Businessman, entrepreneur and NFLโs all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith began the 16th season of the Distinguished Speaker Series tonight in the Performing Arts Complex, speaking on his rise to the top and life lessons he learned along the way.ย
โWeโre all enclothed in our own talent and we all have the opportunity to achieve our level of greatness,โ Smith told hundreds of people who attended his lecture on the Edinburg campus.ย โNow, oftentimes, Iโm … asked, โHow did you manage to get to this place? This place where Iโm at today?โ I am actually 50 years old, so itโs a process. It took a journey to get here and the journey was not easy, Iโll tell you.โ
Smith said when he was 7 years old, he saw the โexcitementโ and โenergyโ of the room as his family was watching football and told his father, โOne day, Iโm gonna play football, and Iโm gonna play for the Dallas Cowboys.”
โThe Dallas Cowboys were my favorite football team and they still are to this day,โ he said. โAnd then I turned to him and I said that and he looked at me with this look on his face and I didnโt know if my dad wanted to laugh or if he wanted to cry because he said something very profound. He said, โSon, thatโs a great dream for you to have, but lifeโs gonna deal you some things that youโre going to have to learn how to deal with.โ Thatโs a whole lot for a 7-year-old kid to take in.โ
When he was 9, Smithโs coach said, after watching him play, he thought that he was better suited to play as a running back, despite Smithโs desire to be a quarterback. Instead of arguing, Smith accepted the challenge.
โAnd so, I accepted it. And you know what? My life was forever changed.โ
ย When he was 11, his coach at the time invited Smith to have dinner with his family in his home, where he discovered his coach owned a construction company.
โAfter that conversation, he shared with me this lesson, โYou have great talent and your talent can take you a long way, but you gotta get your education, because someday, that talent is only gonna go so far,โโ Smith said.
In high school, he said after speaking with the press for the first time, his coach spoke to him about how he didnโt mention his teammates in the interview, using a lot of โIโ instead of โWe.โ He said his coach told him every chance Smith got, he was going to share the spotlight with his teammates.
After college, he recalled the day he was drafted to the Dallas Cowboys and the nerves he felt while his motherโs excitement caused her to invite everyone over to their home.
โAt the time, I stop and reflect, all the way back to that kid who was 7 years old who was watching the Dallas Cowboys play, laying on the floor watching the Dallas Cowboys play, talking to his father saying one of these days, Iโm gonna play for the Cowboys,โ he said.
Before Smith retired in Jacksonville, Florida, he said he knew he wanted to go into real estate, recalling his first memories with his coach when he was 11.
At the end of the evening, he answered seven questions in front of the crowd, naming his mentors, his failures, his advice and how he felt becoming a three-time Super Bowl champion.
โI felt like Tony the Tiger,โ Smith said. โGrrrrrreeeat!โ