0:02

One of the most important phone calls in the life

0:04

of Steve Smith Senior. Almost didn't

0:06

get through. It really wasn't onna FaceTime. I

0:08

don't really know Mr Tepper that well to

0:11

experience a FaceTime forty

0:13

years old. But stranger Danger still exists

0:15

in the world. I'm really just shelk. I just want

0:17

to give Temper a hard time. Oh. Stay

0:19

tuned for the story of Stranger Danger

0:22

and more with the eight nine. Today

0:24

we celebrate twenty five seasons of Panther football

0:27

with a combative, combustible, sensitive,

0:29

introspective wide receiver Steve

0:31

Smith. Twenty

0:34

five seasons of Panthers Football

0:36

a celebration of the players, coaches,

0:39

and other people who have contributed to the

0:41

organizational success. No to

0:44

mcmixon the incomparable number

0:46

eighty nine. Steve Smith steps into

0:48

our podcast, Smithy, where

0:50

were you and what were you doing when you got

0:52

the call from David Tepper that you were going to

0:54

be in the Hall of Honor? Well, Um,

0:56

the first call I got when he called me on my cell

0:59

phone. Um,

1:01

I was on the I was in Utah in

1:03

a vehicle heading to seventy eleven

1:05

to get a coffee. Um.

1:07

And then I have a Android

1:10

and he has an iPhone. UM,

1:13

and so I had to call him from someone else's

1:16

uh phone because he wanted

1:18

to FaceTime me. And first of all, I

1:21

thought that was very um interesting

1:23

that another grown man wanted to FaceTime

1:25

me. But um, after he

1:28

convinced me to FaceTime, because I

1:30

really wasn't gonna FaceTime. Uh. I

1:32

didn't really I don't really know Mr Tepper

1:34

that well UM at that moment

1:37

um to experience a FaceTime,

1:40

Um, you know, fourty years old, but

1:42

stranger danger still exists in

1:44

the world. UM. I'm

1:46

really just jokay. I just want to give tapp for a

1:48

hard time. Um. But so

1:50

when I called him, I was actually in

1:52

seventy eleven. When we started to actually FaceTime,

1:54

I was putting sugar in um,

1:57

non dairy powder cream uh in my

1:59

coffee seventy level UM,

2:02

trying to wake up because I was on the West coast um

2:06

and uh, total shock surprise

2:09

UM. And then when I got home, even

2:11

bigger shock is surprise of all the

2:13

steps that was put uh in the

2:15

effort that he put in, the Carolina Panthers

2:17

put into making this happen. UM.

2:20

I was told to me the different

2:22

scenarios. Uh. One.

2:24

UM. I've gotten a great opportunity

2:27

to meet Mr Tepper and speak to him several

2:29

times about a wide range of things.

2:31

And one of the things that he's discovered, UM

2:34

is you don't pop up on me at my home. And

2:37

that was one of the ideas he thought. Um,

2:39

we didn't think that was gonna be a great idea.

2:42

UM, but it was pretty funny because

2:45

he is very adamant when he gets

2:47

something in his head uh to execute

2:49

it, and the people around him he is

2:51

um. UM,

2:54

he's expecting them to execute it with the

2:56

same level um urgency

2:58

that he likes to do things. So UM,

3:01

it's been very interesting to get to

3:03

meet and know him and how he operates, and

3:06

it's been interesting for him to get to meet

3:08

me and know how to operate as well. So it's been fun

3:10

during the phone call Steve, and then in the days

3:12

and weeks afterwards. What emotions

3:14

did this honor bring up for you? Uh?

3:18

A ray of emotions. UM.

3:20

Today, still trying to wrap

3:22

my head around it, trying to figure

3:24

out to

3:28

accept the honor and not try to

3:30

overthink things. UH really

3:32

just try to relax, which is UM

3:36

for a guy who's always going and going going, like

3:38

myself, it's kind of

3:40

hard to do so trying to figure it out.

3:42

And then the other part is, um,

3:44

it's really cool it is um

3:47

Mr Tapper again another staff piece.

3:50

Um. Um,

3:53

you know he sent some clothes to my kids and

3:55

stuff, Uh, just because

3:57

honestly, the last team I was, the

3:59

last tim oswit was the Ravens.

4:02

So a lot of are lots of the stuff that

4:04

my kids have is raven stuff. So um,

4:07

when we came here in November deuce um,

4:10

our youngest h he had never been

4:13

in the stadium, so he was trying to wrap his

4:15

head around it and figure out why

4:18

aren't we going through uh

4:20

the Mhenry Tunnel in Baltimore to

4:23

go to the to the stadium. So, I

4:25

mean that's just part of it. And so it's a great opportunity

4:27

for my last child, who's not

4:30

experienced as much football as the other three,

4:33

UM, to him to start to associate

4:35

uh Carolina with

4:37

the Carolina Panthers and experienced that. So it's been

4:39

really good for him as well. Steve Smith

4:42

on the podcast what did it mean to you Smithy?

