Former American football running back Emmitt James Smith III, born in 1969, had a career in NFL for 15 years, largely with the Dallas Cowboys.
With his achievements in the field and his sizeable contract, it’s only reasonable for his fans to want to know what this Pro Football Hall of Famer is doing today. Well, here is a look at Emmitt Smith’s life after football.
His main focus after football has been in the real estate sector. He got into the business back in 2005 by teaming up with Roger Staubach, a fellow Cowboy legend. The two established The Smith/Cypress Limited Partnership, which operates in North Texas, focusing on transforming underdeveloped parcels of land in heavily inhabited areas into money-making projects with big national retail stores as anchors.
His leadership skills:
His accolades include being the best leading rusher in the league. He is also the league’s record holder in career rushing touchdowns.
As one of the most decorated players in NFL history, Smith won the NFL Rushing Crown, league MVP, and the Super Bowl MVP award during the same season back in 1993.
He’s also among the only running backs in NFL history to lead in rushing for at least three seasons. As the league’s leading rusher, he took the Super Bowl three times in a row from 1993 to 1995, an achievement that had never been seen before.
And for his efforts, the Dallas Cowboys rewarded him with the league’s fattest contract in 1996, worth $63 million over eight years, making him the highest-paid player at the time.
Watch the video below to find out what mentality he has that drives him as a businessman these days:
Emmitt Smith’s life after football and what he’s doing today
Smith spent 15 remarkable seasons in the NFL, most of which he devoted to the Dallas Cowboys and then the Arizona Cardinals for two years before retiring with 3 Super Bowl rings, one Superbowl MVP award, and the league’s record for career rushing yards, among other achievements.
After retiring, he founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity with his wife, Patricia Southall, to provide educational and development opportunities to underserved children. He also served as a studio analyst on an NFL Network show and has worked with ESPN in various capacities. He has been inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor and also the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Aside from football, Smith has also served as a judge at the Miss Universe pageant in 2006 and then went on Dancing with the Stars, where he partnered with Cheryl Burke and won the Mirror Ball Trophy.
His first victory came when he persuaded Mervyn’s, a well-known California-based chain store, to lead a $45M, a 21,000-square-foot building project in Phoenix.
Smith has numerous additional initiatives in progress now that he has close to $50 million in funding. In addition to an agreement to develop a large parcel of land in northwest Fort Worth (which served as a Masonic cottage in the past), he is in talks to develop another major project in southeast Fort Worth.
On the latter, he intends to build a structure with up to 600,000 sq. ft. of space for retail businesses; this will be bigger than the Project in Phoenix.
Smith’s business began expanding across the country in 2014, including into the Big Apple. He also launched the Esmith Legacy, a company specializing in the development and management of commercial real estate in Baltimore.
He serves as its CEO and also sits on its board. In 2021, the NFL legend put his Far North Dallas home on the market for $2.2 million. All of Smith’s ventures are held under Emmitt Smith Enterprises, a holding company that includes his commercial construction business and also a real estate firm.
In addition, he and his family starred in their own reality show, Mrs. & Mr. Smith, on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Pat Smith, the former Miss Virginia USA, also founded a nonprofit organization, Treasure You, which supports women in challenging financial, emotional, and physical situations.
Outside of sports, real estate ventures, and charities, he has expressed interest in acquiring an NFL team to provide opportunities to youngsters in his community. He’s previously been quoted saying talents are wasted without opportunities. We wish him all the best!