Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith

Bubba Smith in 2009
No. 78, 77
Defensive End
Personal information
Date of birth: (1945-02-28)February 28, 1945
Place of birth: Orange, Texas
Date of death: August 3, 2011(2011-08-03) (aged 66)
Place of death: Los Angeles, California
Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Weight: 265 lb (120 kg)
Career information
High school: Charlton-Pollard High School Beaumont, Texas
College: Michigan State
NFL Draft: 1967 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1
Debuted in 1967 for the Baltimore Colts
Last played in 1976 for the Houston Oilers
Career history
Baltimore Colts (1967–1971) Oakland Raiders (1973–1974) Houston Oilers (1975–1976)
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (V) 2 Pro Bowls (1970, 1971) First team All-Pro (1971)
Career NFL statistics
Games played 111 Games started 25 Fumble recoveries 4 Stats at NFL.com
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com
College Football Hall of Fame

Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith (February 28, 1945 – August 3, 2011) was an American professional football player who became an actor after his retirement from the sport. He first came into prominence at Michigan State University, where he twice earned All-American honors as a defensive end on the Spartans football team. He had a major role in a 10–10 draw with Notre Dame in 1966 that was billed as "The Game of the Century." He was one of only three players to have his jersey number retired by the program. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.^[1]

He played nine years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Baltimore Colts (1967–1971), Oakland Raiders (1973–1974) and Houston Oilers (1975–1976). The first selection of the 1967 NFL Draft, he was the Colts' starting left defensive end for five seasons who played in Super Bowls III and V, the latter with the winning side. He was named to two Pro Bowls and was a First-Team All-Pro in 1971.^[2] Despite being 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 meters) tall and weighing 265 pounds (120.20 kilograms),^[3] his tremendous speed and quickness usually caused him to draw two blockers.^[2]

During his acting career, he mainly specialized in comedic roles in films, television advertisements and programs. For about a decade following his retirement from football, he appeared in various commercials for Miller Lite. His best-known role was as Moses Hightower in the first six Police Academy movies.^[4]

Early life[link]

Smith was born on February 28, 1945 in Orange, Texas, and raised in nearby Beaumont. His father was Willie Ray Smith Sr., a football coach who accumulated 235 victories in a career spent at three high schools in the Beaumont area. It was at Charlton-Pollard High School in Beaumont where the son got to play for the father.^[2] The younger Smith developed into one of the state's best-ever high school football players.^[5]

Football career[link]

College[link]

Smith originally had hopes of playing college football at the University of Texas. Even though Longhorns head coach Darrell Royal was willing to offer him an athletic scholarship, he was prohibited from doing so because of the prevalent racial segregation throughout the Southern United States. At the time, Texas was a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC), which finally integrated in 1967. The university's football program did not do likewise until three years later in 1970. The situation motivated Smith to become a much better player.^[5]

Smith played college football at Michigan State University. He was awarded with All-America honors in 1965 and 1966. Smith was a popular athlete at Michigan State, with the popular fan chant of "Kill, Bubba, Kill."

His final game at Michigan State was a 10–10 draw with Notre Dame at Spartan Stadium on November 19, 1966.^[6] It was hyped as "The Game of the Century" because both teams were undefeated, untied and ranked atop the national polls entering the contest (Notre Dame was #1 at 8–0–0, Michigan State #2 at 9–0–0).^[7] Early in the first quarter, Smith tackled Fighting Irish starting quarterback Terry Hanratty, who suffered a separated left shoulder on the play. Hanratty was replaced for the remainder of the match by Coley O'Brien. Smith, who admitted that Hanratty's injury actually backfired on the Spartans, stated, "That didn't help us any. It just let them put in that O'Brien who's slippery and faster and gave us more trouble. The other guy just sits there and waits, and that's what we wanted."^[8] Michigan State finished second behind Notre Dame in the voting for the National Championship.^[7]

In 1988, Smith was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Michigan State retired his number 95 jersey on September 23, 2006, prior to the Spartans' home game against Notre Dame, amid repeated cheers of his old slogan from the student section. This game also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the "Game of the Century."

