Norfolk native Bruce Smith, a resident of Virginia Beach, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday. Smith, the NFL’s all-time sack leader, played 19 seasons in the NFL. He was elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility.
Smith graduated from Norfolk’s Booker T. Washington High School and Virginia Tech, where he won the Outland Trophy and was an All American. He was drafted number 1 overall in 1985.
Smith spent the first 15 years of his career with the Buffalo Bills, the last four with the Washington Redskins. When I talked to him a few weeks ago, he said he was, of course, going into the Hall as a Bill but that Dan Snyder, the owner of the Redskins, was going to be there. (My memory is a little fuzzy – he may have said that Snyder was going to introduce him – but don’t hold me to that.)
Smith used to train at Virginia Beach’s Wareings’ Gym. It was from there that I got this poster of Smith in his prime, muscles bulging, straddling a motorcycle. Today, Smith is still an imposing figure – at 6’4″ anyone is imposing – but has slimmed down from his playing weight of 280. He is now a developer.
Congratulations to Smith on his election to the Hall of Fame!
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