![]() It was conquering my fears again, venturing out among 300-pounders again. I spent a lot of time being apprehensive about what I could do again. When I get out of bed I feel I have no physical limitations. “When I was in my wheelchair, I built a lot of mental walls about things I can’t do again and my Everest was playing pro football again. If I could play football, I could do anything. Even though I was old in the locker room (37), I was young in life and there were things I wanted to get back. I almost died and now I am going out there again. “Why would I want to do that (play football again)?” he says now. Some of his friends told him they felt like his mother because they found themselves so worried for him. Smith received calls from concerned acquaintances. Ultimately, Smith decided to try to play football again - a decision that was greeted with universal shock and concern for his well-being. I’m thankful for the people who helped me out of it.” ![]() It certainly shook me and took me to a dark place. ![]() “What are you going to let it do with you? You have the ability to confront it. “We are put in these situations,” he says. Whattya mean someone didn’t vote for Alex Smith?!Īt the nadir of the experience, Smith was filled with self-doubt.How Alex Smith and the Utah Utes transformed college football.Alex Smith hangs up his cleats, leaving a legacy of grit and determination.I view it much differently now (although) I still have struggles and dark days.” There was a time I couldn’t bear to look at it. Now I wake up proud of my leg and what we’ve been through. The leg was a reminder of all the things I had lost. It’s obvious I have to adapt the moment I step out of bed. “I wake up every day with my new normal,” he was saying last week. Near the end of his talk, Smith rolled up his pants and showed the audience his leg. During the TED Talk, he showed graphic photos of the leg at various stages of the rebuilding process it looked like something found in a butcher shop. In the end, he was left with a leg that was lumpy, scarred and misshapen below the knee. He spent days sitting on the couch consumed by anxiety. The leg was rebuilt through 17 surgeries and the use of screws, plates and muscle taken from other parts of his body. There were doubts about whether he would be able to walk again. Doctors went from trying to save Smith’s leg - fearing it would have to be amputated - to trying to save his life. Making matters much worse, it became infected. Doctors said the only thing they could compare it to was a war injury, like those inflicted on soldiers who have been hit with a bomb. In case someone doesn’t know his story by now - one that transcended sports - Smith suffered a gruesome injury while playing quarterback for the Washington Football Team in the fall of 2018 - a compound spiral fracture of the tibia and fibula, with bone breaking through the skin. I was wallowing in self pity for a long time.” I was dwelling on all these things I can’t do … and how they had been robbed from me. I was thinking the best part of my life was over. I was bitter and negative and depressed about what happened to me. How do we react to challenges? … It took me a long time to get there. “It’s not some fake Disney thing where everything works out if you persevere. And now that he’s 3 1⁄ 2 years down the road since The Injury, he’s had more time to reflect and mine the experience for all its worth. ![]() It’s the same reason we go to concerts even though we’ve heard recordings of the same music. Smith’s story has been thoroughly covered by all forms of media, including a powerful documentary, but there is something to be said for hearing deep reflections from the man himself, on stage. The ups and downs, the good and bad, being transparent and honest. “It was one of my first big exercises in trying to get my head around what I had been through,” he said recently in a phone interview. “I enjoy talking about it I really do. The public speaking engagements are not something he had anticipated, but when he gave a TED Talk last summer he found it cathartic. This is something he has done with increasing frequency since he retired after the 2020 season, in which he made a stunning comeback from his famous injury. Alex Smith, America’s star-crossed quarterback now retired, is coming to Salt Lake City next week to tell his story.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |