Detroit to Retire Corey Smith's Jersey

The Detroit Lions will retire the number 93 for the 2009 football season in memory of player Corey Smith, one of three men lost when their fishing boat capsized off the Florida Gulf Coast three weeks ago.

The announcement was made during a memorial service for Smith. Lions player development director Galen Duncan told several hundred mourners in Smith's hometown church Saturday that Smith's number would be retired for a year in honor of a player of extraordinary heart and competitive drive.

Many of Smith's teammates from the Lions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers where he played his first four NFL seasons attended the memorial service. So did former teammates and coaches from North Carolina State and from Richmond's John Marshall High School.

His high school coach, Kevin Burden, tearfully conceded that he was never impartial about the quiet giant who was the team's undisputed leader.

"You're not supposed to have a favorite player when you are a coach, but he was the one who got under your skin. He was a great football player but he was an even better man," Burden said in a faltering voice. "Tonight, when I say my prayers, I will ask God to assign me a guardian angel and he'll be wearing number 93," Burden concluded, leaving many in the crowd sobbing or wiping their eyes.