Jackie Larue Smith (born February 23, 1940) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Northwestern State Demons. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.
Smith was born on February 23, 1940, in Columbia, Mississippi. He attended Kentwood High School, in Kentwood, Louisiana, where he started out playing the clarinet for the school's band. He decided to try out for the football team as a sophomore, but suffered a torn Achilles tendon that forced him to sit out the season. As a junior, he had osteomyelitis in his ankle, so he could only play in the second half of the last game of the season.
As a senior, he was named the starting tailback in the team's single-wing formation, but suffered a serious hip injury in the fourth game and could not play the rest of the way, finishing his high school career after appearing in only 5 games.
He also lettered in track and field, competing in the mile relay, the quarter-mile, the low and high hurdles. He won a state championship in the hurdles as a senior.
Northwestern Louisiana State College (now Northwestern State University) in Natchitoches, Louisiana, could only offer him half a scholarship for track, unless he would also agree to play football, so he could qualify for a full scholarship. "They told me, 'If you go out for the football team and don’t quit, we can give you a full scholarship,' " Smith said. "I didn't even have to play—just don't quit."
Smith initially joined the football team to fulfill this provision, but he was good enough to become a starter. During his college career, he had few opportunities to prove his true worth in the Demons' run-oriented offense, leading the team in receiving in his last two years, but recording modest statistics. In track, he competed in the hurdles.
In 1980, he was inducted into the Northwestern State Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1983, he was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Smith was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the tenth round (129th overall) of the 1963 NFL draft, based on the recommendation of Jack Rockwell, then a Cardinals trainer and a part-time scout, who saw him in a spring game during his senior season, where he showed enough speed to stand out. In the draft's 10th round, as time was expiring to make a selection, someone in the Cardinals draft room recommended taking "'that redheaded track kid from Louisiana'". Smith was a part of a group of 10 rookies that made the team that year.
Smith was so surprised that he even thought it must have been a mistake that he had been drafted, but once drafted was determined to make the team. Before his rookie camp began with the Cardinals, Smith went to Arcadia, Louisiana to ask fellow Northwestern Louisiana alumni, and American Football League star flanker, Charlie Hennigan, to teach Smith how to be a receiver in professional football. Hennigan agreed, and for two weeks taught Smith the footwork on how to defeat the elementary defensive coverage schemes prevalent in the 1960s. With this knowledge, Smith made the Cardinals team as a rookie.
He was originally projected to play flanker, but was named the starter at tight end after Taz Anderson was injured. Fran Polsfoot, the Cardinals ends' coach, saw Smith's potential as a tight end as the position's possibilities were developing in the NFL. In the fifth game of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Smith's first career start, he posted 212 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions, while playing a key role in a 24–23 win.
He started the remaining games that season, eight of 14 games in 1964, and then every game he played in for the Cardinals from 1965-74, not relinquishing his starter position for over a decade. He played in 121 straight Cardinals games until suffering an injury in 1971 (when he still started nine games). He also would become a longtime team offensive co-captain.
Besides being a talented receiver with excellent speed, Smith displayed elite conditioning and ran with great determination, not only avoiding tacklers but also running through them. He was an excellent blocker, in an era where the tight ends were expected to block more than feature their receiving skills. He was the team starting punter from 1964 to 1966, until Chuck Latourette took over the role.
His best season came in 1967, when in 14 games he registered 56 receptions for 1,205 (third on the league), 21.5 yard-average per reception and nine touchdowns. His 1,205 yards was nearly a thousand yards more than the overall average for tight ends in the league that year. He was named first-team All-Pro by United Press International (UPI) and second-team All-Pro by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA).
Smith played in five straight Pro Bowls and posted more than 40 receptions in seven seasons. In 1966, the NEA named him second-team All-Pro, and he was named first-team All-Conference by The Sporting News. In 1968, he was named second-team All-Pro by the NEA and UPI; and first-team All-Conference by The Sporting News. In 1969, the NEA named him second-team All-Pro among all NFL and American Football League tight ends. In 1970, the NEA named him second-team All-Conference. Smith proved his durability by playing in 121 straight games, until suffering torn ligaments in the ninth game of the 1971 season.
Smith had two great tight end close contemporaries, fellow Hall of Famers John Mackey (1963-72) and Mike Ditka (1961-72), who were voted first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press (AP) during the first half of Smith's career. The three have been identified as players who took tight ends from only being another blocker, to being excellent receivers as well as strong blockers; with Mackey and Smith introducing the element of breakaway speed as well.
In 1974 and 1975, he was a part of the NFC East divisional champions. In 1975, although he played in only nine games, he contributed to the Cardinals setting an NFL record by allowing only 8 sacks in 14 games.
Injuries that included a problem with the arch in one foot and a spinal condition (his arms would go numb after being tackled) affected him in his last two years. In 1976, he was passed on the depth chart by J. V. Cain and was relegated to a backup role. On December 4, 1977, he announced his retirement after playing 15 seasons and 198 games. In August 1978, it was reported in the media that the Cardinals contacted Smith to return, but no contract was offered.
When he left the Cardinals, only Jim Bakken (who joined the team the year before Smith) played more games than Smith, who played in 198 games. He had a string of 45 straight games with at least one reception from 1967 to 1970. Despite his individual accomplishments, the franchise's success proved fleeting, as the Cardinals only made the playoffs twice in Smith's 15 seasons with them, and were eliminated both times in their first round, with Smith catching only one pass in each game.