The Guardian: Timmy Smith: the rise, fall and rise of the Super Bowl’s most mysterious legend

[Switchgear]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jan/27/timmy-smith-super-bowl-legend

 

 

Of all the instant stars in 50 years of Super Bowls, none has been cloaked in more mystery than the player who tore through the Denver Broncos on 31 January 1988. It was as if Timmy Smith appeared from nowhere. He was an unknown running back for Washington, making his first start, in, of all places, the Super Bowl. Most of the people watching had no idea who he was. But for one remarkable night he dazzled the world.

 

He met the president. He did David Letterman. He went from anonymous to legend in a matter of days. Then he was gone, washed out of the NFL just two years later as if he had never been there at all. Other surprise Super Bowl stars like Desmond Howard and David Tyree become annual celebrities. You can see them everywhere this time of year. Somehow Smith got lost in a distant time – a footnote to the night his Washington team-mate Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. He’s been hidden ever since.

 

 

“I couldn’t sleep the night before the game,” Smith recalls. “I got up at one in the morning and was just walking around. I wanted to visualize what was going to go on.”

 

That day, Gibbs had moved the team from their San Diego hotel to the more secluded Lawrence Welk Resort, hoping to eliminate distractions. The sidewalks of the resort were dark and empty as Smith strolled past the small houses imagining the game he would play later that day. In the stillness he saw everything. He pictured great holes opening before him, gaps of green turf flying beneath his feet. He imagined the Broncos defenders in orange jerseys lunging toward him as he dodged their arms and raced down the field.

 

He saw touchdowns in the empty night. He saw himself standing in the Denver endzone, the roar of the crowd spilling all around him. He even saw himself breaking Marcus Allen’s rushing record, ironically set just four years before against Washington.

 

“I’m going to have the best game of my life,” Smith remembers telling himself. Then he went back to his room, crawled into bed and fell fast asleep.

 

 

There seemed little doubt in the San Diego twilight who Washington’s next great running back would be. The future was Timmy Smith’s.

 

And then it wasn’t.

 

“What happened after that?” Smith asks. “That’s a good question. I don’t know what happened, man.”

 

Perhaps he was doomed the moment his agent called Washington general manager Bobby Beathard a few days after the Super Bowl, and demanded to be the highest-paid running back in the game. There were also reports at the time that the team felt Smith had lost his focus, that he was spending too much time in Washington’s nightclubs, celebrating his new fame. Beathard complained about this to Smith’s agent, and Gibbs quickly soured on his Super Bowl star.

 

 

For the last eight years, Timmy Smith has been working in oilfields. Every couple weeks, he packs a bag, leaves his wife at their home outside Denver and travels to woebegone towns on the plains of Texas and New Mexico. He stays for days. His employer is an energy company that sends him out to work with smaller drilling companies. They work in what is called “backflow” – extracting excess fluid from wells.

 

The job, he says, is hard. The winter days are cold and the summers warm. It can be a lonely existence, being away for so long, but the pay is decent, and the work is steady.

 

“I’m trying to keep my head above the water,” he says.

 

[pjfootballer]

I have to question some of trueness of the article. From what was said by Doug Williams, Smith had no idea he was starting, let alone playing. Williams had to remind Smith to be ready several times and thought Smith wasn't doing a good job of preparing for the game. Smith had no idea, so I'm not sure where the "sleepless" night part comes in. Smith had barely played during the season and had no reason to think he'd be playing in this game.

[Riggo-toni]

The rep on him was he had a bad work ethic, with a huge sense of entitlement after that game. Gibbs reportedly called him into his office several times during the 88 season to admonish him about wasting his talent.

And yeah, I too heard that Gibbs didn't tell him he was starting until gameday.

[zoony]

There is every chance that Smith inhaled an eight ball before that game. It worked for Lawrence Taylor

People do credit the hogs for those lanes and rightfully so, but Smiths speed thru those holes and outrunning the Broncos secondary was supermanesque, and I do agree he probably doesn't get enough credit. But we all know the real star of that game was Doug Williams. And there can only be one hero. The media won't allow two

[PeterMP]

I don't know if Smith knew he was starting or not, but he almost certainly knew he was going to play a significant amount.  He had established himself as our best RB coming into that game.  He was the leading rusher in the two previous playoff games (16 carries for 66 years against a good Bears D) and 72 yards on 13 carries against the Vikings.

 

Smith didn't exactly come out of no where.  He'd shown himself (in the Redskins offense) to be at least a good RB against playoff teams already.

