Bruce Smith
Encyclopedia
Bruce Bernard Smith is a former American football
defensive end
for the Buffalo Bills
and the Washington Redskins
of the National Football League
. He was a member of the Buffalo Bills teams that played in four consecutive Super Bowls as AFC
champions. The holder of the NFL career record for quarterback sacks, Smith was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 2009, his first year of eligibility.
. Following an all-state high school career, Smith accepted an athletic scholarship to Virginia Tech
. Known as "The Sack Man" (both on and off the field) of Virginia Tech football
, Smith finished his college career
in 1984 as the most honored player in Hokie history. Anticipating his future success in pursuing quarterbacks in the NFL, he had a career total of 71 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, for losses totaling 504 yards. Smith had 46 career sacks, including 22 during a junior season in 1983 that saw him named First-team All-America by the AFCA (Coaches) and Newspaper Enterprise Association. In 1984, Smith capped off his tenure in Blacksburg
with the Outland Trophy
, given to the nation's top lineman, and a consensus selection to the All-America Team
.
by the Buffalo Bills with the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft
. He quickly became known as a sack specialist, with 15 in 1986 and a personal season-best 19, just two short of the then-NFL record, in 1990. By 1989, Smith, in notching his 52nd sack, had already become the Bills' all-time sack leader, claiming a team record that he was to raise 119 times over the years. Some conjecture that his 171 sacks in Buffalo set a standard that "may be unreachable" for future Bills. In 1990, his defensive performance helped bring the Bills to Super Bowl XXV
, though they eventually lost to the Bill Parcells
-led New York Giants
. Still, Smith had an impressive performance in the game. He sacked Jeff Hostetler
in the end zone in the second quarter, becoming only the fifth player to record a Super Bowl safety. Later, Smith forced New York to turn the ball over on downs by tackling running back Ottis Anderson
for a two-yard loss on a fourth down conversion attempt. Only a failed last-second field goal
attempt kept the team from its first NFL championship (see K-Scott Norwood 'Wide Right').
In 1991, though Smith's knee
problems forced him out for most of the season, the Bills once again reached the Super Bowl. In 1992, in much better health, he was again a First-team All-Pro and was voted to the Pro Bowl while recording a team-leading 14 sacks.
By 1996, though the Bills' run of Super Bowl appearances had ended, Smith was still putting up prolific numbers, with 90 tackle
s and 14 sacks. In 1997, Smith had 65 tackles and 14 sacks and by 1998, although he was getting older he still had a respectable 50 tackles and ten sacks plus 100 others.
. In his first season, he posted 58 tackles and ten sacks, although he was now playing in mostly passing situations. He pressed onward in pursuit of Reggie White's
all-time sacks record (198, achieved in 15 seasons), which he passed in the thirteenth game of his 19th season in 2003. Smith finished his career with 200 career sacks.
Smith had hinted in interviews that 2003 would be his final season. However, he never completely ruled out continuing to play. But on February 24, 2004, the Redskins released Smith, saving $6.5 million in salary cap
space.
nine times. His 200 sacks give him the record for most career quarterback take-downs. As Smith spent most of his career in a 3–4 defensive scheme
, a defensive scheme not geared toward creating sack opportunities for defensive ends, many consider the record particularly impressive. Indeed, Smith's peers elected him to the Pro Bowl
every season from 1987 to 1998 (with the exception of his injury
-laden 1991 season). In 1987, he was named the Pro Bowl MVP
. Smith was twice named the AP
's NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1990, 1996), twice named the NEA Defensive Player of the Year (1990, 1993) and four times named UPI's AFC
Defensive Player of the Year (1987, 1988, 1990, 1996).
In 1999, while still an active player, Smith was ranked number 58 on The Sporting News
list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. In 2005, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
. In 2006, Smith was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame
.
On August 13, 2008, he was part of the inaugural class to be inducted into the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, an institution honoring athletes, coaches and administrators who made contributions to sports in Southeastern Virginia. Smith was inducted onto the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame during halftime of the Bills' September 21, 2008 game against the Oakland Raiders.
In a particularly rich weekend for the Bills organization, Smith was joined in 2009 induction to the Hall of Fame by Buffalo Bills owner and founder, Ralph Wilson, Jr.. Smith's former defensive coordinator, Ted Cottrell
, the architect of the sack-rich Buffalo years, served as his presenter during induction.
