Men take their lead from Smith

Jay Pintor was convinced that dancing “didn’t look manly.” Not even five years of cajoling from his wife, Nicole, could coax him onto the dance floor.

But it took only three months for football great Emmitt Smith to change his perspective.

Smith, the NFL’s career rushing leader, was half of the winning couple on the third season of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Dance instructors across the country say Smith’s victory in November has inspired legions of reluctant men who otherwise considered dancing beneath their dignity.

“I definitely wasn’t into it,” said Pintor, 40, a landscaper who attended a recent “Dancing With the Stars” performance with his wife at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. “But then you see this big football player doing it -- I mean, you don’t get much manlier than Emmitt. I just don’t feel as awkward anymore.”

There are no official statistics on dance-studio enrollments. But instructors say they’ve seen a surprising increase in the number of men, who say Smith is the reason they’re giving ballroom dancing a whirl.

Bobby Gonzalez, manager of Arthur Murray Dance Studio in San Jose, said he definitely noticed an “Emmitt effect.” His studio added about 45 students during the three-month period in which Smith’s “Dancing” season aired, as compared to about 10 in the same period last year.

“Lots of guys didn’t really give credit to how much [dancing is] a sport, how athletic it can be,” said Gonzalez, 43. “But Emmitt definitely proved it is.”