Billy Ray Smith Jr. (born August 10, 1961) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for ten seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

, and was twice recognized as a

unanimous All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honorific college football all-star team compiled after each NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season to recognize that season's most outstanding performers at their respective positions. ...

. Smith was selected in the first round of the

1983 NFL draft The 1983 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 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sh ...

, and played professionally for the NFL's

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

Early life

Smith was born in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

, and grew up in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

. He is the son of Billy Ray Smith Sr., who also played at Arkansas and in the NFL. He attended

Plano Senior High School Plano Senior High School (commonly Plano, Plano Senior High, or PSHS) is a public high school, public secondary school in Plano, Texas, serving students in grades eleventh grade, 11–twelfth grade, 12. The school is part of the Plano Independ ...

, and was a 2005 Plano Texas Hall of Honor inductee. In 1977, Smith helped Plano Senior High School win the Texas Class 4A state championship in front of a state record crowd just shy of 50,000 at Texas Stadium, a record that stands today.

College career

At the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

, Smith was a two-time

selection, earning the honors in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. In 1982, he served as team captain, leading Arkansas to a 9–2–1 record and a victory over Florida in the

Bluebonnet Bowl The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium (Rice Univ ...

. He finished his career with 299 total tackles and still holds the Arkansas record for career tackles for loss, with 63. He was a member of the Arkansas All-Decade Team and, in 1993, was voted into the Arkansas All-Century Team. Later, he was inducted into both the Arkansas State Hall of Fame (1995), and the Razorback Hall of Honor. Smith was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

in 2000.

Professional career

Smith was drafted by the

in 1983. He was the 5th pick in the 1st round, and was the first defensive player taken in the 1983 draft. He was the Chargers team

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

in 1987, and the team defensive player of the year in 1985 and 1986. Smith was voted Second-team All-AFC by UPI in 1986 and 1987 and was voted Second-team All-Pro by NEA in 1989. Smith played his entire 10-year NFL career with the Chargers. His top sack season was 1986, when he totalled 11 sacks. In 2009, Smith was voted by fans and the Chargers Hall of Fame as one of the 50 greatest Chargers of all time. A friend and mentor to his peer, Marc Scroggins. Smith is a second generation NFL defender. His late father, Billy Ray Smith Sr. also played for the

, and was a 13-year pro for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

and

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

Life after football

Smith was the co-host of the U-T TV morning show with Scott Kaplan and Amber Mesker. Weekdays 6AM to 11AM. However, he left the show in December 2012 when he and co-host Scott Kaplan were re-hired at XX Sports Radio (1090 AM)for the 3pm-6pm slot. Smith lives in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and is the co-host of the afternoon drive-time sports program, "The Scott and B.R. Show", with Scott Kaplan on XX Sports Radio (1090 AM). The organization let go of the show in 2012. Kaplan and Smith subsequently struck a deal to host a morning television show on UTTV.com, run by the ''

San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

''. Smith also works for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

on Saturdays during the college football season, and is the co-host of the ''Chargers Power Report'', on Saturday nights during the NFL season. He worked on the

NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...

as analyst and performs the same role for

preseason.Chargers Power Report
/ref> Smith was also a sportscaster on San Diego's

KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...

, where his wife, Kimberly Hunt, is a news anchor.

References

External links

The Scott and BR Show

Billy Ray Smith Video Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Billy Ray Jr. 1961 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers American radio personalities Arkansas Razorbacks football players College football announcers College Football Hall of Fame inductees NFL announcers Players of American football from Plano, Texas San Diego Chargers announcers San Diego Chargers players Players of American football from Fayetteville, Arkansas Television anchors from San Diego UCLA Bruins football announcers