A longtime Cowboys reporter scrutinizes shocking fraud allegations against the NFL’s rushing leader, citing Smith’s mentorship under Roger Staubach as proof the legal bombshell doesn't add up.
Long-time Dallas Cowboys beat writer and guest columnist Richie Whitt (find him on Substack) offers his insider view on an Emmitt Smith controversy ...
FRISCO - One offseason day in 1992 at Valley Ranch I was chatting with Emmitt Smith when the Dallas Cowboys’ running back shared his goal for the upcoming season.
“I’m thinking 2,000 yards,” Smith said boldly, proudly. “That’s a good number to shoot for. Ain’t nobody done it. But I think … I think can average 100 yards per game. Right?”
I’m not great at math. I’m slightly less worse at NFL history. So I gently broke the news to him.
“Well, um, playing 16 games … you’d have to average 125 to get to 2,000,” I said. “And, hate to tell you, but a couple of guys already got there. O.J. Simpson … Eric Dickerson … ”
Said Smith under his breath as he walked away, “Damn.”
I always liked interviewing and watching Emmitt. Did his physical talents sometimes outweigh his mental acumen? Sure. But there’s something about this week’s bombshell report that Smith is being sued for defrauding $2.5 million from a Native American company that doesn’t - if you will - add up.
Emmitt was always athletically gifted, from winning three Super Bowls, to becoming (perhaps eternally) the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, to winning Season 3 of Dancing With The Stars. Off the “field,” it’s always been a little more challenging.
His 2007 season as an NFL analyst for ESPN was an embarrassment littered with frequent linguistic gaffes. In 2020, he was divorced from wife Pat after 20 years, with a joint statement citing the need for “personal growth and individual healing.”
But here - in two words - is why I’m not buying what the new lawsuit is selling: Roger. Staubach.
After making more than $60 million during his NFL career, Emmitt in 2005 went to work under the legendary Cowboys’ quarterback and businessman. He learned the commercial real-estate world from the man who founded The Staubach Company in in 1977 and sold it in 2008 for $613 million.
Emmitt also gleaned lessons in business from owner Jerry Jones.
“It’s not an easy thing to do,” Smith said during a 2024 interview with Yahoo! Finance. “It’s a lot of grunt work, and making connections with people who already have established partners can be difficult.
“My motto is ‘Have a big front door and a small back door - take in as much as you can, and spend as little as you can.”
We all know Jerry has a couple of blemishes on his public record. But Roger Staubach? No way Emmitt learned to cut corners or defraud investors at the feet of Captain America?
(Sidebar: There is, for Cowboys fans, a way to "cut corners'' to win a pair of tickets to a Cowboys home game this year. See the above video for more ...or just click into Fish's twee below ...)
The next negative thing I hear about Staubach will be the first. And I’ve been watching, idolizing and interviewing him as long as I’ve been alive.
My 2009 cover story on Staubach for the Dallas Observer remains one of the highlights of my 40-year career in DFW media. My 2021 story about his daughter’s mental illness for Sports Illustrated was one of my toughest to write.
Dove-tailing from his University of Florida degree in Public Recreation and using wisdom learned from Staubach, Emmitt launched real-estate companies focused on development (ESmith Legacy), construction (EJ Smith Construction) and financing (E Smith Realty and Capital Partners).
The lawsuit against Smith - filed in Delaware by a Kituwah agency that represents the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians - claims he worked with two partners to fraudulently obtain a $2.5 million loan in conjunction with a solar-farm project in Texas in 2023, but then misused the funds in a Ponzi scheme to pay off debtors from a previously failed investment deal. The promised solar farm never materialized, with Kituwah claiming Emmitt’s company never even purchased the rights or the land to begin the project.
Kituwah wants its $2.5 million (plus damages). Emmitt has yet to publicly comment on the lawsuit.
I’m not saying the Native Americans are lying. I am saying that if the lawsuit is legit and Emmitt is found guilty of a Ponzi scheme, it would be an indirect stain on Staubach’s legacy.
That, for now, is why I’m not buying it.
