Arthur K. Smith was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach in the early 1900s. He was a 1903 graduate of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

where he played football. In 1904, he served as head football coach of

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

Oxford, Ohio Oxford is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion of the state approximately northwest ...

, compiling a record of 1–5.

Playing career

Smith lettered in football in 1901 and 1902 at Dartmouth under coach

Walter McCornack Walter Edwin McCornack (January 22, 1875 – June 30, 1939) was an American football player, coach, and lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Dartmouth College from 1901 to 1902 and at Northwestern University from 1903 to 1905, compilin ...

. Smith helped the 1901 Dartmouth eleven to a 9–1 record with the only loss coming to national power

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. This team was captained by John O'Connor and outscored its opponents 267 to 46. The 1902 team that included third-team

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

All-American, Allen Farmer at

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: **End (category theory) **End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron football) ...

and future Miami University coach

Amos Foster Amos Parker Foster (March 10, 1880 – August 7, 1952) was an American football and basketball player and coach in the early 1900s. He was a 1904 graduate of Dartmouth College where he Letterman (sports), lettered in both basketball and football. ...

. They finished the season 6–2–1 with losses to

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

and Harvard.

Coaching career

Smith was head football coach at

for the 1904 season and led them to a 1–5 record. After a disappointing 1903 season, the Board of Control of Athletics was looking to hire a coach that could offer "systematic training" of the team to hopefully lead to a more successful season. In the spring, the Board hired Smith who was doing some coaching at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

in 1903. Before the season, the team elected C. M. Morphy as captain and the team's manager, J. Blickensderfer, had scheduled games versus

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

Earlham College Earlham College is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social ...

, the Indianapolis Medics, and

DePauw Pauw (Dutch for "peacock"), de Pauw or DePauw are variants of a Dutch or Flemish surname and may refer to: People ;Pauw * Adriaan Pauw (1585–1653), Dutch Grand Pensionary of Holland *Jacques Pauw, South African investigative journalist * Michiel ...

. The manager also had scheduled a game with Central University in

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

, but that game was canceled due to financial dispute from the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

game from the spring. Smith's Miami team was out scored for the season by a combined score 283 to 12. All of the losses were shutouts including and 80–loss to Ohio State and a 68–0 loss to Wittenberg. The only game in which Miami scored was a 12–6 victory over the Hamilton Athletic Club in the second game of the season.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Arthur Year of birth missing Year of death missing American football fullbacks American football halfbacks American football tackles Army Black Knights football coaches Dartmouth Big Green football players Miami RedHawks football coaches