Ed Smith (born January 13, 1956) is a former

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

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Early years

Smith grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Central Catholic High School. Smith's elder brother, Danny Smith, has been a football coach for more than 30 years, including stints with Georgia Tech (1987–1994), the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

(2004–2012), and the

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 ...

(2013 to present).

Michigan State

Smith 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 ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

as a quarterback from 1976 to 1978. He was redshirted in 1975. As a senior, he led the Big Ten with 2,226 passing yards, a 139.0 passing efficiency rating, and 2,247 yards of total offense. He was also selected as the most valuable player on the 1978 Michigan State Spartans football team that as the co-champion of the Big Ten. He was also selected by both the

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and

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as the second-team quarterback (behind

Rick Leach Rick Leach (born December 28, 1964) is a former professional tennis player and coach from the United States. A doubles specialist, he won five Grand Slam doubles titles (three at the Australian Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open) ...

) on the

1978 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1978 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Big Ten Conference teams for the 1978 Big Ten Conference football season. The only player unanimously selected by the con ...

. He finished his career as Michigan State's and the Big Ten's all-time leader with 5,706 passing yards. In June 2015, the ''Lansing State Journal'' ranked Smith at No. 46 on it list of Michigan State's greatest football players.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

In February 1979, Smith signed a two-year contract to play professional football for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. In one of his early games for Hamilton, he threw five interceptions. He appeared in a total of 16 games for the Tiger-Cats in 1979, completing 61 of 140 passes for 794 yards, four touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. In May 1980, Smith announced his retirement from professional football.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ed 1956 births Living people Players of American football from Pittsburgh Players of Canadian football from Pittsburgh American football quarterbacks Michigan State Spartans football players Canadian football quarterbacks Hamilton Tiger-Cats players