Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963 in Norfolk, Virginia) is a former American football player for the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. Smith was a part of the Buffalo Bills when they won the AFC championship and went to the Super Bowl four years in a row. He currently holds the record for most career quarterback sacks with 200 after surpassing Reggie White's record during the 2003 season.
Known as "The Sack Man" of Virginia Tech football, Smith finished his college career in 1984 as the most honored player in Hokie history at the time. As a Tech player, Smith had a career total of 71 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for losses totaling 504 yards. Smith had 46 career quarterback sacks, including 22 during his junior season in 1983 when he was named first-team All-America by the AFCA (Coaches) and Newspaper Enterprise Association. In 1984 Smith won the Outland Trophy as America's top lineman and was a consensus All-American.
After attending Virginia Tech, Smith was drafted by the Buffalo Bills as the number one draft pick overall in the 1985 NFL Draft. Smith became known as a sack specialist, with 15 in 1986 and a personal season-best 19 in 1990. By 1989, Smith had already become the Bills' all-time sack leader when he reached his 52nd sack. In 1990, his defensive performance helped bring the Bills to Super Bowl XXV, but they eventually lost to the Bill Parcells-led New York Giants. Still Smith had an impressive performance in the game. He sacked Jeff Hostetler in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter, and later forced New York to turn the ball over on downs by tackling running back Ottis Anderson for a 2-yard loss on a fourth down conversion attempt.
At the height of his career Smith was known as one of the NFL's most fearsome defensive players. His sack record attests to this, though his public demeanor suggested he was quite mild-mannered off the field.
In 1991, Smith was hampered by knee problems and sat out most of the season.
During these years, Smith continued to be named to the Pro Bowl every season from 1987 to 1998 (except for his injury-laden 1991 season). In 1987, he was named the Pro Bowl MVP. Smith was twice named the AP's NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1990, 1996) and three times named UPI's AFC Defensive Player of the Year (1988, 1990, 1996).
By 1996, Smith was still putting up prolific numbers, with 90 tackles and 14 sacks. By 1997, Smith had 65 tackles and 14 sacks and by 1998, although he was getting older he still had a respectable 50 tackles and 10 sacks plus 100 others.
After the 1999 season, Smith signed with the Washington Redskins as a free agent. In his first season, he posted 58 tackles and 10 sacks, although he was now playing in mostly in passing situations. He pressed onward in pursuit of Reggie White's all-time sacks record (198), which he finally passed in the thirteenth game of his nineteenth season in 2003. Smith finished the season with 200 career sacks.
Smith had hinted in interviews that 2003 would be his final season. However, he never completely ruled out continuing to play. But on February 24, 2004, the Redskins released Smith, saving $6.5 million in salary cap space.
In his 19 NFL seasons, Smith played in 279 games, amassing 200 sacks, 2 interceptions, 46 forced fumbles, and 15 fumble recoveries, which he returned for 33 yards and a touchdown. Of his 19 seasons in the NFL, 14 of them were seasons where he had at least 10 sacks, a testament to his consistency year and year out. He was also named All-Pro 8 times.
In 1999, he was ranked number 58 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.
In 2005, was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2006, Smith was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
This fall, Smith will join fellow honored Bill players on the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame.
Smith now lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his wife of seventeen years, Carmen, and his teenage son. He works as a large-scale hotel designer, undertaking many projects with Armada Hoffler. Most recently he returned to Blacksburg where he purchased the Red Lion Inn and is currently redeveloping the site with a $50 million student-oriented apartment, hotel and restaurant complex.
Smith is also responsible for popularizing the "Buffalo Stance". Smith would stand with his arms tightly crossed looking over to side. Neneh Cherry even sang a hit song called Buffalo Stance which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
