Bruce had a lot to learn about being a good teammate his personality clashed with Jim early on and then 89 they didn't like each other too much neither one of them was likable so it was easy to understand why they disliked each other late in 1989 Jim and Bruce kind of huddled up and said you know what we're gonna be stuck here together for a while they started having a few beers together they kind of came together said we'll be friends - as they started hanging out as we all know after games we went back to my house for parties and everything one thing I can say about Bruce is every single home game that we had a party at the house which was that every every time Bruce was spent an hour with my mother upstairs my mother considered Bruce one of her sons she talked about Bruce Warren she talked about her kids she was emphysema and you understand so we we always connected talking about hugs of dad how's your mom good and I do appreciate that and I know how much my family did Bruce not long before that and I will never ever forget I'll never forget any of it no no I was a special lady jimson it is nothing if he's not one of the great brothers of all time and you know he made Bruce his brother and Bruce loved him for it they became really good friends and the rest of us were just kind of wrapped up in that relay you have that special bond and relationship that's being created but then you have winning taking place now when you merge though - those two things together you've got a family of teammates that are doing special things together [Applause] in 1990 Smith recorded a career-high 19 sacks and the kid who grew up timid wasn't afraid to put the NFL on notice [Applause] Smith called himself the best defensive player in football before a December game against Lawrence Taylor in the Giants he's been the dominant player in NFL and I think this past year that with my play I have taken it up a notch and I feel it right now I am well here goes with confidence everything I made that statement based upon film study based upon statistics wasn't arrogance it wasn't boasting it wasn't bragging oh he's right Marlon I think who's right nobody gets credit now been denied me answers are gonna leave Buffalo's not too big this city you gotta be a little bit more upfront and say things and part of should say to get people to wake up understand who this is at that moment that statement needed to be made [Applause] [Music] [Applause] at halftime I never will forget you stood up on a stool at the end of the half time for we go out you said just remember this if they can't score they can't win yep our morale you guys took over that second half of that game Buffalo stays atop the AFC East Smith was indeed named Defensive Player of the Year and helped lead the bills to a rout in the AFC Championship so bill are in the super bill first time in their history what are we going to show - oh what's next [Applause] after the UC championship game I guess the Raiders he was at the bar we had gym boy it was out he was at a base we had a bag of Doritos I was a pretty good night [Applause] in Super Bowl 25 Smith's second quarter sack resulted in a safety but it came agonizingly close to a touchdown in a game the bills lost by one point I don't know how he held on to their ball you really think about Super Bowls you think about one or two players during a game totally changes everything if you were to fumble got that game might have been a blow you know we won that one who knows it's all your [ __ ] I got big shoulders puts it down on the way [Music] [Applause] I'm in the hotel before we left town Bruce Smith knocks on the door it wasn't you Scott and gave me you know just the greatest greatest hug meant a lot to me we're not putting blame on anybody because each and every one of us could have played better some way some shape some somehow and I think that if given that same situation again Scotty would drill it right there down the middle Bruce Smith the star was becoming Bruce Smith the leader he was also becoming Bruce the pop-culture phenomenon thanks to a fearsome persona Madison Avenue found marketable TV commercials that I've seen you you're always sort of this in this Terminator like position like this or scowling new wavy lays aren't your ordinary rich chip there lays or you're squeezing something and crushing it I'm holding bad things man I like a commercial with bad things man Dennis Hopper I thought it was very creative you know what Bruce would do if he found me messing with this shoe man hmm bad things man I don't know but I'm smelling my shoes but that had a life of its own that of course that bad things man coz that became Bruce's thing was rare back then for things to get big there was no internet there was no platform there's no social media for that stuff to mushroom like that a kid coming from the inner city in Norfolk Virginia he's got his own shoe he's got a commercial that's been put out by Nike along with all these other great things and blessings that have taken place in his life who would ever thought it I mean I was living the dream [Music] [Applause] by the mid-90s Buffalo had gone to and lost four Super Bowls but Bruce Smith continued doing bad things to NFL offenses as he got older they started moving him around like they started moving Reggie white around and when you move people like that around on the field it's my job to find out where that guy is because it's all about protecting me Bruce was always the defensive end and I come to the line of scrimmage he's now playing a three technique he's now like a gap to two gaps closer to me you know and that's not that's not right that's not right Bruce Smith was able to nail Doug Peterson the ball came loose and we got to be selfish we got to be selfish today go get we got to be selfish but it's third along say I got I'm gonna make play mat don't depend on nobody else you gotta say I'm gonna make in 1996 his 12th year in the league a 33 year old Smith won his second Defensive Player of the Year award if you have a great year or two or even three you've had two or three great years you don't belong lift the best that's ever played the game unless you're able to do that ten years or more that's what separates you from being average - good - great that's when you're in that elite status the best of the best Smith may have been the most feared man in football but his father's advancing illness turned him back into that timid kid from Norfolk right now my father's not doing too long things don't seem to get too much better he's gonna always be sick Smith's fame and fortune couldn't fix his father but he found those he could help in 1999 the kid who knew the sting of being bullied traveled to Africa to aid children who'd been cast aside when you have these growths or cleft palates or tumors or whatever they happen to be there that are growing the kids are thought of as being useless having no value it's about a 45-minute surgery to restore and give them a new life Bruce was was there for the whole scenario preoperative operative post-operative carrying babies back to moms they didn't necessarily look upon him as this big pro football player he was he could have been the doctor they didn't know but he was there for them now