Steve Smith Raves About Jerry Richardson

A night after running back DeAngelo Williams told WBTV he was upset with how Jerry Richardson acted when Williams’ mother passed away last year, another Carolina Panthers great was on another local TV station sharing a different perspective of the team’s owner.In an interview with WCCB Charlotte’s Morgan Fogarty that aired Tuesday night, former Panthers receiver Steve Smith said he’s had “multiple conversations” with Richardson since Smith’s controversial release last March. It’s well known the two admire each other, but Smith’s strong feelings toward his former employer are notable in the wake of Williams’ comments.

“I love Jerry Richardson. Since my grandfather died, he’s been a guy I really lean on as an older father figure,” Smith told Fogarty. “What I look to Mr. Richardson for is something greater than football. It has to do with everything he’s taught me and the opportunities he’s given me. He’s given me an opportunity here in Charlotte, that my kids will never have to deal with the surroundings that I had to growing up.””I owe him everything. He’s given me the opportunity to change my life, my kids’ lives, for generations, and I owe him a debt of gratitude that I can never repay.”The interview wasn’t a reaction to what Williams said. Fogarty’s sitdown with Smith, which helped promote his foundation’s upcoming “Strike Out Domestic Violence” bowling event, was recorded Monday afternoon, hours before WBTV aired its story with Williams.Even though Smith still harbors plenty of resentment for how his career in Carolina ended, the current Baltimore Raven didn’t want to reopen that wound in his chat with Fogarty. But he did share a story that not all Panthers fans may know.

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Smith wore No. 7 at Utah, but after he was drafted in 2001, he was given No. 89 by Richardson and his son Mark. The last Panther to wear that number was Rae Carruth, who months earlier was found guilty of conspiring to murder his pregnant girlfriend.”I didn’t want to wear it, and they said they gave me that number because I had the chance to change the misfortune, what everybody knew that number for,” Smith told Fogarty. “I wanted to change it so bad, because I knew who wore that number.””They had that much trust in me. It was something special. So that’s why I still wear it, because it shows the trust they had in me that I don’t think I even had in myself.”You can watch Smith’s entire interview with Fogarty below:

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Matt

Thanks Bill. It was an interesting interview. Smith never identified Carruth by name, and it didn’t occur to Fogarty to help out casual viewers who may not recall that it was Carruth who wore the 89. It was just left up to the viewer to figure it out.
- disqus_Fpg81woBtN
  
  You need to rewatch the interview. She says exactly that “…it had been Rae Carruth’s number…” About 50 seconds in.
- SonnySky
  
  You are wrong–its stated who he was and what he did.
  - Jason Alston
    
    Well now 89 should be retired as Steve’s number. I always associate Carruth with 84 anyway, that was the jersey he wore during his best season; he wasn’t ever that big a factor as 89.
- SonnySky
  
  Actually I think its a tacky and insulting the way its lumped together.
Matt

Thanks Bill. It was an interesting interview. Smith never identified Carruth by name, and it didn’t occur to Fogarty to help out casual viewers who may not recall that it was Carruth who wore the 89. It was just left up to the viewer to figure it out.
- disqus_Fpg81woBtN
  
  You need to rewatch the interview. She says exactly that “…it had been Rae Carruth’s number…” About 50 seconds in.
- SonnySky
  
  You are wrong–its stated who he was and what he did.
  - Jason Alston
    
    Well now 89 should be retired as Steve’s number. I always associate Carruth with 84 anyway, that was the jersey he wore during his best season; he wasn’t ever that big a factor as 89.
- SonnySky
  
  Actually I think its a tacky and insulting the way its lumped together.
SonnySky

No doubt Smitty has much to be grateful for with the Panthers organization. I just wish he would have showed that. Now in Baltimore he is acting like he used to act when he first came with the Panthers except for the altercations against his teammates. What is he trying to do upstage Williams?
- Chris
  
  “Fogarty’s sitdown with Smith, which helped promote his foundation’s upcoming “Strike Out Domestic Violence” bowling event, was recorded Monday afternoon, hours before WBTV aired its story with Williams.”
  
  Since it was recorded before Williams aired, I doubt that it had anything to do with up staging Williams.
  - SonnySky
    
    “Hours before the show aired” but it was advertised days before it aired and clips were shown ahead of time.
    
    Smitty had all year to make nice about Richardson but all he did was act and talk a fool about the Panthers –now he loves Richardson–he must want a job when he retires.
    - disqus_Fpg81woBtN
      
      He obviously had his charity event scheduled months out which means he was planning media events including interviews for the week leading up to his event. He had no way of knowing That word of Williams’ departure would come out during the same time.
      
      He he was asked a direct question about his feelings about JR, so was he not supposed to answer it?
SonnySky

No doubt Smitty has much to be grateful for with the Panthers organization. I just wish he would have showed that. Now in Baltimore he is acting like he used to act when he first came with the Panthers except for the altercations against his teammates. What is he trying to do upstage Williams?
- Chris
  
  “Fogarty’s sitdown with Smith, which helped promote his foundation’s upcoming “Strike Out Domestic Violence” bowling event, was recorded Monday afternoon, hours before WBTV aired its story with Williams.”
  
  Since it was recorded before Williams aired, I doubt that it had anything to do with up staging Williams.
  - SonnySky
    
    “Hours before the show aired” but it was advertised days before it aired and clips were shown ahead of time.
    
    Smitty had all year to make nice about Richardson but all he did was act and talk a fool about the Panthers –now he loves Richardson–he must want a job when he retires.
    - disqus_Fpg81woBtN
      
      He obviously had his charity event scheduled months out which means he was planning media events including interviews for the week leading up to his event. He had no way of knowing That word of Williams’ departure would come out during the same time.
      
      He he was asked a direct question about his feelings about JR, so was he not supposed to answer it?

Black and Blue Review

Black and Blue Review

After DeAngelo Williams Shares Hurt Feelings, Steve Smith Raves About Jerry Richardson