In Little Rock, former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, 48, advises on life after sports

Emmitt Smith spoke from experience on Saturday night when he told more than 350 Arkansas high school athletes it's important to plan for life after athletics.

Smith, 48, guest speaker at the fifth All-Arkansas Preps banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, retired from the NFL in February 2005 at the age of 35 as the NFL's all-time leading rusher.

It was time to quit, Smith said, after 13 seasons with the Cowboys and two more with the Arizona Cardinals.

Smith, in fact, admitted to the banquet crowd that he should have retired after the Cowboys did not re-sign him following the 2002 season.

"You will retire from sports at a young age," Smith said to the athletes, who were honored for their participation in 12 sports. "Thirty five is a young age. Many players in this room and in sports have retired before 35. Some of them retired after high school. Some of them retired after college. Some of them played five, seven years in pros.

"I got a lot more things to do after 35."

Football prepared Smith for life, he said, but not for everything.

He said Saturday that when his mother Mary died in November at 72, it was a sting that will never go away for him.

"Every day is a new day without my mom," Smith said. "My mom was such a force to be reckoned with in our house. Our mom gave us the motivation that we can become anything we want to in this country.

"There's nothing in life that I've had to deal with in my life that surpasses that. Nothing."

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Smith's accomplishments on the football field are well documented.

He played for the Cowboys from 1990-2002 and led the team to Super Bowl championships after the 1992, 1993 and 1995 seasons. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Smith (18,355 yards) broke Walter Payton's record of 16,726 yards (1975-1987) on Oct. 27, 2002, against the Seattle Seahawks at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas.

"It was a surreal moment," said Smith, who followed fellow NFL superstars Peyton Manning (2013) and Drew Brees (2014), baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr. (2016), and college basketball analyst Dick Vitale (2015) as speakers at the All-Arkansas Preps banquet.

"I always had it on my goal list from 1990 up until the day I broke it. That's something I wanted to achieve in the National Football League. To see it come to fruition, in front of our home crowd at Texas Stadium, was a complete joy for me.

"Football is not a selfish sport. It takes a lot of unselfish individuals to be on the same page competing at the same level and to win championships. To achieve something of that magnitude was incredible."

Also, Smith leads all running backs with 164 rushing touchdowns and his 175 total touchdowns is second all-time behind Jerry Rice's 208.

"Sometimes in life, the numbers speak for themselves," said Keith Jackson, a former Little Rock Parkview and NFL tight end. "This guy is the G.O.A.T. The greatest of all-time."

As a former Cowboy, Smith watched last year as rookie Ezekiel Elliott became a key part of Dallas' 13-3 NFC East championship season.

Elliott, drafted fourth overall in the 2016 NFL Draft from Ohio State, rushed for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns and was a first-team All-Pro selection, but has yet to have an extended conversation with Smith about how to best cope with the fishbowl life as a superstar Cowboys running back.

"We haven't had a chance to sit down and talk," Smith said before the banquet. "I'm going to place the blame on myself. I do have his number now. I haven't had a chance to reach out to him, to have dinner. I'm going to get that done over the next couple of weeks.

"We can talk about life, football and business. We can talk about what it really means to be a Dallas Cowboy, what this can actually do for him as an individual football player."

Overall, Smith said he likes the direction the Cowboys are headed, but said that he's concerned about the defense after losing cornerbacks Brandon Carr (Baltimore), Morris Claiborne (New York Jets) and safety Barry Church (Jacksonville) to free agency.

"We have some talent," Smith said. "I want to see how it all comes together. That's extremely important."

Members of the 2016-2017 All-Arkansas Preps teams were chosen by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff members, with nominations from the state's coaches.

Sports on 06/18/2017