Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - October 16, 1986
who said in August that he had AIDS, died Wednesday. He was 43 years old and had been suffering from the disease for a year.
He made 421 pass receptions for 5,496 yards and 60 touchdowns, a National Football League record for tight ends, while playing for Washington from 1965 to 1977. He played college football at Arizona State University.
In 1967, he was second in the N.F.L. in receptions with 67, then a league record for catches by a tight end, behind Charley Taylor, the Redskins' Hall of Fame wide receiver. Mr. Smith, the first prominent athlete to announce he suffered from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, died of complications from the disease. He openly discussed his contracting of AIDS in an August interview with The Washington Post. "I want people to know what I've been through and how terrible this disease is," he said. "Maybe it will help people understand and maybe it will help research. Maybe something positive will come out of this."
Mr. Smith was hospitalized intermittently since January and continuously since Aug. 18. The precise cause of death was a widespread infection of the primary organs, a complication of AIDS.
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