 

(Now, I don't think anybody would have predicted what happened, but that your leading RB the 2 games before would play a large role in the next game isn't shocking either.)

[Riggo-toni]

People do credit the hogs for those lanes and rightfully so, but Smiths speed thru those holes and outrunning the Broncos secondary was supermanesque, and I do agree he probably doesn't get enough credit.

This! Compare his running in that game versus Kelvin Bryant. Hogs couldn't make Bryant look exceptional. Smith had an incredible burst through the line of scrimmage.

If I remember correctly, the Broncos tried to trip us up by switching to a 3-4 because they had seen how badly we had struggled against the Giants. It left our OL flustered in the first quarter, but then Gibbs changed to zone blocking assignments and we just overwhelmed them. The defense changed cleats, and subsequently our DBs completely shut out Elway.

[goskins10]

This has at little bit of drama added. In Joe Gibbs book he states specifically that he did not tell Timmy Smith he was going to start until literally hours before the game because he did not want to give him time to worry about it.

 

Having said that, it is still an interesting story. From nothing to SB excellence to out of the NFL. He obviously lost Joe Gibbs confidence and must have done something (a few things) that were directly against what Joe Gibbs expected from him. Just ask Stan Humphries how fast you get sent packing when you go up against Gibbs!   

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

I'm more blown away that an English broadsheet would run the piece. 

 

Hail. 

[zoony]

The article says that Don Breaux got the RBs together two days before and told them they were starting Timmy

This could be true. And it could also be true that Gibbs didn't tell Smith until the day before

[Jericho]

I just think its the fluke of a one game sample more than anything. Remember Chris Matthews? The wide receiver for Seattle last Super Bowl? He had never caught a pass in a single game before the Super Bowl. Then he went off for 109 yards and a touchdown. Had Seattle not epicly blown that game, we all might remember him more fondly. He has since been cut by Seattle, recording 4 total catches (though Baltimore picked him up, so he at least has a job even if it was for a team that had all their WRs injured).

 

I think the difference between guys like Timmy Smith and Desmond Howard or David Tyree (or for that matter guys like Larry Brown or Malcolm Smith) is that Howard and Tyree were good players. They were nominally WRs, but did their damage on special teams. Howard played in the league for 11 years. Tyree for 7 years. Timmy Smith only was in the league for parts of three seasons, and that includes 1 game for Dallas in 1990. He's really no different than any number of fringe guys that hang around for a year or two. Hence the Matthews comparison.

[SkinsGuy]

People do credit the hogs for those lanes and rightfully so, but Smiths speed thru those holes and outrunning the Broncos secondary was supermanesque, and I do agree he probably doesn't get enough credit.

 

 

Maybe, but I don't know if I would call outrunning someone like Tony Lily "Supermanesque".

 

I think Lily is still trying to catch Ricky Sanders.

[SkinsGuy]

 

Having said that, it is still an interesting story. From nothing to SB excellence to out of the NFL. He obviously lost Joe Gibbs confidence and must have done something (a few things) that were directly against what Joe Gibbs expected from him. Just ask Stan Humphries how fast you get sent packing when you go up against Gibbs!   

 

If I remember, word was that Timmy Smith had a poor work ethic (lazy), and put on a LOT of weight in the offseason after the Super Bowl victory.

[goskins10]

The article says that Don Breaux got the RBs together two days before and told them they were starting Timmy

This could be true. And it could also be true that Gibbs didn't tell Smith until the day before

 

 

You could very well be right. But the way I remember reading it, Joe G. said he didn't even make the decision until the night before. I will have to find it again. Maybe I misunderstood or misread it.

If I remember, word was that Timmy Smith had a poor work ethic (lazy), and put on a LOT of weight in the offseason after the Super Bowl victory.

 

I have heard that too and that he had problems with cocaine and late night partying, but much of it was conjecture, especially in terms of exactly why he was sent packing. Joe would never say, at least not publicly, it's not his style. There are a lot of differing stories about what happened which is why I was not specific.

 

The one thing I know for sure is he pissed Joe off enough to get rid of him.

[GoSkins0721]

The memories from that game are magical. Smith, Williams, the Hogs, Sanders. Wow.

 

I recall the weight issue the following year along with the coke & partying rumors (and Branch pretty much supports the partying rumors by kindly commenting  "no golf" for Timmy). 

