Video: Emmitt gets emotional on Oprah**Merged**

[cowboyjoe]

Emmitt Smith on with Oprah today and on NBC reality show Friday
10:25 AM Tue, Mar 09, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
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Emmitt Smith will appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show today (4 p.m. on WFAA-TV in Dallas) to discuss his family history and his participation in the NBC reality series Who Do You Think You Are? A story about the appearance and what his family history reveals can be found here. Smith will be the featured celebrity on Who Do You Think You Are? this Friday on NBC affiliates (KXAS-TV Ch. 5 locally) at 7 p.m....

 

[cowboyjoe]

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Emmitt-Smith-Traces-His-Family-History

Some know Emmitt Smith as the National Football League's all-time leading rusher. Others recognize him as a three-time Super Bowl champion or a Dancing with the Stars winner. But do you really know who Emmitt is?

Until he traced his genealogy for the NBC reality series Who Do You Think You Are?, Emmitt says he didn't even know the answer to that question.

To find out more about himself and the family members who paved the way for his success, this hall-of-fame inductee followed his roots to Burnt Corn, Alabama, the town where his great-grandmother was born. "I feel like a detective on a hunt trying to find clues," he says.

In Burnt Corn, Emmitt wandered into a convenience store and asked a clerk if he knew two of his relatives, Bill and Victoria Watson. Coincidentally, Joe, the clerk, turned out to be Emmitt's second cousin.

Emmitt soon learned that his great-great-grandmother, Victoria, had an unusual maiden name—Puryear. Genealogist Marjorie Sholes told Emmitt that "Puryear" was probably the name of a slave owner. "African-Americans, at the end of the Civil War, sometimes picked the names of their last slave owner," she says.

 

[JustDezIt]

Talked to mom earlier who lives in pensacola, around where emmit came up and she said in an article in the paper today that in the show, (which airs friday at 8 on NBC) that when they were looking for records of his ancestors they found them in Lot #22.

 

[yimyammer]

Talked to mom earlier who lives in pensacola, around where emmit came up and she said in an article in the paper today that in the show, (which airs friday at 8 on NBC) that when they were looking for records of his ancestors they found them in Lot #22.

It was lot D-22

Emmits speaking seems to have improved immensely

 

[KJJ]

It was lot D-22

Emmits speaking seems to have improved immensely

He's been so heavily criticized for his grammar I'm sure he's been working on it. It cost him two TV jobs.

 

[JustDezIt]

It was lot D-22

Emmits speaking seems to have improved immensely

thats a crazy coincidence

 

[dcfanatic]

[youtube]QLAPxkYZGvA[/youtube]

[youtube]6vEVpPrRHBE[/youtube]
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The issues in here are tough. I would ask that everyone be respectful in discussing these clips.

 

[STAR GAZER]

Great story.

I like that Emmitt isn't afraid to show how he feels.

 

[mldardy]

That's some powerful deep stuff. Makes me want to go back and trace my roots one day. I've always wanted to.

 

[LatinMind]

emmitt is in my mind the greatest cowboy to ever put the jersey on.

 

[tunahelper]

It is mind boggling to know that slavery still exists in Haiti and Sudan as well as other countries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5U1kYnsCMU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpYTusFqeDM

 

[Longboysfan]

Thanks for postings the vids.

 

[FLcowboy]

emmitt is in my mind the greatest cowboy to ever put the jersey on.

He is right up there with the best, that's for sure. He is my favorite, only because I got to see him play via three years of season tickets in the early 90's.

 

[peck-sicilyisland]

I have worked alot of football camps with Emmitt,He is a class guy.Love working with kids,during the camp he works with the kids the whole time camp is going on.

 

[DallasGirl50]

Emmitt always has worn his heart on his sleeve.

I'm glad that he got the answers and closure he wanted regarding his kin.

 

[cowboyjoe]

That's some powerful deep stuff. Makes me want to go back and trace my roots one day. I've always wanted to.

mine are traced back to england so far;

 

[jwhardin]

mine are traced back to england so far;

On my mother's side we have traced all the way back to Scotland.

 

[Hostile]

Hits me harder than most of you can know. In June of 2008 I accidentally found my half sister while doing some genealogy work. We occasionally converse through e-mail, but there is still a feeling that I am a skeleton in a closet that she doesn't want out. I have traced some of our genealogy to slaves in Florida.

 

[xWraithx]

emmitt is in my mind the greatest cowboy to ever put the jersey on.

I share this sentiment as well

 

[jman]

He's been so heavily criticized for his grammar I'm sure he's been working on it. It cost him two TV jobs.

Probably has to do with trying to sound football "intelligent" and trying to be an expert vs. just speaking from the heart.