VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Alyssa Jackson
On Friday, getting into a defensive back stance and back pedaling with a microphone in her hand, former Coach Collette V. Smith yelled to a gymnasium of hundreds of students.
"I'm a defensive player. I'm a DB. I got you all day. I'm ready for you all day," Smith said.
Oak Park High School Students echoed their support, cheering her on. It's not just Collette Smith. It's Coach Collette Smith.
"Imagine," she said. "Imagine."
Coach Smith is hoping Oak Park High School students are dreamers.
"How could I dream to one day be an NFL coach if I wasn't even allowed to play on a team as a girl because of my gender?" she said.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Alyssa Jackson
It took 42 years for her to be able to put a football uniform on and get the title of coach.
"All my life, I just wanted to play football," she said.
She did that and more, making her way as the first woman to coach for the New York Jets and first Black woman to coach for the NFL.
The high school football team gave her their special "beast mode" celebration chanting "coach Collette, coach Collette, coach Collette."
Smith was in this gymnasium with a success story some students dream of, but to her, this is about more than football.
"It was about discrimination — not being allowed to play, remembering how I felt when I wasn't allowed to play with the rest of the kids that happened to be boys," she said.
It's about wanting the younger hers to know they write their own stories.
"It’s like, I want you to hear me," she said.
An Oak Park High School senior who plays flag football heard her loud and clear.
"I feel confident in what I can do," said Genesis Lopez, a student at Oak Park High School. "I shouldn't feel like I can't do anything a man can do."
Benjamin Brandes, a football captain at Oak Park High School, hopes Smith's message is heard by his own teammates.
"Not that many women come out for football," Brandes said. "We happen to have one on our team and I'm hoping she was able to take something from that and learn from it and help fuel her for her future."
Coach Smith retired from coaching and started her own foundation "Believe N You, Inc."
"For any kid that's ever hurting a little bit, I want them to realize broken crayons still color."
But she painted her own full picture.
"To be the first Black woman to coach in the history of the National Football League — man to my little girl self, you have been enough," she said.
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