Family sets memorial service for Corey D. Smith

BY PAUL WOODY and ELLEN ROBERTSON Times-Dispatch Staff Writers

When William Brown thinks of his friend and former football teammate Corey D. Smith, Brown recalls perhaps the only contradiction in Smith's life.

"He didn't eat seafood, but he enjoyed fishing," Brown said.

Then Brown chuckled, ruefully, sadly.

Mr. Smith was fishing Feb. 28 when the boat he and three other men were in capsized in turbulent waters of the Gulf of Mexico, about 30 miles off the Florida coast. Coast Guard and private searches found one survivor. Mr. Smith is presumed dead.

The 29-year-old Richmond native will be remembered at a memorial service March 21 at noon at St. Paul's Baptist Church, 4247 Creighton Road, where he had been involved in activities since his youth.

Mr. Smith, a resident of Land O' Lakes, Fla., graduated in 1997 from John Marshall High School, where he played football. He went on to play in college and in the National Football League.

The youngest of six children, Mr. Smith "picked up sports easily," said a sister, Yolanda Newbill of Richmond. "He was a natural. He was the original extreme sports kid -- a little stunt man, fearless, very energetic, very imaginative.

"We have always been an active family. He wanted to be outside and the other kids wanted to play with him," Newbill said.

He went from riding his Big Wheel to skateboarding and learned to swim before he began school. He was a late-comer as a seventh-grader to Little League football at Laurel Park. He played baseball his freshman year at John Marshall and enjoyed pickup basketball games with his brothers.

As an NFL player he picked up golf and enjoyed bowling, as well as football video games.

"He was a nice, kind man," said a brother, Wyman Smith Jr. of Richmond. "You never would think a big football player would be so nice. But he was a kind, humble man."

Mr. Smith received a football scholarship to North Carolina State University.

At N.C. State, he and William Brown became good friends.

"We first met at the Boys Club of Richmond," Brown said. "We even went to Henderson Middle School together."

Brown, an engineer with Pratt &Whitney Rocketdyne in Huntsville, Ala., graduated from Varina High School, where he was a standout defensive lineman. He also received a scholarship from N.C. State.

"We reconnected there," Brown said. "We were roommates the last year and a half.

"Corey was a great teammate. He was the type of guy who, if you needed help, he would drop whatever he was doing and help you out.

"You could always rely on him."

Mr. Smith was a redshirt as a freshman, then played four seasons at N.C. State.

"There are a lot of ways to test the measurables on an individual," said Chuck Amato, the coach at N.C. State during Mr. Smith's junior and senior seasons. "But you can't test that muscle under the left chest plate, the heart.

"He had a heart that wasn't going to let him fail."

Mr. Smith was an all-conference selection at defensive end in his senior season. He was not selected by any NFL teams in the 2002 draft.

Instead, he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent. Free agents face long odds on making the 53-man roster. They must perform better than draft choices and veteran players who are battling for jobs.

Mr. Smith made the Bucs roster as a rookie. He played two seasons and part of a third in Tampa before signing with San Francisco for one game in 2004 and the entire 2005 season.

He signed with Detroit in 2006 and played three seasons with the Lions. He gave the best performance of his career in 2008, playing in 12 games, starting three and registering 42 tackles (28 solo) and three sacks.

Mr. Smith was 6-2, weighed 250 pounds -- small for a defensive end in the NFL.

"He came to work every day and attacked the game with great energy and great passion," said Joe Cullen, Mr. Smith's defensive line coach in Detroit. "He was a great role model.

"He epitomized what a pro athlete should be in terms of work ethic, dedication and respect. He treated everyone with respect, from the owner to the general manager to a guy coming in for a tryout."

Mr. Smith was known for doing what was asked of him without complaint.

"He came to N.C. State as a linebacker, they moved him to defensive end, and he didn't say a word," said Clayton White, another teammate at N.C. State, where Mr. Smith graduated in textiles management.

White now is an assistant coach in charge of defensive backs at Stanford University.

"I was a linebacker, and I was in the huddle with him for three years," White said. "We went through a lot of battles together. He was a 'team' guy. No doubt about that."

Amato said, "He knew what was right and what was wrong and did what was right. He would have been a success in anything he did."

Survivors, besides his sister Yolanda Newbill and brother Wyman Smith Jr., include his parents, Wyman Smith Sr. and Barbara Smith; another sister, Rhonda Lilly; and two other brothers, Marcel Smith and William Newbill Jr., all of Richmond.