Tyron Smith said he has given his parents and siblings more than $1 million since being drafted in 2011, but they keep coming back for more. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
After USC tackle Tyron Smith signed a four-year, $12.5 million contract as the ninth overall pick of the 2011 draft, he gave a substantial amount to his family. But it wasn’t enough, Smith told The Dallas Morning News.
Smith and his girlfriend have since had to file protective orders against his parents and siblings who have kept coming back for more.
During Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, Calif. last year, one of Smith’s brothers showed up and had to be removed from the facility. In October last year, while Smith was at the Cowboys’ team hotel prior to a Sunday afternoon home game, two of his sisters showed up from California unannounced at his Dallas home. His girlfriend dialed 911. A Dallas police report reads the sisters were there to “harass and torment” him “in the pursuit of collecting financial gain.”
Last October Smith’s attorney at the time said Smith’s “mom and/or the stepdad threatened the physical well-being of Tyron and the life of his girlfriend.” The order also prohibits contact from Smith’s parents through his siblings.
The Morning News also reports on more than $1 million that Smith’s attorney claims his family took without authorization through a financial advisor they recommended to their son before the draft. Smith said no money has gone missing since switching financial advisors. Smith said he won’t pursue legal action at this time in an effort to recover the money.
“There was money missing, but I just don’t know where it went,” Smith said. “There were times I would check my statements and it wouldn’t make sense and I hadn’t authorized it at all. I just felt betrayed and I was like, ‘Who can I trust?’”
Last October, Smith’s mother, Frankie Pinkney, denied the family took any of Smith’s money without his authorization or harassed or threatened him. She has also blamed Smith’s girlfriend for the family’s turmoil.
“I don’t know anything about any missing money,” Pinkney said at the time. “The money that we did receive from Tyron was all accounted for and everything is in writing.”
Last season, when Cowboys coach Jason Garrett told Smith he was ready to move to the more prestigious — and potentially more lucrative –left tackle position, Smith wanted to share his good news with his parents via a text message. He said the return text might as well have just read dollar signs — and possibly started the demand cycle all over again.
“They were already looking forward to the next contract, talking about things they wanted to get already,” Smith said, dropping his head. “I was like I haven’t even got there and there’s not even a sure thing that I will. And that was all that was coming out of their mouth.”
