What About Emmitt?: NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith has complicated legacy in Pensacola

Bill Vilona | Pensacola News Journal

Two of Escambia High's greatest football players met by chance 15 years ago in a medical training room, of all places, at an NFL stadium.

Emmitt Smith was playing for the Arizona Cardinals. It was in the twilight on a 15-year NFL career that placed Smith into immortality as the NFL's all-time leading rusher and a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame member in 2010.

Kevin Morrell was the assistant equipment manager for the Carolina Panthers. He set Escambia's all-time rushing records in the mid-1970's before Smith shattered all of the marks in the mid 1980s before going on to star at the University of Florida and in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys for 13 seasons.

"Thanks for starting the way for me at Escambia," Smith wrote on a photograph Morrell had framed and cherishes to this day.

"What can you say about Emmitt Smith?" said Morrell, who led Escambia to a state baseball title in 1974 in addition to being a standout football player. "That meant a lot to me."

All these years later, Smith's name and his legacy still means a lot to today's players.

Many of the current prep stars were just being born in 2004, when Smith played his final NFL season. But in conversations this summer with players from various schools, Emmitt Smith is named immediately as someone they admire.

"Everybody still knows Emmitt," said Escambia coach Mike Bennett, who first coached against Smith as an assistant at Booker T. Washington High. "If they don't know, they need to go to You Tube (for Smith highlights), because he was the greatest.

"A great guy, man. I can tell you this, he loves Escambia High School and we love Emmitt Smith."

A generation removed, Trent Richardson became Escambia's next superstar running back in the mid-2000's. When Richardson speaks about the 49-year-old Smith, you can detect the awe and admiration in his voice.

"He's a mentor to me, I can't say enough about him," said Richardson, who is hoping to re-launch his pro football career with Birmingham's team in the new Alliance of American Football. "I don't think he gets enough respect.

"I know these younger guys, they hear about him, they know about him, but they don't really get the fact and get the fun he brought to the game. He is the best running back in history. He is a special type of guy. It's never going to get better than him."

The respect part is a reminder that Richardson recognizes Smith's legacy in Pensacola is complicated.

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There is a segment of mostly older adults who bemoan that Smith didn't come back to Pensacola enough, invest enough in Pensacola, greet enough people or sign enough autographs in Pensacola.

During the height of his stardom with the Cowboys, Smith acknowledged his dismay in a July 1, 1996 Sports Illustrated cover story written by John Ed Bradley. It was less than two years after being named Super Bowl MVP XXVIII in the Cowboys' second consecutive Super Bowl win against the Buffalo Bills.

The extensive profile included mention of how people in Pensacola reacted to Roy Jones Jr., who then was in the height of his hall of fame boxing career, and the difference with Smith.

"But my work is in Dallas," Smith said in the SI story, one of nine times he was on the magazine cover during this career. "I have to live there. I can't play the Super Bowl in Pensacola, can I?"

"I honestly believe people in Pensacola will not be happy until I fall flat on my face."

All these years later, hopefully, time continues to change those misperceptions.

Smith chose to have documentaries done on him filmed in Pensacola. He requested Escambia High for a "Hometown Heroes'" series of famous NFL players from across the U.S. back in their community.

During his career with the Cowboys, he had two youth football camps at Escambia, one of which included Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson and former Cowboys star running back Tony Dorsett, among other stars.

Still, there were people thinking he didn't do enough, speak about Pensacola enough.

"Communities can have these unrealistic expectations of athletes," said Quint Studer, the Blue Wahoos' majority owner who moved to Pensacola in 1996 with his wife, Rishy. Together, they have created community-changing business ventures and invested deeply in philanthropic efforts in the area.

"They expect them to do certain things that with other people they don’t expect. It's so unfortunate," Studer said.

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Prior to taking over as Baptist Hospital president, Studer recalled hearing of a fundraising event, where Smith was a guest of honor. He said there was a room full of items with expectation Smith would sign all of it.