Professional[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Smith spent nine seasons in the NFL as a defensive end. He was the first overall selection in the 1967 NFL draft, chosen by the Baltimore Colts. The Colts won Super Bowl V at the end of the 1970 season, earning Smith his only Super Bowl ring. However, in interviews, Smith stated that he would never wear the ring, as it was seen as a "sloppy" game by many. He was traded to the Oakland Raiders before the 1972 season, and finished his career with the Houston Oilers. He was selected All-Pro one year, All-Conference two years, and went to two Pro Bowls.

Acting career[link]

After leaving professional football, Smith began his acting career in small movie and television roles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is perhaps best known for his role as Moses Hightower in the Police Academy movie series, a role he reprised in all but one of the Police Academy sequels. Bubba appeared in the 1982 TV film Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story. He was Arnold the driver in the 1983 movie Stroker Ace that cast stars such as Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Jim Nabors, and Loni Anderson. He was a supporting character in the 1981 - 1982 flop Open All Night. He appeared in two episodes of the hit television series Married... with Children, once as the character "Spare Tire" Dixon and in a later episode as himself. He was the long time spokesman of Baltimore-area law firm Cohen, Snyder, Eisenberg & Katzenberg. Smith starred in the short-lived television series Blue Thunder, partnering with Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive star Dick Butkus, with whom he frequently costarred in advertisements for Miller Lite beer. Smith also appeared in Tales of the Gold Monkey, in the episode called "God Save the Queen", along with fellow actor James Avery. He appeared on Good Times as Claude, a bodyguard/thug working for Marion "Sweet Daddy" Williams. He also appeared on an episode of The Odd Couple;when asked by Oscar Madison what his most embarrassing moment was, he replied, "When my mother named me 'Bubba'". Smith appeared in a 1982 Episode of Taxi (Season 4 Episode 19) where Smith's character played a football player trying to get back into the NFL after being cut. He inspired Tony, played by Tony Danza to train hard enough to earn his license back as a boxer. He also appeared on Macgyver (Season 7, Episode 10).

Personal life[link]

Smith's brother Tody Smith played for the University of Southern California and for the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills.

Death[link]

Smith was found dead in his Los Angeles home by his caretaker on August 3, 2011. He died from acute drug intoxication and heart disease. Phentermine, a weight-loss drug was found in his system. His heart weighed more than twice that of an average human heart. He was 66 years old.^[9][10][11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bubba Smith at Pro-Football-Reference.com
• Bubba Smith at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile of the 1966 "Game of the Century"
• Details of the 1967 NFL draft
• Entry for Smith at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Gallery of Bubba Smith football cards

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This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (March 2012)

Al Bundy is a fictional character from the U.S. television series Married... with Children. He was played by Ed O'Neill.^[1]

Character history[link]

Al is a simple man, and forever regretful of the turns his life has taken since the end of high school, when marriage and a broken leg prevented him from playing college football. The character was so popular that it has left O'Neill somewhat typecast since the series ended production.^{[citation needed]}

Al Bundy is married to Peggy. He mistakenly asked her to marry him after he got drunk. He has two children: Kelly, a promiscuous dumb blonde, and Bud, an intelligent but perpetually horny and unpopular schemer named after a brand of beer. Al lives in Chicago and is the proud owner of a Dodge Dart (although the model shown on-screen is always a Plymouth Duster, it is referred to throughout the series as a Dodge Dart). He works as a shoe salesman at the fictional Gary's Shoes and Accessories for Today's Woman in the fictional New Market Mall. Al hates his job, loses it several times throughout the series, yet always ends up coming back to it. There is a running joke throughout the show that Al makes minimum-wage. However, in one episode, Al is offered early retirement and given a year's pay: $12,000. In "My Mom, The Mom", Al states that he earns a 10% commission on each sale. The family also brought in income through game-shows, theft, various absurd schemes and mooching off of the Rhoades and D'Arcy's wealth throughout the series.

Throughout the series, Al is continually saddled with massive debts caused by everything from the various disasters he becomes involved in to his wife's extravagant spending habits. However, he never appears to miss a mortgage payment or file for bankruptcy. The "Bundy Will", passed down from generation to generation as a punishment, indebted the "benefactor" with these debts that Al Bundy has incurred.

