KANKAKEE, Ill. (AP) - It was once his mission in life to run the fastest, gain the most yards and score the most touchdowns.
Now, after a tumultuous 56 years of life, Jimmy Smith is back in his hometown on a different mission.
Smith, the former high school All-American running back and track star for Kankakee Westview in the late 1970s, says he’s returned in part to “give back to my community.”
Born into poverty on Kankakee’s north side, Smith experienced athletic glory in his youth that eventually spun into a life saddled by alcohol, drugs, violence and homelessness.
He was once a soaring comet who was considered, along with future NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, to be the best high school running back in the nation. He also was a two-time state champion in the 220-yard run. Heavily recruited by universities such as Oklahoma, USC and Illinois, Smith signed with Purdue. The results were mixed, and he eventually left Purdue after three unfulfilled seasons, finishing his collegiate career at tiny Elon University in North Carolina.
Still, he was picked in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the Washington Redskins. He played in just just eight games for them and just seven more throughout the next three seasons for the Los Angeles Raiders and Minnesota Vikings.
It was late in his football career that Smith said he turned to drugs. His drive as an athlete to be the best became a drive “to drink the most alcohol, smoke the most and do the most drugs.
“I made some bad decisions,” he admits.
But the past is the past. Smith said he’s been sober going on nine years. He’s become a minister.
Smith said he was hesitant in returning to his hometown after living much of his adult life in Minnesota.
“I didn’t want to come back to Kankakee because I was ashamed. I felt I had let my community down, and I didn’t want to come back and face everyone.”
Since his return in May, he has come to realize something.
“All the stuff I was running from and didn’t think that Kankakee would offer me - the support, the love, the discipline, the accountability - that’s what I got,” Smith said.
“I had identity issues all my life, not knowing who I was. This time, coming back I embraced it because I really know now what I have to offer to my community. Last time, I didn’t. I had to prove myself. Am I going to stay sober? Am I going to stay with the Lord?”
Wanting to be part of something bigger than himself, Smith said, “My goal is to help start a chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I know they say they have one at Olivet, but that’s in Bourbonnais. Hopefully, God will give me the vision and the resources to start a chapter on the north side of Kankakee. Hopefully, Pioneer Park with that big community center. It’s not being used.”
He wants to help young lives here, where drugs and shootings still dominant the headlines.
“There’s a lot of drugs, a lot of crime. I come from right there in Kankakee. I lived in several neighborhoods there and I’m not proud of what’s going on today,” Smith said.
“I want to be an example that they can say that guy made some mistakes but he’s doing something for his community. He’s giving his time, his talent, and the few dollars he does have, he’s willing to give that too. That’s what is important to me.
“I want to tell the kids the mistakes I made and encourage them so they won’t have to make them.”
He has a lesson for upcoming generations.
Smith said, “I’ll tell them … listen, obey and follow. Three simple words but very powerful. It took me ’til I was about 50 years old to really understand. That’s the plan of success. Those are things I want to instill in young people. Even today, at 50-something years old, I’ve got to go to work (at Wal-Mart). I’ve got to do what my supervisor tells me to do. And I try to follow the right people.
“And, I want to be successful in what God’s calling me to do.”
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Source: The (Kankakee) Daily Journal, https://bit.ly/2tY01wi
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Information from: The Daily Journal, https://www.daily-journal.com
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