"Sadly, some people sell such items as well as sponsors being concerned," Studer said. "While Emmitt signed everything, some people did not understand how careful someone like Emmitt needs to be."

It's much different elsewhere. Smith and Derrick Brooks are Pensacola's most famous football players and a gold standard within the NFL and entire sports world.

Both of them are revered in the NFL from commissioner Roger Goodell, all the way through each team's owner. It's something Pensacola should be proud about, many argue.

"I don’t think we sit here in Pensacola and are mad because Hollywood actresses like Katie Mixon and Abigail Spencer don't live in (the Pensacola area)," Studer said.

"I don’t think we are mad at Ashley Brown, who will sing at Carnegie Hall this year, because she doesn’t live here. So why do we do it for athletes? I grew up in LaGrange, Illinois, but I didn't choose to put my money there, so why do we say this when athletes build business careers where they played?"

In Smith's case, he partnered with fellow Cowboys legend Roger Staubach, who ironically played for the former Pensacola Goshawks football team when he was stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station as a U.S. Navy officer.

The two formed Smith-Cypress Partners, a real estate development company. Smith has also gone into the sports apparel business.

He opened Emmitt Smith Sports at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the nation's fourth-largest airport and the hub for American Airlines, which has service in Pensacola.

"I was just in that airport and Emmitt's picture was everywhere," Studer said.

There is a possibility Smith could soon invest in Pensacola. He and Studer have known each other since they happened to sit together on a flight when Studer was working at Baptist.

It gave Studer the opportunity to thank Smith, who was born at Baptist Hospital, for all he has done and meant to Pensacola.

Now, there is the chance of a business partnership. Smith originally looked at investing when the Community Maritime Park project was being built. The two recently had a lengthy meeting.

"You have to be careful and do things the right way," Studer said. "People have no idea how these athletes come back and have such unrealistic expectations placed on them. I get calls all the time about Bubba (Watson) when he's in town asking if Bubba can do this, or speak here.

"No, they are not here for that. They didn't come back here for that. Bubba likes the fact he can go to a Blue Wahoos game, sit with his kids and just be a dad. These guys, outside of here, they would be mobbed."

David Wilson, the community athletics coordinator for Studer/55, which launched the first NFL Flag Pensacola fall flag football league last Friday with NFL Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks' sponsorship, has the rarest of connections to both Smith and Brooks.

He coached against Smith his senior year as defensive coordinator at Woodham High in a famous 1986, season-opening game. It was two years after both Woodham (Class 4A) and Escambia (Class 3A) both won state titles in the same season. EHS followed with another in 1985.

Wilson said Smith was held under 100 yards by the Titans in a game that is still remembered among long-time residents in Pensacola. The Titans were then a perennial power in prep athletics.

Wilson has worked for Brooks with the former Tampa Bay Storm, where Brooks was president of the Arena Football League team, and now in Pensacola. Wilson was at Florida State when Brooks played.

"They are different personalities, but both have accomplished their goals, especially in business, in different ways," said Wilson, who remembers helping Woodham's defense that night against Smith.

"With Emmitt, a lot of these kids today have connected with him through 'Dancing With The Stars.' That sort of triggers a different reaction in these kids, because they are so bombarded in celebrity status on some of these things and that creates an interest to go back and find out more about this guy."

"This may be the right timing now with Emmitt to continue to help Pensacola in ways people will see more often."

Smith's affinity for Pensacola and Escambia High is best illustrated by how he stays involved from a distance.

"He does a lot of things people don't know about," said Escambia principal Frank Murphy, who played against Smith when Murphy was playing at Washington.

He's also given back to his prep alma mater in a variety of financial ways.

"I think the biggest thing is when he comes back, he's back, and the kids get to see him," Murphy said. "They know he's come home."

"He stands on the sideline on occasion here. This stadium is named after him. This is a special place to him. He contributed greatly to the refurbishment of the stadium.

"The people here know that."

It's a legacy that should be everlasting, not questioned.

Bill Vilona can be reached at bvilona@pnj.com or 850-435-8532.