The Washington Redskins led 14-10 midway through Super Bowl XXII when unheralded rookie running back Timmy Smith received a lead block from tight end Clint Didier on a counter-gap run, burst through a hole and ran 58 yards for a touchdown down the right sideline.

The score was the third of five touchdowns during a 35-point run in which the Redskins set a Super Bowl record for points in a quarter. Smith set the single-game Super Bowl mark for rushing yards with 204 in a 42-10 victory over the Broncos. Although legendary running backs such as Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas and Marshall Faulk appeared in the Super Bowl years later, Smith’s mark has stood.

With the 25th anniversary of the victory on Thursday, it’s difficult to find a more improbable performance in Super Bowl history. Smith, a fifth-round pick from Texas Tech, entered the game with 126 rushing yards in the regular season. By comparison, Ravens wide receiver Tandon Doss had 123 rushing yards in the 2012 regular season on only seven carries.

Injuries cut Smith’s career short, as he lasted only two more seasons in the league. Smith ended his career in 1990 with 602 career yards and three touchdowns.

In 2006, Smith was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to cocaine distribution. He spent 13 months in prison and seven months in a halfway house before he was released in March 2008. Shortly after his release, Smith was employed as a dispatcher at the Denver airport and coached youth football in the Denver area in 2009, according to AOL News.

Despite setting the record, Smith was not selected as the game’s most valuable player. The honor went to former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, who threw for 340 yards and four touchdowns.

"I still talk on the phone to (Williams),'' Smith told AOL in 2009. "I tell him I should have been the MVP, and he knows it. A lot of people think I did win the Super Bowl MVP even though I didn't. They come up to me and say, 'Hey, you're the Super Bowl MVP.'''

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