. Having returned to his home state, Smith now works as a large-scale hotel designer, undertaking many projects with Armada Hoffler. Most recently, he returned to Blacksburg, the site of his collegiate successes, where he purchased the Red Lion Inn. He built a Hilton Garden Inn Hotel with 137 sleeping rooms and is currently redeveloping the site with a $50 million student-oriented apartment (Smith's Landing, hotel and restaurant complex. A Baptist
, he is a member of Queen Street Baptist Church in Norfolk. Smith and his wife Carmen have a son, Alston.
Smith also works with Thurman Thomas in their new business venture, Legends Energy Group. They promote energy programs across North America.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
defensive end
Defensive end
Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...
for the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He was a member of the Buffalo Bills teams that played in four consecutive Super Bowls as AFC
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
champions. The holder of the NFL career record for quarterback sacks, Smith was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
in 2009, his first year of eligibility.
High school and college careers
Smith is a native of Norfolk, Virginia, where he graduated from Booker T. Washington High SchoolBooker T. Washington High School (Norfolk, Virginia)
Booker T. Washington High School is a public high school located in Norfolk, Virginia. It is administered by Norfolk City Public Schools. The school colors are maroon, gold, and white, and the nickname is the Mighty Bookers....
. Following an all-state high school career, Smith accepted an athletic scholarship to Virginia Tech
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...
. Known as "The Sack Man" (both on and off the field) of Virginia Tech football
Virginia Tech Hokies football
The Virginia Tech Hokies football team is a college football program that competes in NCAA Division I-FBS, in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They have more wins in team history than any other program in the ACC. Their home games are played at Lane Stadium which seats over...
, Smith finished his college career
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
in 1984 as the most honored player in Hokie history. Anticipating his future success in pursuing quarterbacks in the NFL, he had a career total of 71 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, for losses totaling 504 yards. Smith had 46 career sacks, including 22 during a junior season in 1983 that saw him named First-team All-America by the AFCA (Coaches) and Newspaper Enterprise Association. In 1984, Smith capped off his tenure in Blacksburg
Blacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 42,620 at the 2010 census. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which...
with the Outland Trophy
Outland Trophy
The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best United States college football interior lineman by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named All-America at two positions, Outland garnered consensus All-America honors in...
, given to the nation's top lineman, and a consensus selection to the All-America Team
1984 College Football All-America Team
The 1984 College Football All-America team is composed of various organizations that choose College All-America teams that season. The organizations that chose the teams were Associated Press, United Press International, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Football Writers Association of America,...
.
Buffalo Bills
Following this stellar collegiate career, Smith was draftedNFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
by the Buffalo Bills with the first pick of the 1985 NFL Draft
1985 NFL Draft
The 1985 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 30 and May 1, 1985...
. He quickly became known as a sack specialist, with 15 in 1986 and a personal season-best 19, just two short of the then-NFL record, in 1990. By 1989, Smith, in notching his 52nd sack, had already become the Bills' all-time sack leader, claiming a team record that he was to raise 119 times over the years. Some conjecture that his 171 sacks in Buffalo set a standard that "may be unreachable" for future Bills. In 1990, his defensive performance helped bring the Bills to Super Bowl XXV
Super Bowl XXV
Super Bowl XXV was an American football game played on January 27, 1991 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1990 regular season. The National Football Conference Champion New York Giants defeated the American Football Conference ...
, though they eventually lost to the Bill Parcells
Bill Parcells
Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells is a former American football head coach, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006...
-led New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Still, Smith had an impressive performance in the game. He sacked Jeff Hostetler
Jeff Hostetler
William Jeffrey Hostetler is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. His nickname is "Hoss".-Penn State:...
in the end zone in the second quarter, becoming only the fifth player to record a Super Bowl safety. Later, Smith forced New York to turn the ball over on downs by tackling running back Ottis Anderson
Ottis Anderson
Ottis Jerome "O.J." Anderson is a former American football running back. He was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979, and the MVP of Super Bowl XXV in 1991 when playing with the New York Giants...
for a two-yard loss on a fourth down conversion attempt. Only a failed last-second field goal
Field goal (football)
A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...
attempt kept the team from its first NFL championship (see K-Scott Norwood 'Wide Right').
