Former 49ers QB Smith no longer ‘ashamed' of disfigured leg
Former 49ers QB Smith no longer ‘ashamed' of disfigured leg originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
STATELINE, Nev. — Alex Smith did the unthinkable in 2020 when he returned to NFL action nearly two years after experiencing a horrific, life-altering leg injury.
This week at the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, he did something that represents another major hurdle cleared.
Smith took the course for a practice round Thursday while wearing shorts with socks that came to his lower-calf area.
“There were certainly years when I was very ashamed of my leg,” Smith said on 49ers Talk. “So for me to be wearing shorts out in public at a public event is not something I would have even thought to entertain.”
Smith, then with Washington, sustained a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula in his right lower leg during a game against the Houston Texans on Nov. 11, 2018.
He endured a harrowing period that included a life-threatening infection, the realistic option of amputation and many months of arduous physical therapy.
Somehow, Smith made it back onto the field five weeks into the 2020 season. He started six games that season and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Smith announced his football retirement in the 2021 offseason.
“I’m incredibly lucky — lucky to be here, playing golf,” said Smith, 39, who lives in the Bay Area with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children. “I chase my kids around and go skiing and mountain biking and do whatever.
“I really don’t feel there’s anything I can’t do at this point, which there was a long time I never thought I’d say those words. So I’m really lucky.”
Smith completed his first round on Friday tied for 24th place with one birdie and 11 pars.
Now, when he looks at his leg, which is permanently disfigured from 17 surgeries, it symbolizes his current state in which he lives with no physical constraints.
“I was ashamed of it, and I was ashamed because it represented all my limitations and things I wouldn’t be able to do,” Smith said. “When they were still talking about amputating it, I didn’t know what my future would look like. Certainly, now, it’s not pretty by any means, but for me it represents all the things I can go do.”
RELATED: Gould wanted to re-sign with 49ers; contract offer never came
Smith entered the NFL as the No. 1 overall pick of the 49ers in 2005. He spent eight up-and-down seasons with the 49ers before a trade sent him to Kansas City, where he spent five seasons before being dealt to Washington.
Smith was a three-time Pro Bowl player whose journey continues to provide inspiration for others.
“I don’t take that for granted,” Smith said. “I know when I was going through (it) and certainly I had my dark moments of depression and self-doubt throughout my recovery. And I know what those seeds of hope and people out there that reached out or people that provided inspiration for me. I know what it meant.
“So to be a link in that chain going forward for anybody else out there going through it . . . it’s the way it should be. We need to be there for one another. So if I can be that at all for somebody who’s going through it right now, I’m happy to — I’d love to.”
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast
