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Former NFL star turned actor Bubba Smith dies - NFL - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AqnzrMTow_mLxz6cQdn3.PtDubYF?slug=ap-obit-bubbasmith - broken link)
I'm not old enough to remember his football career, but I did grow up watching him in the Police Academy series. Sounds like he was a hell of a football player, with speed to go with his size.
There are players who are very worthy of HOF consideration who didn't make it because of injuries that basically done them in early; players like Bo Jackson and Terrell Davis. Those players however are pretty fresh in peoples minds. There are others that only old schmeezers like me, or better yet guys like Steve Sabol (President of NFL films) and Paul Zimmerman (senior writer of Sports Illustrated) and Al Davis who recall players like Rich Jackson of the Denver Broncos as the best player not in the HOF.
Bubba Smith is one of those guys. He came out of Michigan State and was just a dominator. Back in the mid 60's Michigan State had some great football teams. To this day I still remember the Spartan fans chanting "Kill Bubba Kill" after he made a tackle or a sack. After being drafted #1 by the Baltimore Colts in the 1967 draft, he immediately became an impact player. If he didn't have that knee injury he could have been rated up there with Deacon Jones, Bob Lilly, Merlin Olsen, "Mean" Joe Green, and Gino Marchetti as being the best of the best on the defensive line.
The injury? The Baltimore Colt team physicians termed it as a "bowl of spaghetti" when they looked at the x-ray. He ripped his knee up in a meaningless exhibition game in his fourth season, as his leg got tangled up with a yard marker and the chain. He was eventually traded to the Oakland Raiders straight up for tight end Raymond Chester as by this time future HOFer John Mackey was gone and eventually named president of the NFLPA. Bubba finished his career as a Houston Oiler. He was able to play eight seasons but those last few seasons were painful to me to watch. I grew up a Baltimore Colts fan (before the AFL was formed and also rooted for Denver) as a kid. What could have been did not pan out. He didn't lose desire or strength. He lost his lateral movement. Sad.
Fortunately he found his niche as an actor. And I also enjoyed the Miller "Lite" commercials he done with Dick Butkus as well.
^^^I remember those funny Miller Lite commericals with Bubba and Dick Butkus. I also remember the Police Academy movies, of course. I always liked Bubba and I'm sorry to hear about this. RIP Bubba!
According to the coroner's report, the 66-year-old Smith had high levels of the weight-loss drug phentermine in his system. Phentermine is commonly used in diet drugs as an appetite suppressant.
The autopsy also found Smith's heart to be enlarged, weighing twice as much as a normal heart, with some of the arteries around his heart blocked by as much 75 percent. Smith also suffered from high blood pressure, according to the report.
A nice guy, although his career never quite lived up to the expectations held for him. After he was traded from Baltimore, he was never really an effective player again..
Funny that he and Butkus had abbreviated careers, as Butkus was finished by '73, and not really effective either during his last 2-3 seasons..
Like Susancruzs, I'm saddened by this situation as well. From what I have read on other sites he suffered from an enlarged heart and had hypertension for many years.
Bubba was a cool player. IIRC he disliked the chant "Kill Bubba Kill" but I'm glad I got to see him play at old Memorial Stadium.
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Got his autograph at FRIENDSHIP Airport when the Colts had returned after a playoff game.
He was good in the very short-lived TV comedy, "Open All Night".
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"Kill Bubba Kill"
