Edwin Alexander Smith (born October 23, 1950) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

. He is better known for being the first player born in the Bahamas to be drafted in the NFL. He played college football for

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

Early years

Smith attended St. Augustine's College in the Bahamas, where he practiced basketball and track. He started playing

as a junior at

George Washington High School (Denver, Colorado) George Washington High School is located in Denver, Colorado, United States. GW is a large urban high school serving grades 9-12. George Washington is a part of the Denver Public Schools system. Demographics The demographic breakdown of the 1,18 ...

. He was a three-year starter at

and a Kodak All-American at

, where he also practiced rugby. In 2009, he was inducted into the Bahamas National Sports Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Smith was selected in the 13th round (319th overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft by the

, becoming the first player in league history from the Bahamas to be drafted. As a rookie, he was a raw player and needed to add more weight, so he played in only 5 games and spent most of the season on the inactive list. The next year, he started in 3 games. In 1975, he was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

with a career-ending neck injury, missing all of the season. He retired before the start of the 1977 season.

Personal life

His son

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple p ...

also played in the

References

External links

NFL.com player page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ed 1950 births Living people American football defensive ends Colorado College Tigers football players Denver Broncos players Bahamian players of American football Sportspeople from Nassau, Bahamas