 

Could any other back get 204 yards playing for the Skins that day? Maybe, but his burst thru the line and his understanding of the plays was incredible. His timing behind some of those blocks was a thing of beauty. The crushing blocks by Jake more than impressive (pulling right from his LT position to make blocks downfield. Who does that these days?)

 

The kid deserves his place in Super Bowl lore. It's good to see he's landed on his feet. Hopefully, things remain positive for him. Maybe the Skins reach out to him sometime & bring him back for some team related functions. He's a big part of the team history, for a brief moment in time...

[grhqofb5]

Having said that, it is still an interesting story. From nothing to SB excellence to out of the NFL. He obviously lost Joe Gibbs confidence and must have done something (a few things) that were directly against what Joe Gibbs expected from him. Just ask Stan Humphries how fast you get sent packing when you go up against Gibbs!   

 

I remember that he actually started off 1988 as the primary back.  Looks like he had two hundred yard games out of the first 4, had a couple lousy games and that was about it.  I suspect this was when the drug issues got bad.  Its sort of a mystery to me.

[SkinsFTW]

I wonder if him and Manley had the same dealer. They did both get booted at about the same time.

[skins island connection]

 Bryant wasn't running 20-30 yd bursts through the holes like Smith was. Smith simply had a quicker starting take-off than Bryant. Bryant was a hybrid back who was great at catching the ball out of the backfield, and was a huge star in the USFL [ yea, remember those guys? ] .

 

It was saddening to see how far Timmy fell. The guy had the world at his feet; top RB for one of the greatest franchises, the best coaching staff, a great o-line, great supporting cast, and pissed it all off for some nose candy. Ruined a promising career, but that's what that stuff will do to a person. No one is immune from its power; the only way to avoid its power is to avoid it altogether, because it WILL get you, one day or another, one way or another.

[TimmySmith]

Saturday afternoon I was hanging out at the team hotel.  It was crazy and awesome.  We were walking outside and Timmy Smith was sitting on a stoop by himself.  No one was talking to him because no one had any idea who he was.  I said to my friend, there's Timmy Smith, let's go say hi.  I walked up to him, and basically just said "Good luck tomorrow, I think you should be the starter."  He laughed and said thanks.   There is no question he had the greatest game any Redskin RB ever had.

[grhqofb5]

I remember Tecmo Bowl (the 1987 version, not Super Tecmo Bowl) had Timmy Smith as the Redskins running back.  They must have put some sort of patch on it right before release because he was awesome in that game, but it showed his season total yards at something like 400. 

[PeterMP]

SI has Doug Williams telling him game day that he's going to start.

 

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/28/timmy-smith-washington-forgotten-nfl-super-bowl-hero

[skinzplay]

Every time I read these stories about Smith and any other dimension of that Super Bowl, I'm reminded of just how phenomenal a coaching staff and front office we had back in those days. Man!!

[FuriousD]

I guess you learn something new every day!  I drive past the Lawrence Welk resort every day on my way to work. Even played its golf course several times and never, ever knew the Skins stayed there the night before. Whodathunkit?

[carex]

I have to question some of trueness of the article. From what was said by Doug Williams, Smith had no idea he was starting, let alone playing. Williams had to remind Smith to be ready several times and thought Smith wasn't doing a good job of preparing for the game. Smith had no idea, so I'm not sure where the "sleepless" night part comes in. Smith had barely played during the season and had no reason to think he'd be playing in this game.

 

I'm pretty sure he'd played in the playoffs. He knew he'd play some, just not how much

Having said that, it is still an interesting story. From nothing to SB excellence to out of the NFL. He obviously lost Joe Gibbs confidence and must have done something (a few things) that were directly against what Joe Gibbs expected from him. Just ask Stan Humphries how fast you get sent packing when you go up against Gibbs!   

 

 

Humphries wasn't gone quick.  He'ddone his two years on IR, backed up for a couple and wasn't traded till Rypien had his great year and Cary Conklin had done his two years on IR

[goskins10]

 

Humphries wasn't gone quick.  He'ddone his two years on IR, backed up for a couple and wasn't traded till Rypien had his great year and Cary Conklin had done his two years on IR

 

 

I stated "Just ask Stan Humphries how fast you get sent packing when you go up against Gibbs!"  He pissed Joe off and his **** was gone, fast. I never said that happened right after we drafted him. Not sure how you got where you did from that.    

  

[Alexa]

If I remember correctly, Smith was getting the majority of the carries against Chicgo and the Vikings, the two games before the Super Bowl. Really not a shocker that Gibbs started him.