Billly Ray Smith Jr. was never just a football name, and that is exactly why his death at 64 lands with such force. He was a first-round Chargers pick, a college star, a broadcaster, a husband, a father and, in San Diego, one of those rare public figures who seemed to belong to the city as much as to the game.
On Wednesday, July 29, Smith died at the age of 64. The loss cuts through two worlds at once: football and the community he helped shape after it. Plenty of former players fade into history. Smith spent decades refusing to do that, building a second life in San Diego that mattered as much in its own way as the one that began on the field.
A football life that started big and stayed important
Smith’s rise began in Texas, where he attended Plano Senior High School and helped win a Texas Class 4A state championship. He then moved to the University of Arkansas, where he became a two-time unanimous All-American. By the time the San Diego Chargers made him the 5th overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft, the resume was already loaded.
That draft slot was not an accident or a gamble on upside. It was a clear statement that Smith was viewed as one of the best defensive prospects in the country. He wore number 54 for the Chargers and brought the kind of pedigree that comes only when a player has already proven he can dominate at every level before the NFL even gets a look.
His football roots mattered too. The family connection to Billy Ray Smith Sr. and the University of Arkansas was part of the story, but Smith Jr. was never merely riding a name. He built his own reputation, then spent the rest of his life adding to it.
San Diego became his second home
In 1993, Smith joined Channel 10 as sports director, beginning a long run in San Diego broadcasting. That move helped turn him from a former Chargers player into a familiar voice and face in the city. He was not just reporting on San Diego sports; he was part of the fabric of them.
That role extended well beyond the studio. Smith was known for his charitable involvement, and the city kept seeing the same thing over and over again: a man who showed up. In early July, he and Kimberly Hunt were named the Nice Guys of the Year, a fitting recognition for someone whose public life seemed built around generosity rather than self-promotion.
Kimberly Hunt’s description of him said it plainly: when he came to San Diego after being drafted by the Chargers in 1983, he arrived with “a generosity of spirit.” She added, “He never said no. Ever.” That is not the language people use for a man who merely held a job. It is the language they use for someone who changed the temperature of a community.
A family man as well as a public figure
Smith married Kimberly Hunt in 1990, and the couple welcomed their daughter Savannah in 1992. One of Smith’s own memories about fatherhood captured the humor and warmth that people around him often described. He joked about changing a diaper while his daughter waited until the last possible moment to create chaos, a small line, but the kind that tells you a lot about how he viewed family life: with patience, humour and no shortage of real affection.
That matters because Smith’s legacy should not be flattened into football statistics or television credits. He was a former star, yes, but also a husband, a father and a civic presence. The Great Friends Foundation and the 46th annual gala were part of the broader charitable world in which he moved, and that side of his life became a defining part of his story in San Diego.
So yes, Billy Ray Smith Jr. was a Chargers first-round pick. Yes, he was an Arkansas great and a longtime broadcaster. But the truest measure of him may be simpler than all of that: he spent his life in the public eye and still managed to be remembered for his kindness. That is a rare legacy, and it is the one San Diego will struggle most to replace.
