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Memory lane Yeah, I met Emmitt -- even before he was Emmitt SmithPosted: Wednesday October 23, 2002 5:29 PM
One day not all that long ago, Emmitt Smith was talking about chasing records, and how he approaches such historic personal milestones. "I strive for goals," Smith said. "It's just that my goals are not to break records, but doing what I have to do to win games. If I break records, I break records. I don't go out to play football to break records and get my name in the paper. I go out because I enjoy football. "Records are made, and then broken. If I can do both, I'll take both. But the records come last." Pretty standard fare for the future Hall of Fame running back, right? Yeah, but consider that Smith made those comments to me sitting in the living room of his childhood home in Pensacola, Fla., in May 1986, half his lifetime ago. He was a 17-year-old high school junior that day, and already the all-time leading rusher in Florida high school history. In his sights was a shot to finish among the top five national career high school rushing leaders, an achievement that Smith easily reached. Now jump ahead to last month, when Smith took part in a Week 3 national conference call with reporters who cover the NFL. Asked repeatedly about his anticipation of breaking Walter Payton's career NFL rushing record of 16,726 yards, the 33-year-old Dallas Cowboys' star virtually echoed his remarks of 16 years earlier: "I'm looking forward to this ballclub winning games," he said. "That's really what I'm looking forward to. ... To break the record along with winning, it means a lot. It makes it that much more satisfying, that much more enjoyable. But for me, my focus is not necessarily on the record. My focus is on the team, trying to do whatever I can to help this team win." How's that for consistency of approach? Emmitt. The same, yesterday, today and forever.
I guess you could say I've been sitting on this story idea for a while now. Sixteen-plus years, to be exact. As Smith approaches history this week, just 93 yards shy of breaking Payton's revered mark, I'm reminded that Emmitt and I have a little history together. Granted, it's not much as claims to fame go. But sometimes the footnotes make for the most intriguing reading. According to Smith, I was the first out-of-town reporter to ever interview him. Honest. Let me explain. I was 24, and covering high school sports for my hometown newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times. Smith was in the final weeks of his junior year at Pensacola Escambia High, going through the paces of spring football practice. He was already a two-time defending state champion, and the most proficient runner in Florida high school history, with 6,867 yards and 78 touchdowns in his first three seasons. He would finish his high school days with 8,804 yards and 106 touchdowns, ranking third all-time nationally. Smith had long since become the most prized college recruit in Florida that anyone could remember. Even his spring practice workouts were beginning to resemble an SEC coaches meeting. In short, Smith was a certifiable phenom. In anticipation of his senior season, I flew to Pensacola the previous May and spent three days and two nights kicking around, talking to everybody in town about the unfailingly polite young man whom everybody called, simply enough, "Emmitt." One of those nights, I spent four hours or so at Smith's home, interviewing him and his parents, Mary and Emmitt Smith Jr. I still have the cassette tapes of those sessions, with the 17-year-old Emmitt answering every third question with "Yes, sir," or "No, sir," even though I myself barely had need of a razor. When I asked him if he was getting used to the crush of media attention -- and remember, high school football rules in Florida in general and in the state's Panhandle in particular -- Smith gave me a funny look. He reminded me that the Escambia's no-nonsense head coach, Dwight Thomas, had a well-known rule forbidding in-season player interviews, even after games, and said that he hadn't talked to many reporters, other than a few local sportswriters. Remarkably enough, despite having been a "Face in the Crowd" in Sports Illustrated in January 1986, and a member of USA TODAY's All-USA team in 1985, Smith was a babe in the woods when it came to this interview stuff. Rest assured, he'd have a few thousand more opportunities to polish that part of his game in the future. This week, in re-listening to that long ago interview, I was struck by how much the Emmitt Smith I got to know back then still bears a striking resemblance to the one we see today. Then as now, he said all the right things at all the right times. About teamwork, about having respect for the game, and about the secondary nature of individual goals. And Smith was every bit as much the focus of attention at Escambia High as he would soon be at both the University of Florida (1987-89) and in Dallas, with the Cowboys. Maybe more so. "We do three things here on offense," said Thomas, Smith's high school coach. "We hand Emmitt the ball, pitch him the ball, and we throw him the ball." Not that Smith has ever allowed himself to publicly revel in his superstar status. Not in 1986 in Pensacola. Not in 2002 in Dallas. "When they say, 'How do you feel being the only thing at Escambia?' -- and that question has been asked -- I look them straight in the eye and I tell them, 'I do not hand the ball off to myself, I do not snap the ball and I do not punt the ball,'" Smith said back then. "Therefore I'm not the only one at Escambia." Another paragraph from that long ago story jumped out at me eerily this week, giving me goosebumps in its foreshadowing. Buried in the middle of my 60-inch feature on Smith was the following sentence: "As for Smith, nicknamed 'Sweetness' for his striking resemblance to Walter Payton of the world champion Chicago Bears, the honors pour in." "Sweetness," the man whose career-defining record Smith is now on the cusp of breaking. No doubt it's the earliest possible link to two names that will remain side by side in NFL history. Especially since Smith was so moved to be honored in recent years with the "Spirit of Sweetness" award, which was named in Payton's memory. Smith made his NFL debut in 1990, the same year I began covering the league as a full-time assignment. On several occasions through the years, I've had reason to interview him. A couple times I took a moment to jog his memory about our long ago first interview. Each time, once in Dallas' locker room in 1993, and again at the Pro Bowl in 1999, Smith would recall the particulars with a little prompting. His reaction was always the same. He'd smile wide, and say: "That was you? I remember you came all the way from St. Petersburg to talk to me. I thought it was a big deal at the time." So did I, Emmitt. And you know what? It's getting to be a bigger deal all the time.
Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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