Jim Ray Smith

James Ray Smith was born on February 27, 1932, in West Columbia, Texas, a small town in Brazoria County about 55 miles from Houston. He was the middle of three children; his older brother was Edward (Ed) Smith, a 1947 West Columbia graduate, and he also had a younger sister. He later recalled that no one in his family on either side had gone past the sixth grade, and that his mother always wanted her children to finish high school. All three graduated from high school and went on to earn college degrees. He lost both parents when they were relatively young.

At Columbia High School (1946 to 1950) he lettered in football, baseball, basketball and track. He played fullback, once scoring five touchdowns against Deer Park, and remembered beating El Campo in his senior year of 1949 after losing to them 72-0 as a sophomore. In track he won district titles in the shot put, discus and high jump and competed at the state meet in Austin. He played in the North-South high school all-star game in the summer of 1950. A later Columbia coach, Charlie Brand, remembered him as "a heck of a football player and a great guy."

Smith accepted a football scholarship to Baylor University in Waco, where he was a two-way tackle and a three-year starter from 1952 to 1954, wearing number 70. In 1953 he was named first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association, and that December he appeared in his Baylor uniform with the Collier's All-America team on Ed Sullivan's CBS show "Toast of the Town," alongside Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner. He recalled Baylor's 25-0 win over California that year. He was team captain in 1954, a second-team All-American, and first-team All-Southwest Conference in both 1953 and 1954. Baylor reached the Gator Bowl after the 1954 season. While earning these honours he also worked on community projects through the Baylor Chamber of Commerce. He met and married his wife Paula while both were Baylor students, and he earned his degree.

Although the Cleveland Browns drafted him in 1954, Smith first served 23 months in the U.S. Army, from January 1955 to December 1956. He took a 30-day leave during the 1956 Browns training camp to try out, sprained an ankle in an exhibition game in California, returned to the Army to heal, and then took further leave to join the team for the last six or seven games of the 1956 season, flying back to Fayetteville, North Carolina, to muster out.

The Browns selected Smith in the sixth round, 64th overall, of the 1954 NFL draft as a future pick, which let them claim him before his college eligibility ended. He joined Cleveland midway through 1956 and played defensive end as a rookie, when he weighed about 218 pounds. Impressed by his play at offensive tackle against them in the 1955 College All-Star Game, Paul Brown moved him to offensive guard in 1957, when he was one of Brown's messenger guards, rotating with Herschel Forester and carrying plays into the huddle.

In 1958 he bulked up to about 250 pounds and became a full-time starter. As a pulling guard he led Jim Brown around the end on the Browns' sweep, and he also blocked for Bobby Mitchell. Jim Brown led the NFL in rushing yards in five of the six seasons they played together. Smith was selected to five straight Pro Bowls (1958 to 1962) and was first-team All-Pro in 1959, 1960 and 1961 and second-team All-Pro in 1958 and 1962. He played in the 1957 NFL Championship Game, a 59-14 loss to Detroit, and started the 1958 Eastern playoff against the New York Giants.

He described Paul Brown as "probably the most organized person I have ever known." Smith retired after the 1961 season to focus on real estate, returned in 1962 after Ray Renfro and Mike McCormack talked him into it, and retired again after that season, around the time Art Modell fired Paul Brown.

Art Modell persuaded a reluctant Smith to talk to the Dallas Cowboys so Cleveland could get something in return, and on April 30, 1963, the Browns traded his rights to Dallas for tackle Monte Clark. Smith agreed to play for his home-state team under Tom Landry, whom he already knew as a friend. In 1963 he started seven games at left guard before injuring his knee on a kickoff, and in 1964 he hurt his knee again early in the season and played only four games. With the Cowboys he had two knee operations, two broken hands and two concussions, and he retired after the 1964 season. He played 93 NFL games with 77 starts. He compared his coaches this way: Paul Brown believed every play should go for a touchdown, while Landry looked at offense from a defensive standpoint.

Smith had begun working in Dallas real estate while still playing. After football he ran Jim Ray Smith Properties, Inc., working on the commercial side in warehouse leasing, industrial space and brokerage. He met Ed Gaylord, whose holdings included Opryland, the Oklahoma Publishing Company and television stations, and handled the company's land in the Dallas area for about 28 years. "It helped me put three kids through college," he said.

He joined the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association board in the 1970s as a Baylor representative and stayed for more than 30 years, serving as chair from 1984 to 1986 and as team selection chair from 1994 to 1996. As president he presented the Cotton Bowl championship trophy to the winning coach. He was also president of the Baylor Lettermen's Club.

Smith married Paula while both were students at Baylor. They had two sons, Ray and Brad, and a daughter, Ripple Terrell, along with grandchildren. Their oldest son Ray played defensive end for Baylor in the 1980 Cotton Bowl. After his playing days Smith lived in the Dallas area for the rest of his life; his funeral home listing places him in Duncanville, Texas. In 2022 he told the Columbia Historical Museum that he had had four shoulder replacement surgeries, and that he was caring for Paula after she broke her leg. His sister-in-law Naomi Smith, widow of his brother Ed, was a former president of the Columbia Historical Museum.

Smith shared his story with the Dallas-Fort Worth Fellowship of Christian Athletes on its weekly "Faith in Sports" radio program in 2016. He often spoke about the value of football as a route to education for a family with little schooling, about loyalty to his home state, and about the importance of communication between linemen and running backs. "The lineman and the running back need to be talking all the time," he said of his partnership with Jim Brown.

Smith is remembered as one of the best offensive guards of his era and as a key part of the line that opened holes for Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell. Browns Nation called him one of the greatest offensive linemen in Cleveland Browns history, noting that he narrowly missed both the Browns championship teams of the early 1950s and the 1964 title team. He is often cited as one of the few men to play for both Paul Brown and Tom Landry. In West Columbia he is regarded as perhaps the greatest Roughnecks athlete of all time, and he is the only Roughneck to be both a college All-American and a three-time first-team NFL All-Pro. After teammate Billy Howton died in August 2025, Smith was described as possibly the oldest living former NFL player.

First-team All-American (AFCA, 1953); second-team All-American (1954); first-team All-Southwest Conference (1953, 1954); Baylor team captain (1954); five Pro Bowl selections (1958 to 1962); first-team All-Pro (1959, 1960, 1961); second-team All-Pro (1958, 1962); Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame (1968); College Football Hall of Fame (1987); Cleveland Browns Legends (2005); Texas Sports Hall of Fame (2007 per the Cotton Bowl Classic; some sources give 2008 or 2013); Columbia Roughnecks Athletics Hall of Honor, inaugural class (2007); Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good (2008).

Smith appeared with the 1953 Collier's All-America team on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town." He was interviewed for clevelandbrowns.com and National Football Post's "Where Are They Now" series (2013 to 2014), for the DFW Fellowship of Christian Athletes radio show "Faith in Sports" (2016), for Browns Nation's career profile (2021), and by the Columbia Historical Museum (2022). A 1961 Browns team-issue photograph of him is in the public domain on Wikimedia Commons.

Jim Ray Smith died on October 3, 2026, at the age of 94, according to his funeral home obituary and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The Columbia Historical Museum reported that he died in a Dallas-area hospital; its account, relayed from his sister-in-law Naomi Smith, placed the death a day earlier, but the funeral home and the Cotton Bowl both give October 3. The cause of death was not made public. A graveside service was held at 3 p.m. on October 6, 2026, at Restland Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, where he was laid to rest. Arrangements were by Jaynes Funeral Home.