The First Time Steve Smith Sr. Was in SI
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This edition of the Full Frame newsletter contains segments from SI’s new podcast: Sports Illustrated Weekly. Each Wednesday, host John Gonzalez takes you through compelling narratives from SI's best writers and has captivating conversations with iconic names in sports. As a recurring segment, he also asks athletes about their first time appearing in SI and what it meant to them.
In the latest episode, Gonzalez spoke with former All-Pro NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. about finding out he made it into SI while he was in college. You can listen to the full episode here, which includes an interview with JJ Redick about playing for retiring Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and more. You can also check out the entire archive of episodes at SI.com/sports-illustrated-weekly.
The first time Smith saw his name in Sports Illustrated, he was at the University of Utah. Toward the back of the Nov. 13, 2000, issue of the magazine, in the section titled “Inside College Football,” there’s an inset touting college football’s “energizers.” Listed among some of the most productive players in the nation in terms of all-purpose yards was Smith and his tally of rushing, receiving and return yards during that season.
“I just remember seeing it, man. I was like, ‘Wow, like, I made Sports Illustrated.’ And it was huge. It was validation to show other people that me coming to the University of Utah, me wanting to play professional sports, that it just wasn't a unrealistic expectation or a dream,” Smith told Gonzalez.
When people would go up to Smith and tell him about the mention in SI, he’d try to play it cool, acting like he hadn’t seen it yet, when, in reality, he had. While proud to see his name in the magazine, he didn’t see it as a signal of his accomplishments to that point.
“It wasn't that I had arrived,” Smith said. “It was that I possibly can do it. And what I mean by that is for you to be inside and being on the cover of whatever it is, man, it means more than guys let on to me because those magazines that now you are looking at, are actually the magazines I started reading when I started daydreaming about how I wanted to be like Jerry Rice. Well, how did I find out about Jerry Rice? You saw him on TV. And then there was an article or there was a cover of a Sports Illustrated that had Sports Illustrated’s stamp of approval.”
After that season at Utah, Smith went on to be picked in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.
His career with the Panthers was nothing short of sensational. By the time the team released him after the 2013 season, Smith was the franchise’s all-time leader in receiving yards. And, in ’06, during the Panthers’ run to NFC title game, Smith had another SI milestone.
John Biever/Sports Illustrated
Smith still has the cover as a cardboard print out, which depicts him hauling in a catch during the divisional round win over Chicago.
“All I'm just trying to do is really just say that, man, for a young kid, for a kid, for a knucklehead from L.A., man, to be on the Sports Illustrated cover, man. That's Charlie, who just got that factory [in] Willy Wonka. To get that magic ticket, bro. That’s what it’s like,” he says.
Smith also had multiple features in SI throughout his NFL career, including one in June 2006 where Jeffery A. Salter photographed Smith with his son’s youth soccer team, which he coached.
Then, when he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2014, Smith had an immediate impact as a 35-year-old. He was the focus of Greg Bishop’s story about his longevity as an “undersized, overly confrontational wideout.”
Along with capturing the dramatic shot of Smith casting two long shadows, photographer Simon Bruty also had Smith handle eight footballs in a not-as-serious shot of the NFL veteran.
An analyst for NFL Network, the now-42-year-old Smith told Gonzalez that it’s still “amazing” that he was on the cover of SI and the cardboard print was something he knew he had to dig up when he found out that it would be a topic of discussion on Gonzalez’s podcast.
“Man, being on the cover of Sports Illustrated,” Smith said. “Bananas.”
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