Many New York sports teams have long winning streaks embedded in their DNA.
The Yankees have great World Championship streaks of five (1949-53), four (1936-39) and even a threepeat (1998-2000).
The Islanders have their own streak of four straight Stanley Cup titles (1980-83).
Then there are the Jets.
This season was their eighth straight losing campaign. Their last winning mark was 10-6 under Todd Bowles in 2015 (but no playoffs).
Before that, it was the 2010 team (11-5) under Rex Ryan that lost is second straight AFC championship game.
Then there’s the Buffalo Bills’ streak of losing four straight Super Bowls (1990-93).
The ultimate New York streak belongs to Yankees Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig’s epic feat of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. That mark lasted until Cal Ripken Jr. shattered the record by playing in 2,632 games, all for the Baltimore Orioles.
If Gehrig was “The Iron Horse” for setting the mark, then Fred Smith, from the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, had his own streak and catchy nickname to boot courtesy of his beloved Jets.
“I guess I’m the ‘Iron Pencil,’” says the 80-year old with a chuckle.
Smith is the Jets’ “statistician emeritus.” He worked 400 straight Jet home games starting in 1980. You do the math. That’s over 40 years and never missed a game.
Some might pity Smith, you know, not many winning seasons for Gang Green, but he loves what he does.
His streak ended when COVID hit and he retired, so he thought. He came back after the pandemic and the experience was a different animal.
“The NFL cracked down on who could be present in the press box,” says Smith. “I still had a role, but it wasn’t as essential as I had been before because all of the functions that were being done were really computerized.”
On top of that, the Jets used to hire the stats crew, now the NFL handles that.
And Smith is a pencil guy. That’s how it was when he started in 1980.
The head coach was Walt Michaels and he’s seen them all from Pete Carroll to Rich Kotite, to Bill Parcells, Herm Edwards, Rex Ryan and to the current head man Robert Saleh.
Only Parcells (29-19) and Al Groh (9-7) had winning career records with the Jets during his time there.
For Smith, divorced with a grown daughter and son, head coaches don’t move his pencil, players do.
He actually started working Jets games in 1979.
“I guess you could say I was a trainee,” says the graduate of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and NYU. “My real continuity began in 1980.”
Back then the stats man might use a flowery phrase like the running back “used a serpentine route” through the defense for 10 yards. Now?
“It would be, ‘Number 28 [Curtis Martin], four yards, first down,” Smith says.
Smith wrote numbers onto a stats sheet because there were no computers (Gasp!) or cell phones (NOOO!) back then.
“We used electronic Smith Corona typewriters with White Out Correction Tape,” he says. Google that if you’re under 40.
But man does not survive on Jets alone as Smith started working in 1969 at the Board of Education. He took the civil service exam and eventually wound up working with the citywide Testing Program.
He started in 1969 and worked for 33 years.
His Jets career started slowly like most rookies.
“I tried out for a couple of games [in 1979], nothing was promised,” he recalls. “Somehow I got picked and every year the happiest day of the year for me was when I got my credential from the Jets.”
It was a job he relished.
“It was always considered a seasonal game day job,” he notes. “It was never really anything other than game day.”
His responsibility was the offensive side of the ball.
“My function was to do the work sheets that involved passing, receiving, sacks, interceptions and we did it for both teams,” he says. “The home team had to have a stats team.
“The stats crew were game-day employees, and you worked every home game, every preseason home game and, God willing, every home playoff game.”
That didn’t happen much, but in all his years working for the team, there is one Jet that brought big numbers to his stat sheet and a wide smile to his face.
That was old Number 85.
“Wesley Walker, I’ll take him over [Wayne] Chrebet. I’ll take him over Keyshawn Johnson. I’ll take him over Al Toon,” says a defiant Smith. “He’s a genuinely nice guy and he had that miraculous game against Miami in 1986.”
All Walker did that day was catch four Ken O’Brien (“A pretty good quarterback.”) touchdown passes including the game winner in overtime as the Jets bashed the Dolphins 51-45.
Besides the touchdowns, Walker, the two-time Pro Bowler, had six catches for 194 yards and got not one but two “Oh My!” out of broadcaster Dick Enberg.
That day, O’Brien and Dan Marino combined for 888 passing yards and 10 touchdowns.
Smith also interacted with a future NFL commissioner.
“Roger Goodell was an intern in 1984 working in the press box,” recalls Smith. “He was on the administrative level out of the New York offices for a year.”
And an impression?
“Not much,” he says, but one thing did stand out. “We weren’t slobs, but we didn’t have a dress code. Goodell always showed up with a jacket and tie and very formal. That was the impression I had, and he was an intern.
“Never very noticeable. Lord, he did a lot better than I did.”
After he retired, Wesley Walker was looking for work and surprisingly walked into Smith’s office at the Board of Ed.
“He wanted to become a teacher and I had moved from the Testing Bureau Unit to Human Resources. He needed to get credentials to become state certified as a teacher,” says Smith remembering it like it was yesterday. “Long story short, I brought him into my supervisor.
“I said you got to do something for this man. He’s a great receiver and she took an interest, and I made her into a Jet fan by the way. He began to work as a [high school] Phys Ed teacher in Queens.”
There is a bond between the two besides a stats line and the pencil that joined them.
Walker, now living in Arizona, was back in town in December for the Jets Legends celebration and the two friends caught up.
“If life had put him on a very good team, he would have been in the Hall of Fame,” boasts Smith. “His story was always intriguing because he was legally blind in one [left] eye.”
Smith still makes his way to MetLife Stadium and with the help of Jets Vice President for Communications, Jared Winley, he’s still busy in a different way.
Computers have taken over, but Smith still takes the printed sheets to various places like the press box, the broadcast and coach’s booths.
And that info is precious in a can-you-get-it-to-me-quicker sort of way because the numbers are analytically driven which can have a murky side.
“It’s a little bit too granular,” he opines. “People feel it can give them an edge in some way. It could be player-agents and gamblers would probably be looking for that. People who do talk shows on the radio. The regular beat guys often refer to these obscure statistics out there.
“The use of analytics, fantasy leagues and wagering has increased the demand for speed, but I have no desire to understand all these exotic statistics. Just give me the meat and potatoes.”
And like Anakin Skywalker, Smith confesses he’s slowly being seduced by the dark side.
“Unfortunately, I’ve become more and more drawn into using a computer,” he admits, sheepishly. “I wake up and start reading stuff and before you know it, it’s 11:00.”
If that sounds like the start of another streak, Smith already has one that’s active.
“I applied to Colombia, and they told me I was on a waiting list,” he says with a laugh. “I’m still waiting. That was like 1960.”
