http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1078568103242191.xml
When the cheering stopped 03/06/04 By MIKE MARSHALL Times Staff Writer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Kenneth Smith reflects on ex-football star son, Vols-Tide bitterness SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - In the den of his concrete-block house on a hill, serenaded by the Jack Russell terrier yapping in the kitchen, Kenneth Smith slides the highlight tape into his videocassette recorder. The tape is a collection of 10-year-old clips made in high school football stadiums in North Alabama and southern Middle Tennessee. The star is a 6-foot-7 kid wearing a black-and-white uniform and a flattop haircut. On these fields, Kenneth Smith's eldest child and only son, Kenny, became one of the most coveted football recruits ever in Alabama's Jackson County. At his peak, Kenny Smith weighed 285 pounds and ran fast enough to chase down running backs half his size. He was a free spirit who devoted much of his high school summers to eating Big Bubba burgers at the Dairy Bar and jumping off the Stevenson Bridge, a 55-foot drop into the Tennessee River. In his more serious moments, he dreamed of playing tight end or defensive end in the National Football League. His father's highlight tape and a scrapbook are all that's left of Kenny Smith's stardom at North Jackson High in Stevenson. His football career essentially ended at the University of Tennessee, one of two major colleges he signed with after high school. In September 1998, weeks before his 22nd birthday, Kenny Smith quit the Tennessee football team. With a bad shoulder and a bad taste for Southeastern Conference football, he returned to his family's home on Hamilton Avenue in South Pittsburg. He considered playing at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, but enrolled at Delta State University in Mississippi, a member of the NCAA's Division II. After two semesters there, he left without ever putting on a uniform again. But Kenny Smith's playing career was resurrected during the NCAA's recent investigation of the University of Alabama football program. Alabama's recruitment of Smith and at least two other prospects led to five years of probation and two years of sanctions, including bowl bans and scholarship reductions. [...] long article. Click on link. kurt ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
