Thursday, May 26, 2011

Former MSSU standout, Super Bowl champ Rod Smith headed to Joplin to help

Former Missouri Southern State University wide receiver Rod Smith, later a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Denver Broncos is hurting along with the residents of Joplin, according to an article published earlier this week in the Denver Post:


       
Smith said that because cellphone service was out in the Joplin area, he had been contacting people Sunday into Monday through text messages and Facebook. He was particularly concerned about a friend who is a nurse in Joplin at St. John's Regional Medical Center, which took a direct hit from the tornado. He finally reached her in the wee hours Monday morning.


"She said she was on her way to work when it happened," Smith said. "I'm glad she had the late shift. She worked on the seventh floor at her hospital, and the eighth and ninth floors were gone."

Smith said he has visited Joplin often since he graduated from college and had tentative plans to host a Joplin golf tournament in July. Like so many people with ties to Joplin, Smith wants to help with the town's recovery.

"My plan is — I don't have a plan right now," Smith said. "But I do plan on going down there. It's going to take a ton of money to rebuild some of the stuff, but the memories you can't fix."

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