In flashbacks, it is revealed that Al's mother may have been an alcoholic. While pondering his shortcomings over a toothpaste sandwich, he relives a moment where his mother tells him he can become anything while audibly saying "Yeah right, Mom, try saying that when you're sober!". In another similar situation, he asks her if she wants her Bloody Mary. In one flashback episode Al was revealed as having a overdue Library Book for 30 years; being Al he tries to get out of paying a $2,163.20 Library fine by tricking the Librarian {an old enemy of his} that he had returned it years before-only to have his trick revealed on closed-circuit TV on Chicago Television!

Most of the show's running gags concern Al. Aside from his bad luck, Al also maintains a "do-it-yourself" attitude whenever something in the house needs repair; combined with his creativity, poor judgement, and lack of skill, this usually produces absurd results, and often in physical injury to Al. Al is also frequently described as being careless about hygiene: he is often told he smells bad, and whenever he goes to a public restroom, he overflows the toilet. He is often seen leaving restrooms, even public ones, with a newspaper tucked under his arm, to the sound of a toilet flushing. A running gag is that Al showers or even brushes his teeth as rarely as he has sex, which is extremely infrequent, as he continually rejects Peggy's advances.

Al is not very well liked by his neighborhood. In "Route 666" Marcy D'Arcy said that when they thought Al had died, they all started dancing and singing "Ding Dong, the shoe man's dead" and called it a "cruel, cruel hoax" when they learned it was a false alarm — as usual, Al had survived his latest misadventure. Other people pay little to no attention to him and, as a result, his name often ends up misspelled on paychecks, parking spots, etc. (e.g., "Bumby", "Boondy" or "Birdy").

Despite being a somewhat phlegmatic and slow person, Bundy has a sarcastic and cynical sense of humor; he also has a definite love for his family, though that can still be traded for a fair amount of money. On the rare occasions when he enjoys luxury and money, Al indeed expresses love for his family. An example can be seen in one episode where Peggy and Al receive free first-class plane tickets to New York City from Marcy and are seen sipping champagne and singing "I Got You, Babe" together. In another episode, Al's Dodge turns up missing and he wants it back to recover an item in the trunk. The item turns out to be a family photo of Al, Peg, Kelly and Bud together. This suggests that his distaste for them is spawned merely by his blaming them for his poor quality of life.

Al dislikes fat women (repeatedly insulting them to their faces with one-liners, a trait he has shown since he was a child), his job, the prospect of having sex with his wife, his feminist neighbor Marcy D'Arcy, and the French. He loves nudie magazines, free beer, bowling and "nudie" bars, and often cherishes the glory moment of his past: scoring four touchdowns "in a single game" while playing for the fictional Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus fictional Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, “Spare Tire” Dixon (played by Bubba Smith in episode "All-Nite Security Dude"). Another episode "Damn Bundys" featured Al selling his soul to the devil (played by Robert Englund) in order to lead the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl as the oldest rookie in NFL history; Al scores the touchdown and ends up in hell with his family and neighbors for 200 years. (In real life, O'Neill tried out for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969, the first season of Hall of Famers Chuck Noll and "Mean Joe" Greene, but was cut in training camp, leading to O'Neill re-enrolling at Youngstown State University and starting his acting career there).^[2] In the season 8 episode "Dud Bowl II", a scoreboard at Polk High's football stadium was to be dedicated to Al, but Marcy had it arranged for it to instead be named after Terry Bradshaw (who says later in the episode that he never played football while attending Polk High) out of malice; but after hearing from Kelly how much it would mean to her father if the scoreboard honored him, Bradshaw decides to let the scoreboard to be named after Al. Al did not know this and arranged to have Jefferson and Bud blow up the scoreboard, he found out at the dedication and rushed to prevent the marching band's cymbalist from crashing his cymbals (Al was unsuccessful and the cymbals were crashed into his head, injuring him); Jefferson and Bud blew up the scoreboard on that cue. In one nightmare episode Al is accidentally poisoned and hovers between life and death-with the grim Reaper being played by his wife. In a reincarnation episode the Bundy's dog dies and comes back as a puppy to live with the Bundies.

