30 Surprising Facts every Fan Should Know About The Fan-Favorite Alex Smith

26 January 2019, 2:39 pm EST By Ruby Karnick

Alex Smith, the current quarterback for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL), who has been recovering from a surgery on his compound leg fracture in November 2018, was spotted publicly for the first time attending a Wizards-Pistons game, on January 21, 2019. Here are some facts about the American football quarterback:

He was born Alexander Douglas Smith on May 07, 1984, in Bremerton, Washington to Pam and Douglas D. Smith. He has a brother, Josh, and two sisters, Abbey and MacKenzie.
Smith’s great-grandfather was an Austrian immigrant of Serbian descent. In his honor, Smith along with his brother and father have tattooed the traditional Serbian cross of four fire steels.
He attended Helix High School and led his team to record 25-1, including two San Diego California Interscholastic Federation championships.
At Helix, Smith recorded six touchdowns in one game and set second highest completion percentage in San Diego CIF history.
He also earned the conference offensive player of the year twice and won the team’s MVP for Helix. He was named to the first-team all-conference and all-county squads in the San Diego CIF system.
In Smith’s freshman year at Helix, his father, the school principal, Doug Smith, took a look at his son’s lanky frame and recommended that he take up cross country. Even the biased eyes of Pam Smith, Alex Smith’s mother, didn’t see any football potential in her son.
At the Heisman Trophy presentation in 2004, among the five finalists there was Reggie Bush and Smith, the first high school teammates ever invited to New York as finalist. Smith finished fourth.
He attended University of Utah and led the Utes football team, to victories in the 2003 Liberty Bowl and the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.
Smith earned his Bachelor’s degree in economics from University of Utah in just two years after compiling 64 Advance Placement credits prior to college.
In February 2007, he committed $ 500,000 to his alma mater’s athletics department as the lead gift for the Alex Smith strength and conditioning facility. He said of his gift, ‘Utah is the only school that gave me a chance out of high school and this is where I developed into what I am today.’

With NFL combine score of 4.7 second for 40 yard dash, 32 inch vertical jump, 9.5 inch broad jump and ‘Wonderlic’ exam score of 40 out of 50, Smith was the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. He signed a six year deal worth $ 49.5 million with San Francisco 49ers.
After a disaster rookie season, Smith improved in his second year with quarterback rating of 74.8. He became the first 49ers quarterback in club history to take every snap from center over the course of the season.
He had a premature end to his 2007 season, when an injury sustained on September 30, in a game against Seattle Seahawks, flared up and was set to undergo surgery. He played just seven games and recorded 94 of 193 for 914 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions.
In September 2008, Smith sustained another shoulder injury believed to have been caused by a wire left in his shoulder from the previous surgery, which has sawed through the bone. He underwent surgery to be ready for the next season.
Smith was asked to restructure his contract to remain with 49ers. On March 10, 2009, he took considerable pay cut and agreed for $ 4 million for the next two seasons in addition to base salaries.
After being benched for five and half games in 2009 season, Smith came in and threw for a career-best 2,350 yards, 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions to help 49ers finish with an 8-8 record.
In September 2010, the ‘Sporting News MLB’ listed Smith as the eleventh smartest athletes in the sports among the top twenty list.
As a starting quarterback in 2011, he showed marked improvement. After 3 head coaches, 7 offensive coordinators and 17 different starting wide receivers in the span of 7 seasons with 49ers, he made his first play-off appearance.
Smith ended the 2011 season with personal single season high in virtually in every statistical category commonly cited for quarterback. He recorded 273 completions, 445 pass attempts, 3,144 passing yard, touchdowns score of 19 and with quarterback rating of 94.9 percent. He also set franchise record and league low of 5 interception.
He was chosen as winner of ‘2011 Ed Block Courage Award,’ annually awarded to selected player in the National Football League, as a role model for inspiration, sportsmanship and courage.

After series of dramatic and unexpected twists, the 49ers and Smith came to terms on March 20, 2012, to sign a three years extension worth $ 24 million to remain with 49ers.
Though he was sidelined after ten games in 2012, due to concussion, he made it to the ‘USA Today All Joe Team,’ for the second year in a row and was also named captain of the team.
On March 12, 2013, the deal was signed to trade Smith to the ‘Kansas City Chiefs,’ for Chiefs second round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft and a conditional pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
At the end of regular season, Smith threw for 3,486 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and only 7 interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 95.4, to be named joined ‘Most Valuable Player for 2015.’
In 2015, the Sports Illustrated named Smith as the best looking quarterback in the National Football League.
On September 11, 2016, Smith helped a fourth quarter comeback victory over San Diego Chargers to win the game 33-27 after trailing 21 points. This was the largest comeback win in Chiefs history.
On March 14, 2018, he was traded to the Washington Redskins in exchange for Kendall Fuller and a third round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He subsequently signed a four year contract worth $ 94 million.
On November 18, 2018, in a game against Houston Texans, Smith suffered a compound and spiral fracture to his tibia and fibula in his right leg, when he was sacked by Kareem Jackson and J. J. Watt.
Smith is married to former Oakland Raider’s cheerleader Elizabeth Barry, since 2009, and they have two sons.
In 2007, Smith started ‘The Alex Smith Foundation’ and the ‘Alex Smith Guardian Scholars Program,’ which sends foster teens to college. The newspaper ‘The Boston Globe’ has credited Smith’s foundation as a model charity that properly allocated its funding.