James McCoy Smith (born November 4, 1946) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. He played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Kearny High School (San Diego, California) Kearny High School is a public high school in San Diego, California. Kearny High School serves students in grades 9-12 from the Linda Vista, Serra Mesa and Kearny Mesa communities. The school is part of the San Diego Unified School District. Kear ...

, and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. He was nicknamed "Yazoo" because he was born in

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...

. He was an All-American his senior year (1967), and was drafted in the first round of the

1968 NFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

. He was the first defensive back taken in the draft, and the twelfth player overall. He played all 14 games during his rookie season, but his career ended after one year because of a severe neck injury. After his career was cut short, Smith sued the NFL and the Redskins in federal court on the grounds that the draft was a violation of the

Sherman Antitrust Act The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author. Th ...

. He argued that he would have gotten a better deal if he could have negotiated with all teams instead of just one. He also sued for personal injuries. Smith was awarded treble damages in the amount of $276,600. The Redskins paid him $50,000 for his first season, and an additional $19,800 for an option year on his rookie contract, for a total of $69,800. However, the district court found that he should have gotten a 3-year contract worth $162,200, like his free-agent veteran teammate

Pat Fischer Patrick Fischer (born January 2, 1940) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1961 to 1967, and the Washington Redskins from 1968 to 1977. Fischer attended Westside Hig ...

, who was also a defensive back. Smith's lawsuit was successful both at the federal district court level and appellate level and was eventually settled in 1979. In the meantime, the NFL agreed with the

NFL Players Association The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is a labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by president J. C. Tretter and executive director DeM ...

to restructure the draft so it would no longer violate the antitrust laws.

References

1946 births Living people People from Yazoo City, Mississippi American football defensive backs Oregon Ducks football players Washington Redskins players Players of American football from Mississippi Kearny High School (California) alumni {{defensiveback-1940s-stub