He is a fan of oldies music, and a fan of westerns. His favorite movie in particular is Hondo (which he missed once in the episode "Assault and Batteries", after having been knocked unconscious when a cash register he threw at an automatic door in frustration over being locked in a store bounced off the door and hit him in the head), and his favorite sitcom is the fictional Psycho Dad (he led an unsuccessful protest to have the show put back on the air after it was canceled due to its violent content, leading Al and his NO MA'AM organization members to go to Washington, D.C.). Politically, Al can be classified as apolitical, but later in an homage to his time as Al Bundy, Ed O'Neill reprised the role of Al showing his support for the then-candidate, Barack Obama's tax plan. The plan was said to give "Al the Shoe Salesman" a $1,000 federal tax break. Bundy's favorite magazine is Big'uns,, though an early episode used an issue of Playboy instead. He enjoys watching sports and adult movies on television, with his right hand tucked into his waistband (he switches to his left hand on Sundays). Though he almost always resists Peggy's frequent amorous advances, he is shown to have a particular fondness for her breasts, which she refers to as "the guys."

Al's talents include bowling (he is an extremely gifted bowler), barbecueing (while wearing an apron that says "Kiss the Cook, Kill the Wife"), and getting into and winning fistfights. He can survive incredible injuries ranging from falling off his roof while installing a satellite dish, getting shocked by that same dish, and being pulverized by a massive woman wrestler (Big Bad Mama from Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) in Las Vegas, to jumping from an airplane without a parachute, and surviving a huge explosion when he accidentally detonates dynamite in his own yard trying to kill a rabbit who has been eating his vegetable garden. Al also has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports trivia, which usually demonstrates how he has little interest in anything else. He does however serve his country by joining the U.S. National Guard in which Al receives the 'Bronze Dumpster' for service during a garbage strike.

In season 8, Bundy and his friends found NO MA'AM, the "National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood". Its "political goals" are to fight the increasing power of women all over society, but the organization tends to just be a social club for several neighborhood men to bond: consume beer, indulge in pornography, bowl, visit strip clubs, watch sports, etc. However, there have been instances of actual "political activities" such as kidnapping Jerry Springer; countering a breast-feeding sit-in organized by Marcy with a Beer Belly dance-off; causing a riot over a proposed beer tax; going to Washington to appeal to Congress when Psycho Dad is canceled; and even forming a short lived misogynistic religion, whose chief theology is blaming all the world's problems on Eve, not unlike Christianity, making it mostly a sect, rather a proper religion. Al shows great leadership skills, being the lead organizer/instigator of many of NO MA'AM's activism and authoritatively breaking NO MA'AM members' squabbles with "Focus gentlemen, focus!"

Since there was no final-episode special to provide an epilogue, it is unknown what would happen to Al in the end. However, his guardian angel (Sam Kinison in the 1989 episode "It's a Bundyful Life, Part 2") mentions that at age 60 his stomach gets so ulcer-ridden that he dies from all the stress of living his life. {A 1990 episode revealed Al is 43-making his vital dates 1947-2007} According to his family funeral plans in the episode "Death of a Shoe Salesmen", he would be buried next to his favorite television actor Fuzzy McGee. When his wife Peggy dies, due to a loophole in his original burial plans, she will be stacked face-down on top of him, much to his dismay. In the episode "I Who Have Nothing," ^[3] according to his will, he'd be buried with all his prized football possessions, leaving just his worthless Joe Nuxhall baseball card to his only-begotten son Bud. To the rest of his family he'd leave a picture of him, posing in his jersey with his football, that would read "To My Beloved family, have a nice life!". The final episode he appeared in was "How to Marry a Moron part 2".

Reception[link]

Al Bundy had a mostly positive reception.^[4][5] Al and Peg were named the 59th best TV characters by Bravo.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Al Bundy Blog - latest Married… with Children news
• The Bundy Principle - media notes inspired by Al
• A tribute to Al's Ferguson
• Al Bundy at the Internet Movie Database