Billy Ray Smith came to San Diego to play football for the Chargers.<\/p>\n
Love \u2014 for the city, its people and his family \u2014 kept him here.<\/p>\n
Smith, who died Wednesday at age 64, played linebacker for the Chargers from 1983-92. But it was what he did afterward \u2014 spending decades as a sportscaster, radio host and philanthropist \u2014 that further endeared him to San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved being a part of San Diego,\u201d longtime radio co-host Scott Kaplan said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
San Diegans loved him back.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he was the fifth overall pick and he played 10 years and, yeah, was the face of the defense before he handed it off to Junior Seau. But he was the guy who never left San Diego,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cHe was loved because people knew Billy Ray. It wasn\u2019t like other star athletes; they knew him because they had seen his whole life, from the time he was in his early 20s, play out on local television. And he never left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith died following a \u201clong journey with dementia caused by CTE,\u201d his family said Wednesday, adding that he faced his diagnosis with \u201cbravery, dignity and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Chargers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Fouts put it: \u201cHe was a great player and an even better person.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"SAN](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SUT-L-Obit-Chargers-Smith-007.jpg\")
SAN DIEGO \u2013 DECEMBER 2: Linebacker Billy Ray Smith #54 of the San Diego Chargers watches the action from the sidelines during a game against the New York Jets at Jack Murphy Stadium on December 2, 1990 in San Diego, California. The Chargers won 38-17. (Photo by George Rose\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s death was announced by KGTV, where Smith worked as a sportscaster and sports director for decades and where his wife, longtime Channel 10 news anchor Kimberly Hunt, is still employed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBilly Ray brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the world as a devoted father, husband, son, and loyal friend,\u201d the family said in a statement. \u201cOn the NFL gridiron for a decade with the Chargers, and decades that followed in sports broadcasting, Billy Ray earned deep respect from teammates, colleagues, and fans, who he cherished in return.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chargers took Smith fifth overall in the 1983 NFL draft out of Arkansas, where he put together a College Football Hall of Fame career.<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s coaches moved Smith from defensive end to linebacker, and it wasn\u2019t long before he was the anchor of the Chargers\u2019 defense. Smith was named the team\u2019s top defensive player in 1985 and 1986, and the team MVP in 1987. He played 126 games in the NFL, all with San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he wasn\u2019t merely a great football player,\u201d Chargers owner Dean Spanos said Wednesday. \u201cHe was, truly, larger than life. Always smiling. Lighting up every room he walked into. Infectious laughter. The kind of friend a friend should be. That was Billy Ray.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone who brought so much positivity into the world leaves us, it\u2019s hard to process. Hard to accept,\u201d Spanos added. \u201cThat\u2019s how I feel right now, and I know I\u2019m not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"SAN](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SUT-L-Obit-Chargers-Smith-006.jpg\")
SAN DIEGO \u2013 SEPTEMBER 25: Full back Mike Pruitt #43 of the Cleveland Browns gets taken down by linebacker Billy Ray Smith #54 of the San Diego Chargers during a game at Jack Murphy Stadium on September 25, 1983 in San Diego, California. The Browns won 30-24 in overtime. (Photo by George Rose\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s star power only grew when his playing days were over. In addition to his duties at Channel 10, Smith teamed with Kaplan for \u201cScott and B.R.\u201d on multiple platforms, anchored \u201cChargers Power Report\u201d on Channel 6, \u201cChargers Preview\u201d and \u201cAztecs Sports Weekly\u201d on Channel 4 and was a contributor to Fox\u2019s national college football and NFL shows.<\/p>\n
Fouts went on to work on-air with his former teammate. He said the retired linebacker brought a different perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing football broadcasts, you rarely get the defensive side of the analysis,\u201d Fouts said. \u201cHe knew exactly what was supposed to happen, and how it happened, and why it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Kaplan, Smith\u2019s radio partner for 20 years:\u00a0\u201cHe studied every statistic of every team. He wanted to know everything he could before he got on the air. He took preparation very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/00000169-0ced-dbbe-a16f-4eed91970000.jpg\")
Former Chargers linebacker Billy Ray Smith speaks during the memorial service, recalling a memory of playing football alongside Junior Seau. (Scott Allison)<\/p>\n
Like any good teammate, Smith was fiercely loyal. Kaplan was fired from \u201cScott and B.R.\u201d in 2012, and Smith, as Kaplan recalled, was given a choice by management.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CEO of the company said, \u2018You can stay with him or you can come with us,\u2019\u201d Kaplan recalled.<\/p>\n
Smith quit.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the spot,\u201d Kaplan said.<\/p>\n
San Diegans saw some of that same loyalty in Smith, who remained in San Diego long after its NFL team departed for Los Angeles in 2017.<\/p>\n
Smith was active in local charities as a player and broadcaster. He and Hunt were recently named recipients of the Nice Guy of the Year Award, which will be given out at a gala in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had that big smile, that huge laugh, that rip-your-arm-off handshake,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cB.R. did everything right. There was not one part of him that was a lie, a secret, not one skeleton in the closet. He really, really lived a life that he could be very proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith is survived by Hunt, his wife of 36 years, and their daughter, Savannah. The family said it will announce plans for a celebration of life at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Ray Smith came to San Diego to play football for the Chargers. Love \u2014 for the city,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":968691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[388987,388988,388989,50686,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-968690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-billy-ray-smith","tag-kgtv","tag-kimberly-hunt","tag-san-diego-chargers","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117008111274799879","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/968691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}