Former Chargers star Billy Ray Smith Jr. dies at

Billy Ray Smith Jr. turned embedded in the San Diego sports activities neighborhood as an distinctive linebacker who lived up to his billing as a first-round draft decide and performed all of his 126 NFL video games with the Chargers from 1983 to 1992, long before the franchise moved to Los Angeles.

Despite being Texas-raised and Arkansas-educated, Smith Jr. turned synonymous with San Diego by spending the remaining of his life in the sunny SoCal metropolis as a sportscaster, radio host and big-hearted, larger-than-life persona.

Smith Jr. died Wednesday at age 64, his household saying in a assertion that he “faced his long journey with dementia caused by CTE with unmatched bravery, dignity, and strength.”

“It is with profound sadness that we share the loss of our beloved Billy Ray Smith Jr., who passed away peacefully surrounded by family,” the assertion said. “Billy Ray brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the world as a devoted father, husband, son, and loyal friend.”

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive mind disease characterised by temper disturbances and cognitive decline. It is linked to repeated head impacts and traumatic mind accidents, and has been discovered posthumously in quite a few athletes in contact sports activities.

According to the Mayo Clinic, CTE can’t be recognized definitively during life. However, medical standards has been developed for traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES), symptoms that happen together and are related with CTE.

A diagnosis of CTE requires evidence of degeneration of mind tissue that can only be seen during an post-mortem. Through 2022, the Boston University CTE Center studied the brains of 376 former NFL gamers and recognized 345 with CTE, a fee of 91.7%.

The checklist of former NFL gamers recognized with CTE consists of another legendary Chargers linebacker, Junior Seau, who died in 2012 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 43. Smith performed alongside Seau from 1990-1992.

Their friendship endured after Smith Jr. retired and moved into broadcasting. He was a speaker at Seau’s public memorial service.

Smith Jr. was born Aug. 10, 1961, in Fayetteville, Ark., the son of longtime NFL defensive lineman Billy Ray Smith, and grew up in Plano, Texas. The yr he was born, his father registered a career-high 13.5 sacks for the Baltimore Colts.

Smith Jr. adopted his father’s footsteps to the University of Arkansas, and was twice named a unanimous All-American and voted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Chargers drafted Smith Jr. with the fifth general decide in 1983.

He moved from defensive end to linebacker in San Diego and by 1987 was named the crew’s most helpful participant. Smith Jr. completed his profession with 26.5 sacks, 15 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries.

The Times’ Bill Plaschke wrote about Smith Jr.’s influence on the Chargers’ historic turnaround from 1-8 to 8-1 during the 1987 season: “The biggest on-field reason for this has been the defense. And this defense belongs to Billy Ray Smith. He strokes it, slugs it, runs it. He grabs it by the front of its shirt to keep it moving. He clutches it under the arms to keep it from falling.

“A couple of times a game, when the welts start to show, when psyches have been beaten to the edge, when nobody wants anything to do with this Charger defense, Billy Ray Smith signs for it.”

Upon retiring in 1992, Smith Jr. moved behind a microphone, teaming with Scott Kaplan on a fashionable radio show on the Mighty 1090, a station that went off the air in 2019.

“He loved being part of San Diego,” Kaplan told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Yeah, he was the fifth overall pick and he played 10 years and, yeah, was the face of the defense before he handed it off to Junior Seau. But he was the guy who never left San Diego.

“He was loved because people knew Billy Ray. It wasn’t like other star athletes; they knew him because they had seen his whole life, from the time he was in his early 20s, play out on local television. And he never left.”

Smith Jr. labored on TV as a sportscaster and sports activities director for KGTV while also making appearances on Fox Sports and local Chargers broadcasts.

He met his spouse, broadcaster Kimberly Hunt, during a United Cerebral Palsy telethon while still a Chargers participant. They married in 1990, had a daughter, Savannah, two years later and celebrated their thirty sixth anniversary in June. Hunt, an Emmy Award winner, is at the moment in her 18th yr as the KGTV news night anchor.

The couple was energetic in charities for a long time and this yr was given the San Diego Nice Guy of the Year Award.

“Through decades of volunteer service and charitable leadership, Billy Ray has generously supported youth programs, veterans, healthcare initiatives, and numerous nonprofit organizations, helping strengthen the fabric of the San Diego community,” the San Diego Nice Guys said earlier this yr.

“Together, Kimberly Hunt and Billy Ray Smith represent the very best of San Diego —individuals whose professional excellence is matched only by their kindness, humility, and dedication to improving the lives of others.”

Smith Jr. got here to San Diego as a fearsome linebacker who made two Pro Bowls, yet he transcended soccer through his infectious persona and devotion to his adopted metropolis.

“He had that big smile, that huge laugh, that rip-your-arm-off handshake,” Kaplan said. “B.R. did everything right. There was not one part of him that was a lie, a secret, not one skeleton in the closet. He really, really lived a life that he could be very proud of.”