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Former Auburn, Stallions, Oilers nose tackle dead at age 64, report says

Houston Oilers nose tackle Doug Smith sacks Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar during an NFL game on Oct. 29, 1989, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.
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A standout nose tackle for Auburn, the Birmingham Stallions and the Houston Oilers, Doug Smith has died at age 64.

Smith died on Thursday after a heart attack, Mike Berman, the former sports director of KRIV-TV in Houston, shared on Thursday night via social media.

“It was unexpected,” Smith’s wife, Becky, told Berman. “Two months ago, he got a clean bill of health for his heart. He went to his cardiologist and (the tests) came back his heart was good. But you know we know even healthy people can have a heart attack.”

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Smith came to Auburn from Pamlico County High School in the tiny town of Bayboro, North Carolina.

In 1983, Smith helped the Tigers win the SEC championship. Auburn finished No. 3 in the final Associated Press poll with an 11-1 record, with the only loss coming 20-7 to Texas in the second game of the season. The Tigers posted a 6-0 SEC record, including a 13-7 victory over No. 4 Georgia as Auburn defeated ranked teams in its final five games of the season, capped by a 9-7 victory over No. 8 Michigan in the Sugar Bowl.

Smith received second-team All-American recognition from the Football News and the Newspaper Enterprise Association and third-team from the AP in 1983.

Chosen with the first pick of the second round by the Oilers in the 1984 NFL Draft, Smith instead signed a four-year, $1.2 million contract with the original Birmingham Stallions of the first incarnation of the USFL.

Smith earned All-USFL honors as a rookie in 1985. But the league folded after that spring season, and Smith played the first of his eight NFL seasons with Houston later that year.

Smith played in 101 regular-season and eight playoff games for the Oilers.

In Smith’s final six seasons, Houston won at least nine regular-season games annually. But the Oilers did not advance past the second round of the AFC playoffs in any of those seasons.

Smith was shot in Bayboro in February 1990, but he came back to play in 14 games for Houston that season.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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