Steven Anthony Smith (August 30, 1964 – November 20, 2021) was an American 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 fullback for nine seasons 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) with the Los Angeles Raiders and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. He was a

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on the Penn State Nittany Lions's national championship team in 1986. Smith was a third-round draft choice of the Raiders in the

1987 NFL draft The 1987 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 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

. Converted to fullback, Smith blocked for Raiders star running backs Bo Jackson and

Marcus Allen Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal li ...

. He then spent two seasons with Seattle until a back injury ended his career. Although primarily a blocker, he finished his career with 1627 rushing yards and 13 receiving touchdowns. In 1995, Smith won the inaugural Madden Bowl, a tournament during

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

weekend in which current and former NFL players compete at the

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has ...

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NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

After football

Smith married former Raiderette Chie Smith from Los Angeles, CA in December 1989. The couple had two children, Dante and Jazmin and lived in

Richardson, Texas Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 119,469. Richardson is an inner suburb of the city of Dallas. It is home to the Universit ...

. Smith had been afflicted with

Lou Gehrig's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and lo ...

from July 2002 until his death. He could not speak because of a

ventilator A ventilator is a type of breathing apparatus, a class of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathi ...

and received his food through a

feeding tube A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to people who cannot obtain nutrition by mouth, are unable to swallow safely, or need nutritional supplementation. The state of being fed by a feeding tube is called gavage, enteral f ...

. He communicated via a state of the art computer system paid for by The Steve Gleason Foundation. Smith was the focus of an August 17, 2010, episode of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's '' Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'' exploring how toxic proteins that form after brain trauma may cause Lou Gehrig's disease. He died on November 20, 2021, after suffering from ALS for almost 20 years.Steve Smith, Penn State and NFL 'Superman,' dies after long ALS battle
/ref>

References

External links

Paul Turse, raiderdrive.com
Former Raider With ALS Wants To Help Others
, ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'', July 19, 2003
Former Raider fullback Smith battles illness
Genaro C. Armas, The Associated Press, December 29, 2006

Frank Bodani, '' York Daily Record'', July 11, 2004.
"Former PSU fullback Steve Smith still has strength to fight"
, Frank Bodani, '' York Daily Record'', July 15, 2010.
“Former Oakland Raider, Steve Smith, and his fight against ALS”
ESPN Video.
“Steve Smith, former Penn State and Raider Football Player, has ALS”
'' Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'',

, August 17, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Steve 1964 births 2021 deaths American football running backs DeMatha Catholic High School alumni Los Angeles Raiders players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Players of American football from Washington, D.C. Deaths from motor neuron disease in the United States Players of American football from Maryland Seattle Seahawks players