Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Emmitt Smith

Aired October 27, 2002 - 10:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: In football, the Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith is closing in on the NFL's all-time rushing record. There's a chance it could fall today.
CNN's Josie Karp has this profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The legend has it that the night before you had your first Cowboys training camp practice, you sat down in 1990 and actually wrote on a piece of paper that your goal was to become the NFL all-time leading rusher. Is there truth to that legend?

EMMITT SMITH, DALLAS COWBOYS: There's a whole lot of truth to that. I'm serious. James Washington was sitting right there, he came in and watched me. He came in and asked me what I was doing; I told him I was writing down my goals for the year. And he saw it and was like, "Wow." And was pretty surprised about it.

KARP: It's a special record, isn't it? It's different than a lot of records in the NFL and in sports. What makes it so special?

SMITH: I think what makes it so special is the degree of difficulty in trying to achieve it.

As a runningback, I mean, we take constant pounding, constant hitting, and you know the lifespan of a runningback is only, like two and a half, 3.5 years or something like that. Which is kind of a surprise and maybe shocking to most people. And even myself, I tell myself right now I'm three and four times extinct.

And this says a lot of things about an individual player. And so when I think about it, I know exactly, being right here in this position, I know exactly what Payton had to go through.

KARP: We have to talk about Walter Payton. I want to read you something that I read that he said. He said, "I want to set the record so high that the next person who tries for it is going to bust his heart."

What did he mean by that, and did it?

SMITH: He's saying that, "I don't think people that are coming behind me are willing to work as hard as I did or even sacrifice as much as I sacrificed to achieve it." And whether or not it's going to bust my heart, I don't know if it's going to bust my heart. But I'm going to work my heart -- my butt off trying to get it done.

KARP: Do you have any misgivings at all about breaking his record because of who he was, how he was so loved? That he's gone and this is something he left behind?

SMITH: No, I don't. I don't. It's not like I'm going to be saddened that I break it, because it's his. What I will be saddened for is that he's not there to share it with me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: ... A person that was dedicated to excellence, a person that means a lot to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: I love him for the player that he was and the person that he was. And what he meant to me. And so ...

KARP: Did he?

SMITH: He meant a lot to me. More than you will probably ever know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Trying to hold in my emotions, and I love him, but I just can't help it. That's how much he's meant to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Fortunately, I had a great mentor in Payton, and before him there was a great mentor before Payton called Jim Brown. And then after Jim Brown, Payton and then others came to follow: Dickerson and on down.

So there's a chain of history there that I do not ever want to forget. And I don't want the world to ever forget.

KARP: If you could draw it up any way to make the play, how would that fall, those final hours where you break the record?

SMITH: If I had my preference, I would like for it to be a touch-down, running over 20 yards.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEVILLE: Great. Good luck, Emmitt. And that was CNN's Josie Karp with that NFL Profile for you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired October 27, 2002 - 10:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: In football, the Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith is closing in on the NFL's all-time rushing record. There's a chance it could fall today.
CNN's Josie Karp has this profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The legend has it that the night before you had your first Cowboys training camp practice, you sat down in 1990 and actually wrote on a piece of paper that your goal was to become the NFL all-time leading rusher. Is there truth to that legend?

EMMITT SMITH, DALLAS COWBOYS: There's a whole lot of truth to that. I'm serious. James Washington was sitting right there, he came in and watched me. He came in and asked me what I was doing; I told him I was writing down my goals for the year. And he saw it and was like, "Wow." And was pretty surprised about it.

KARP: It's a special record, isn't it? It's different than a lot of records in the NFL and in sports. What makes it so special?

SMITH: I think what makes it so special is the degree of difficulty in trying to achieve it.

As a runningback, I mean, we take constant pounding, constant hitting, and you know the lifespan of a runningback is only, like two and a half, 3.5 years or something like that. Which is kind of a surprise and maybe shocking to most people. And even myself, I tell myself right now I'm three and four times extinct.

And this says a lot of things about an individual player. And so when I think about it, I know exactly, being right here in this position, I know exactly what Payton had to go through.

KARP: We have to talk about Walter Payton. I want to read you something that I read that he said. He said, "I want to set the record so high that the next person who tries for it is going to bust his heart."

What did he mean by that, and did it?

SMITH: He's saying that, "I don't think people that are coming behind me are willing to work as hard as I did or even sacrifice as much as I sacrificed to achieve it." And whether or not it's going to bust my heart, I don't know if it's going to bust my heart. But I'm going to work my heart -- my butt off trying to get it done.

KARP: Do you have any misgivings at all about breaking his record because of who he was, how he was so loved? That he's gone and this is something he left behind?

SMITH: No, I don't. I don't. It's not like I'm going to be saddened that I break it, because it's his. What I will be saddened for is that he's not there to share it with me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: ... A person that was dedicated to excellence, a person that means a lot to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: I love him for the player that he was and the person that he was. And what he meant to me. And so ...

KARP: Did he?

SMITH: He meant a lot to me. More than you will probably ever know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Trying to hold in my emotions, and I love him, but I just can't help it. That's how much he's meant to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Fortunately, I had a great mentor in Payton, and before him there was a great mentor before Payton called Jim Brown. And then after Jim Brown, Payton and then others came to follow: Dickerson and on down.

So there's a chain of history there that I do not ever want to forget. And I don't want the world to ever forget.

KARP: If you could draw it up any way to make the play, how would that fall, those final hours where you break the record?

SMITH: If I had my preference, I would like for it to be a touch-down, running over 20 yards.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEVILLE: Great. Good luck, Emmitt. And that was CNN's Josie Karp with that NFL Profile for you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com