Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith (February 28, 1945 – August 3, 2011) was an American professional football defensive end and actor. Smith played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Houston Oilers, and Pittsburgh Steelers
Smith… Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith (February 28, 1945 – August 3, 2011) was an American professional football defensive end and actor. Smith played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Houston Oilers, and Pittsburgh Steelers
Smith played college football for the Michigan State Spartans, where he twice earned All-American honors. Smith had a major role in a 10–10 tie against Notre Dame in 1966 that was billed as "The Game of the Century". He is one of only six players to have his jersey number retired by the program. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
The first overall pick of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft, Smith played nine years in the NFL for the Colts, Raiders, and Oilers from 1967 to 1976. He was the Colts' starting left defensive end for five seasons, playing in Super Bowls III and V. He was named to two Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro in 1971. He had tremendous quickness despite being 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and 265 pounds (120 kg), a combination which usually earned him a double-team.
During his acting career, Smith specialized in comedic roles in film, television, and television advertising. For about a decade following his retirement from football, he appeared in various commercials for Miller Lite, alongside Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus. His best-known role was as Moses Hightower in the first six Police Academy movies.
Smith was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurological condition generally related to head trauma. He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease.
We believe privacy is a right, not a trade-off. Choose exactly what you're comfortable with. You can change these any time. Full privacy policy.
Essential
Always on
Required for the site to function
Session management, security tokens, login state, and your cookie preference itself. These cannot be turned off. No personal data is shared with third parties.
Analytics
Optional
Helps us understand what content you enjoy
We use anonymised analytics (e.g. Google Analytics) to see which articles perform well, how long people spend reading, and where traffic comes from. This helps us write better content. Your IP address is anonymised and no data is sold.
Personalisation
Optional
Remembers your preferences across visits
Remembers your reading preferences and recently read articles so we can surface relevant content. All data stays in your browser — nothing is sent to our servers.
Advertising
Optional
Used to show relevant ads that support the site
Allows advertising partners to show you ads based on your interests. If you decline, you'll still see ads but they won't be tailored to you. We work with Google AdSense and similar networks. You can opt out globally at youronlinechoices.eu.
Continue reading
You're clearly a fan
Get the best stories in your inbox
Join thousands of readers who get XOTLIST delivered daily. No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime.
