Bills’ Wall clears a spot for Bruce
Induction may be warm-up for Pro Football’s Hall of Fame
By Mark Gaughan
NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: 05/11/08 6:46 AM
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- Bruce Smith said being honored in front of the Bills’ fans will be a special moment.
Bruce Smith will become the 25th member of the Buffalo Bills’ Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium this fall.
The induction of the Bills’ all-time great defensive end comes five years after his playing career ended and could be a prelude to the biggest individual honor in football.
Smith will be among the favorites for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility when the next vote is held in February 2009.
Smith holds the NFL record for quarterback sacks with 200, 171 of which he recorded in a 15- year career with the Bills from 1985 to ’99.
Smith said he got the news of his induction from Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. while on vacation last week in the Caribbean.
“I heard from Ralph while I was in St. Kitts having my golf tournament,” Smith said by phone from Virginia Beach, Va. “I have an annual golf tournament there and a bunch of the guys come to it. . . . It was a blessing. To hear his voice and to know that honor will happen, I’m quite excited about it.”
Smith was an eight-time first-team All-Pro selection in his career and is a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team for both the 1980s and ’90s.
He twice won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, in 1990 and 1996. He made the Pro Bowl 11 times.
He was one of the most highly rated No. 1 overall draft choices of all time, and he combined that enormous talent with a phenomenal work ethic that allowed him to play 19 seasons.
Smith, 44, remains right at his playing weight of 265 pounds. He spent four years with the Washington Redskins after being released by the Bills due to a salary cap crunch in February 2000.
Smith has been back to Buffalo for several Wall-of-Fame ceremonies for his former teammates in recent years. He said being honored in front of the Bills’ fans will be a special moment.
“Buffalo and the Buffalo fans will always be a part of me,” he said. “I’ve said on many occasions there is not a better fan in the world than the Buffalo Bills fans. . . . You can never re-create that feeling of walking down the tunnel. Those are special moments that are stored in the memory bank that’s part of history and part of my life. I was received by the fans as being one of their own.
“Although it will be my name going up in that stadium, I represent so many others, and without them a lot of it would not have been possible. My teammates, especially my coaches, Marv Levy. I owe a special thanks to Ted Cottrell, Bill Polian. Darryl [Talley] and I played together for 10 years side by side, and he was probably the most unselfish and unsung hero of our time in Buffalo. . . . If our offense didn’t put up so many points, we wouldn’t have had so many opportunities to actually get after the quarterback.”
Smith spends part of his time these days running his own commercial real estate investment company. His latest venture is an upscale apartment complex with 284 units that is scheduled to open this summer in Blacksburg, Va., near Smith’s alma mater, Virginia Tech University.
Smith’s company also has been involved in the development of numerous properties in Washington, D. C., and Virginia Beach. “I’ve taken off one hard hat and put on another,” he said.
Smith and his wife, Carmen, have a 14-year-old son, Alston.
The game at which Smith will be honored will be announced at a later date.
