Dallas City News

We are at day 22 of our 99 day countdown until the regular season. Here is your daily fact associated with number 22.

We try to keep things fresh and not repeat players from last year when it comes to player numbers. But when it comes to 22 it’s impossible to not talk about the most decorated player in Dallas Cowboys history, the great Emmitt Smith.

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Emmitt James Smith III was born May 15, 1969 and selected by Dallas in the first round of the 1990 NFL Draft. He was coming to a Dallas team that had just made a huge trade with Herschel Walker and was joining a list of players that would go on to make sporting history. Smith would break many regular and post-season records, some of which will more than likely never be broken. He is a football icon, and will forever be remembered with Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman – “The Triplets”.

During the 1990 NFL Draft, Smith was almost not selected by the Dallas Cowboys. The team intended to draft a linebacker, but that player was chosen prior to their pick, prompting the front office to reevaluate their options. Ultimately, they decided to enhance their running game, leading to the selection of Emmitt Smith. In his rookie season, Smith had 937 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, earning the title of NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and receiving his first Pro Bowl nomination.

In 1991, Smith rushed for 1,563 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, securing his first rushing title. By 1992, he was once again breaking records, setting the Cowboys’ single-season franchise record and winning another rushing title with 1,713 rushing yards. Notably, he became the first player to win both the league’s rushing title and the Super Bowl in the same season.

In 1993, Smith was absent from training camp and the first two regular season games due to a holdout. However, he quickly made an impact, finishing the season with 1,486 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, contributing to the Cowboys becoming the first team to win a Super Bowl after starting the season 0-2. His outstanding performance earned him the league MVP award, as well as the Super Bowl XXVIII MVP award that year. Despite his late start, Smith claimed another rushing title.

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By 1995, Smith made history as the first player to rush for over 1,400 yards in five consecutive seasons. He also set an NFL record with 25 rushing touchdowns, a mark that still ranks fourth all-time. Additionally, he broke two records previously held by Tony Dorsett for the most consecutive games in a season with over 100 rushing yards and for single-season rushing yards, totaling 1,773. In 1996, Smith reached the milestone of 100 career rushing touchdowns and surpassed 10,000 career rushing yards, becoming the twelfth player in league history and the youngest to achieve this feat.

He subsequently became the Cowboys’ all-time leading rusher, surpassing Tony Dorsett, and in 1998, he became the NFL’s all-time rushing touchdown leader. In 2002, he concluded the season with 17,162 career yards, breaking Walter Payton’s record to become the NFL’s all-time rush leader.

Smith would play one season at Arizona before signing a one-day contract with Dallas to retire as a Cowboy. His achievements include three times Super Bowl winner, Super Bowl MVP, NFL MVP Award (1993), NFL Rookie of The Year (1990), six All-Pro honors, eight Pro Bowl honors, four times NFL rushing leader, most career rushing yards (18,355), most career rushing touchdowns (164), and most career rush attempts (4,409). Smith entered the Dallas Cowboys Ring Of Honor and was enshrined in NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

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