that you've created this platform and you have some influence what are you gonna do with it Smith entered the 1999 season trailing early Reggie White on the all-time sack list but he failed to break double digits for the first time in a fully healthy season since he was a rookie they wanted me to take the paper and then when I found out that they had plan on releasing Andre and Thurman at the same time I said it's it's time for me to go - it was very hurtful for us and then just like they just deserved better than that did three of them this is like a homecoming for me I was born and raised in Norfolk Virginia we got to come home because the Redskins is the hometown team same way though he chose for genius a anywhere where he could be closer to his father so it really played a big factor and his father loved the Redskins George Smith senior never got to see his son suit up in Washington he passed away weeks before Bruce's first Redskins training camp [Music] just brings back memories yeah it really does in his first year in Washington at age 37 Smith rebounded with ten sacks putting Reggie White's record of 198 within reach and the kid whose father told him not to quit wasn't going to stop [Music] [Applause] [Music] he's in there as he has tied the record he's gonna get a half a sack the quarterback pitch to overcome all of the training camps the blood the sweat the tears the disappointments [Music] it felt pretty damn good it really did over the course of his 19-year career Bruce Smith sacked 76 different quarterbacks a total of 200 times his all-time record stands to this day his grace ever play here's the goat of defensive lineman coming up and remind him that ain't all gonna be fairy tales get on your knees and pray and ask for help and that's what I did [Applause] [Music] tell everybody about two three four - four three we always hold a reception for The Wall of Fame inductee which obviously that year it was you and you got you got up there and started explaining to everybody that if you would have played played in the 4-3 I don't reach that 200 sack a lot faster [Laughter] but the whole time you're talking I'm getting texts from this guy and that guy telling me cake you can't you control what he's saying he better not get into this tomorrow I'm not surprised there was a ton of things that Bruce had to deal with down inside that you know just to playing for three defensive n he just upped the field and working on the tackle the tackle is outside of Bruce so there's no corner to turn as a defensive end in the 3-4 there was just less space for him to work and make a guy miss he thrived where a lot of guys just can't do it maybe Bruce Smith would have gotten to the quarterback more in a different defensive scheme but 200 sacks were plenty to make him a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer ones value in life is not determined by accolades or worldly success one's worth as human beings reside in our willingness to gladly extend ourselves in service to our fellow man Bruce Smith the Hall of Famer is still Bruce Smith the humanitarian he still travels the world visiting US service members abroad I've used those negative experiences when people treated me unkindly to fuel me to be a better person back home he's funded a scholarship in weight room at his old high school and he fights for more I've gone and spoke before a City Council when schools are being underfunded and not given enough resources for books for athletic equipment all of these things play a major role in how these students and these these kids are are shaped in his current home of Virginia Beach he also successfully fought for equal opportunity for minorities in his chosen field of real estate development this is a question of fairness and we've got to do something about it Bruce's courage in the face of powerful resistance and his dedicated commitment to the pursuit of equality and economic empowerment for all tonight we are proud and honored to present the Human Rights Award to mr. Bruce Smith in Blacksburg home of Virginia Tech Smith was the lead developer on undergraduate housing that bears his name as does so much else at his alma mater his face is plastered on a lot of walls in the athletic facilities of course add as an old picture a young wet-behind-the-ears green as green can be naive unassuming kid that's what I say through God's grace and mercy you did all right he tries to go back as much as he can and encourage the athletes there and go to the game he's there every other weekend during football season [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Virginia Tech will always be a special place from crucem is where he basically grew up and it's where he honed some of his skills that made him the incredible athlete he is now and it's where he met me karma means the world and the risk of losing her the thought that she may be gone I think it remind him that you know it ain't all gonna be fairytales I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 my mom died in June his mom died six months later and then that same week that's when I found out I had four cancer so it was just it was a very tough time for us how do you deal with two matrix deaths and cancer and all the other challenges of life hitting you all at one time get on your knees and pray and Astro and that's what I did shibi cancer thank God she be cancer we were invited to go to Israel with Robert Kraft and some of the other Hall of Famers Bruce have really been already on a spiritual quest I think after my illness he just had been searching and trying to have a closer relationship with God and so the trip came in just the perfect time having been through some difficult times over the last two years with my wife having had cancer and been in remission now for a year and a half this is the best this is the best medicine and the best doctor that we've encountered I think that trip that he took a few years ago really gave him a heart full of thankfulness he's done everything to prove anymore and I think that put him in a really good spot in his life this is a man who's worn many faces he once sought greatness in a steady climb a number reached a place in history secure now Bruce Smith finds fulfillment and good deeds done and company kept if we would have one two three four simple lunchable we know we might not be the same team that we are we're here today because of the camaraderie that we had years ago he came from being a fat little kid to a to an icon Mount Rushmore leader of men guy you can get behind just stuff like completely different human being the football stuff is is is great but this is who I am I'm a fun loving caring person that that just likes to to enjoy life Bruce I love you and I'll tell you why here toast to dress great no shirts and rage defense men ever to play the game but everybody here love you man love you too bad things man I mean bad things

Channel: NFL Fanzone

Views: 278,927

Rating: 4.8707361 out of 5

Keywords: NFLFanzone, NFL, Fanzone, Bruce Smith, Virginia Tech, Buffalo Bills, Jim Kelly, Cornellius Bennett, Thurman Thomas, Marv Levy, Washington Redskins, Hokies

Id: 5q6vWzLyT4s

Length: 43min 31sec (2611 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 30 2019