{"id":793738,"date":"2026-07-30T17:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/793738\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:23:17","slug":"chargers-great-billy-ray-smith-dies-at-64-family-cites-cte-related-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/793738\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers great Billy Ray Smith dies at 64; family cites CTE-related cause"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Billy Ray Smith, a two-time All-American linebacker at Arkansas and 10-year NFL player with the San Diego Chargers, died Wednesday. He was 64.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s family released a statement saying he died of complications from dementia, which the family says was caused by CTE.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBilly Ray faced his long journey with dementia caused by CTE with unmatched bravery, dignity, and strength,\u201d the statement said, according to The <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/billy-ray-smith-chargers-6a23ce5afcc7a02c5c21f25e2f84cb2c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cBilly Ray brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the world as a devoted father, husband, son, and loyal friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">to know Billy Ray was to love Billy Ray \ud83d\udc99 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sFx8gM8eUX\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/sFx8gM8eUX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/chargers\/status\/2082641005057392954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Smith was the No. 5 pick in the 1983 draft, one famous for its notable first-round quarterbacks, including John Elway at No. 1 and Dan Marino at No. 27. Smith was named second-team All-AFC in 1986, when he had a career-high 11 sacks, and 1987, when he notched a career-high five interceptions in 12 games. He finished his career with 26.5 sacks and 15 interceptions and was named to the Chargers\u2019 50th Anniversary Team in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s college career was laden with accolades, including unanimous first-team All-American honors in 1981 and 1982 with the Razorbacks. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000, joining his father Billy Ray Smith Sr., and is a member of Arkansas\u2019 All-Century Team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wasn\u2019t merely a great football player. He was truly larger than life,\u201d Chargers owner Dean Spanos wrote in a team statement posted on X. \u201cAlways smiling. Lighting up every room he went into. Infectious laughter. The kind of friend a friend should be. That was Billy Ray.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and his daughter, Savannah.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Ray Smith, a two-time All-American linebacker at Arkansas and 10-year NFL player with the San Diego Chargers,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[19503,399,6337,398,396,397,349,99],"class_list":["post-793738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-arkansas-razorbacks","tag-football","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}