4:44

To go in with Jordan Gross,

4:46

with Wesley Walls and with Jake Delone Um

4:49

with Wesley. Uh, it is more of

4:51

an honor just because of what I see Wesley

4:53

as as a Fortnights fan, knowing where Wesley

4:55

was, being a former teammate

4:57

for a short period of time, but also looking

5:00

up to Wesley. UM, it's

5:02

been it's been surreal. But to

5:05

go in with Jake, uh,

5:07

you know, my counterpart who climbed around

5:09

a lot. Uh, It's it's

5:12

a real good honor too. But the

5:14

one that sticks out is obviously for me is

5:17

Jordan's. Um. You know,

5:19

going back and thinking about it, Um,

5:22

you know, I played thirteen years here. I think it was

5:24

only two seasons without Jordan's

5:27

in the huddle, but

5:29

then I had them one year in Utah

5:31

and so basically, um,

5:34

two years in college at

5:37

Utah, six teen years in the league. So

5:39

eighteen years of my football career. Uh,

5:43

really only three years has it's

5:45

not really been with Jordan's in

5:48

the same huddle every

5:50

week every day. Um.

5:52

And so you kind of get used to that. Um.

5:54

And that's an honor that I don't believe a lot of people

5:57

can say. You know, people play with each other

6:00

in college for a little bit and maybe past

6:03

or go to the same school. But I mean me and

6:05

Jordan have been um

6:07

actually two years. So me

6:10

and Jordan have been locked locked in sixty

6:12

nine at left

6:15

tackle and wide receiver eighty

6:18

nine or seven in college. When

6:20

I've always looked up to my left, Jordan

6:23

has always been there. Um, And

6:25

so that's pretty cool. And um,

6:28

that's something I always remember. And uh,

6:31

Jordan has a for my one

6:33

of my birthdays, he actually sent me a

6:35

picture um of himself

6:38

but hold me up in the super Bowl. And

6:41

um, he wrote a little message on

6:43

there. And it's in my office, and

6:45

it's right next to a picture, next

6:48

to a picture with my family. And

6:51

when I look up in my office on my bookshelf,

6:53

I see my family to the left, and

6:56

I see one of my closest teammates to the

6:58

right. So it's a real big

7:00

honor and and and it's something extremely

7:03

special, um that even

7:05

in words, I think it still sells

7:07

a short. Just a few more questions for

7:09

Steve Smith Senior on the podcast Smittee.

7:12

During your career, you seem to make every drill,

7:14

every play, every game, every practice personal

7:16

to help motivate yourself from where in

7:18

your background did your combative spirit

7:21

come? I just think, uh,

7:24

really my surroundings understanding.

7:26

I mean, I grew up poor, but I didn't

7:28

necessarily know what I was poor. Great

7:30

example of it is I didn't realize till

7:32

I was a little bit older, a little bit

7:34

older, that I love Lucy was in black

7:36

and white for extremely long time because that's

7:39

all we had as black white TVs UM

7:41

with the pliers on the knob and

7:45

UM and then the

7:47

iron hanger as the antenna,

7:49

a little timfoil on the top two UM.

7:52

So for us, UM, that's

7:54

what I grew up with. UM, that's

7:56

what I saw. And so

7:58

because of that, I had a really Uh,

8:01

I had a lot of alone time uh

8:03

to selp motivate myself to pull

8:06

it out from wherever I need to pull it out from. So

8:09

UM, if you do that long enough, you create those

8:11

habits, whether they're good or bad. Uh, those

8:13

habits stick with you. UM. And so

8:15

for me, UM,

8:18

I didn't realize that when I was younger, but I had

8:20

I had a vision. And because of that

8:22

vision, my focus was extremely narrow UM.

8:25

And anything outside of that UM,

8:28

I really didn't have time for it. I didn't

8:30

want to fool with it. And because

8:32

of that, at times it was seeing a

8:34

certain way, but I already look at

8:37

it. Uh. For me at that time, it benefited

8:39

me and it worked for me. And is

8:41

there some things I probably would want to change?