In 1991, though Smith's knee
Knee
The knee joint joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two articulations: one between the fibula and tibia, and one between the femur and patella. It is the largest joint in the human body and is very complicated. The knee is a mobile trocho-ginglymus , which permits flexion and extension as...
problems forced him out for most of the season, the Bills once again reached the Super Bowl. In 1992, in much better health, he was again a First-team All-Pro and was voted to the Pro Bowl while recording a team-leading 14 sacks.
By 1996, though the Bills' run of Super Bowl appearances had ended, Smith was still putting up prolific numbers, with 90 tackle
Tackle (football move)
Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
s and 14 sacks. In 1997, Smith had 65 tackles and 14 sacks and by 1998, although he was getting older he still had a respectable 50 tackles and ten sacks plus 100 others.
Washington Redskins
After the 1999 season, Smith signed with the Washington Redskins as a free agentFree agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
. In his first season, he posted 58 tackles and ten sacks, although he was now playing in mostly passing situations. He pressed onward in pursuit of Reggie White's
Reggie White
Reginald Howard "Reggie" White was a professional American football player. He played 15 seasons as a defensive end in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history...
all-time sacks record (198, achieved in 15 seasons), which he passed in the thirteenth game of his 19th season in 2003. Smith finished his career with 200 career sacks.
Smith had hinted in interviews that 2003 would be his final season. However, he never completely ruled out continuing to play. But on February 24, 2004, the Redskins released Smith, saving $6.5 million in salary cap
Salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap is a cartel agreement between teams that places a limit on the amount of money that can be spent on player salaries. The limit exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both...
space.
Honors
In his 19 NFL seasons, Smith played in 279 games, amassing 200 sacks, two interceptions, 46 forced fumbles, and 15 fumble recoveries, which he returned for 33 yards and a touchdown. Of his 19 seasons in the NFL, 14 of them were seasons where he had at least ten sacks, a testament to his consistency year in and year out. He was also named All-ProAll-Pro
All-Pro is a term mostly used in the NFL for the best players of each position during that season. It began as polls of sportswriters in the early 1920s...
nine times. His 200 sacks give him the record for most career quarterback take-downs. As Smith spent most of his career in a 3–4 defensive scheme
3-4 defense
In American football, the 3–4 defense is a defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen and four linebackers.The 3–4 defense declined in popularity over the years, but has found renewed use by modern professional and college football teams. The 3–4 defense is so named because it involves 3...
, a defensive scheme not geared toward creating sack opportunities for defensive ends, many consider the record particularly impressive. Indeed, Smith's peers elected him to the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
every season from 1987 to 1998 (with the exception of his injury
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
-laden 1991 season). In 1987, he was named the Pro Bowl MVP
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
. Smith was twice named the AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
's NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1990, 1996), twice named the NEA Defensive Player of the Year (1990, 1993) and four times named UPI's AFC
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
Defensive Player of the Year (1987, 1988, 1990, 1996).
In 1999, while still an active player, Smith was ranked number 58 on The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. In 2005, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a sports hall of fame located in Portsmouth, Virginia. Founded in 1972, it moved to its current location in 2005...
. In 2006, Smith was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
.
On August 13, 2008, he was part of the inaugural class to be inducted into the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, an institution honoring athletes, coaches and administrators who made contributions to sports in Southeastern Virginia. Smith was inducted onto the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame during halftime of the Bills' September 21, 2008 game against the Oakland Raiders.
In a particularly rich weekend for the Bills organization, Smith was joined in 2009 induction to the Hall of Fame by Buffalo Bills owner and founder, Ralph Wilson, Jr.. Smith's former defensive coordinator, Ted Cottrell
Ted Cottrell
Theodore John "Ted" Cottrell is the former head coach for the New York Sentinels of the United Football League...
, the architect of the sack-rich Buffalo years, served as his presenter during induction.
Post-football
Smith now lives in Virginia Beach, VirginiaVirginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
. Having returned to his home state, Smith now works as a large-scale hotel designer, undertaking many projects with Armada Hoffler. Most recently, he returned to Blacksburg, the site of his collegiate successes, where he purchased the Red Lion Inn. He built a Hilton Garden Inn Hotel with 137 sleeping rooms and is currently redeveloping the site with a $50 million student-oriented apartment (Smith's Landing, hotel and restaurant complex. A Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
, he is a member of Queen Street Baptist Church in Norfolk. Smith and his wife Carmen have a son, Alston.
Smith also works with Thurman Thomas in their new business venture, Legends Energy Group. They promote energy programs across North America.