The Buffalo Bills will bestow a rare honor upon one of its alumni from the Super Bowl years this September, when the team retires Bruce Smith's jersey number 78.
The ceremony will take place at halftime during the Bills' 2016 regular season home opener on Thursday, September 15 against the New York Jets.
The Bills honor many alumni on its Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium and have ceased issuing certain jersey numbers, but Smith's 78 will become just the second number to be formally retired by the team. The lone officially retired number to date is Jim Kelly's number 12.
Smith played 19 seasons in the National Football League, 15 of them with the Bills, who selected Smith as the number one pick overall in the 1985 NFL Draft. He played his final four years with Washington. His 200 career sacks (171 with the Bills) remain an NFL record.
"On behalf of Terry and Kim Pegula and the entire Bills organization, we feel this is a tremendous opportunity to honor Bruce and his Hall of Fame career," said Bills Managing Partner and President Russ Brandon in a prepared statement. "We believe it’s going to be a great night for Bruce, his family and Bills fans everywhere."
For Smith, who spoke with reporters during a Wednesday morning conference call, the timing of the announcement is bittersweet. He revealed during the conference call that Mother's Day is a difficult time of year for him since his mother's passing two years ago.
He was advised on Monday, one day after Mother's Day, about the plan to retire his jersey number this fall.
"To receive this news a day later, it just shows how great God is, and He just continues to bless my career," Smith said during the conference call.
Smith was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. He appeared in 11 Pro Bowl games and was twice named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, in 1990 and 1996. He is considered one of the key players in an era during which the Bills won four consecutive American Football Conference titles and played in four consecutive Super Bowl games.
He told reporters it was his father who instilled in him the work ethic that he hopes he'll be remembered for. He thanked the Pegulas, the Bills' current owners, for recognizing an important era in the history of the Bills franchise. Smith spoke of the importance of the Super Bowl era Bills to Western New Yorkers.
"When the waterways and the steel mills closed down, obviously it was a depressing time for workers and the community," Smith said. "I would hope that we gave them something to look forward to during that era."