8:44

Yes, But um,

8:46

also no, I learned a lot

8:48

and I went through a lot. So UM,

8:51

I guess at the end of the day, UM,

8:54

you know, I don't. I don't really

8:56

have a lot of tremendous

8:58

regret. I think probably maybe alter

9:01

a few things, but I mean, I think it worked

9:03

out okay for me. The last question

9:05

for the great Steve Smith Smithy

9:07

so many records, great moments, uh,

9:10

five pro bowls of

9:12

what during your panther career are you most

9:14

proud? My son just asked me

9:16

that yesterday at

9:18

my oldest son, Peyton um

9:21

at dinner, and I couldn't

9:24

answer it, And

9:27

UM,

9:30

I really can't. I think, Um,

9:32

there's so many In

9:34

every career, there's some heartbreak, but

9:37

then there's also some

9:39

breakthrough. And I think the one of

9:41

the most memorable things, if

9:44

I can honor someone, UM

9:47

probably be um

9:51

rich Richard Williamson. UM,

9:55

I remember through

9:57

my whole career

10:00

playing sports, Uh, in every

10:02

phase from a little kid to an

10:04

adult. Your coach criticized

10:07

and critiqued and corrected. And

10:11

I have never been coached, criticized,

10:13

critique that corrected the way Richard

10:15

did. And Richard was hard on me

10:18

UM for extremely long time. But

10:20

it really connected the dots. As I played

10:23

golf with a good friend that I probably

10:25

haven't seen it probably about ten years, Isaac

10:28

Berg, and he

10:30

said something about Richard. We're talking about him,

10:32

and he said, Richard saw exactly what

10:34

all of us saw in you, which you

10:37

have the ability to be better than all of us. UM,

10:41

but your attitude didn't. It

10:43

seems like you understood it. But as

10:45

funny as I did, UM,

10:48

I just didn't agree with way there

10:52

correcting the way Richard did. And

10:54

I remember a story that Richard told me I

10:57

had messed up. I went from a number system to a

10:59

West Coasts them and Richard looked

11:01

at me and UM, and he said, if you

11:03

keep that up, your ass will be

11:05

bagging groceries at the food line.

11:09

And I kind of looked and first of all, you know, I

11:11

was I've been here probably probably two

11:13

months, so I had no idea what the food line is.

11:15

I came from Los Angeles and Utah, which are

11:17

able since UM Ralph's

11:20

Vons Smith's, and

11:23

I had no idea what the food line was. Now,

11:26

being older, I know where the food line was. Why

11:29

can't I bag for Harris Teeter? Why they had

11:31

to be food line? And basically what Richard

11:33

was saying is get your stuff together. Um,

11:37

you got drafted. That's great, but the journey

11:39

starts now. And

11:42

there are so many things that I find myself laughing

11:44

about Richard in his passing

11:47

now as an adult that

11:49

sometimes I may be worded a different way

11:52

with my kids, but I know where

11:54

it came from. And

11:57

Um, Norman, his wife, is unbelievable.

12:00

Even when I was in Baltimore my final

12:02

year when he passed, Um,

12:04

it was probably a couple of weeks before he died. He

12:06

had actually text me and encouragement

12:08

and said, Hey, you're about to go to training camp, don't

12:12

bag no groceries. And I

12:14

just chuckled and I said, hey, I'll call you back. And

12:16

I remember he was telling me he was in Alabama kind

12:19

of going back and forth and kind of assistant with them,

12:21

and when he went to the hospital here. So, UM,

12:25

I just find it like guys like that, Richard

12:27

Um, rich Ricky

12:30

Prowle, the number of guys moves say in Isaac,

12:32

Carl Hankton, um

12:35

Doug Gavin's, Jimmy his Car's a number

12:37

of guys uh coming

12:39

into this organization that um I

12:41

got the experience to be loved, though

12:44

um neat Sally didn't always see it his love, but

12:47

it was pretty cool. And so if there's

12:49

one thing I remember, I remember in training

12:51

camp in Warford, first

12:54

time ever being in the South and that heat and

12:57

just failing and failing and

13:00

to just laid into

13:02

me and I didn't

13:04

know what it did at that moment. It hurt my feelings,

13:07

but it really, um

13:09

I believe spoke a prophetic word into

13:11

me that I needed at that moment. Maybe

13:13

it wasn't the ideal way

13:16

to put it, but the

13:19

kick and pass worked. Man. I appreciate

13:22

them for it. Great words. That's

13:24

Stefan Latrill Smith Senior,

13:27

Steve Smith, permanent part

13:29

now of the history of Carolina Panthers. Smitty,

13:32

congratulations and appreciate you time. Now.

13:34

I know you're not gonna edit this out, but there's pretty

13:36

only much about four people in the world that

13:39

called me by my full birth day and

13:41

you're not wanting to, So

13:44

just I just want to let that know. Alternative

13:47

ending three to one Steve

13:49

Smith. Next

13:55

time, we'll talk with the quarterback that paired

13:57

with Smitty like red beans and Rice

14:00

shaked the loan. Next on the podcast

14:07

m HM