William Smith (born December 11, 1935) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

businessman, former politician, and former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. Smith was a mayor of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

from 1995 until 2004. Smith was a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

champion with the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

. Smith was born in 1935 in Edmonton, Alberta. Smith played for the Eskimos from 1956 to 1963 as a defensive back. Smith was named a West All-Star in 1960. Smith was first elected in 1995 after defeating incumbent Mayor

Jan Reimer Janice Rhea Reimer (born May 23, 1952) is a Canadian politician and the first female mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, having served in that capacity from 1989 until 1995. Highlights of her time in office included the inception of a new waste managemen ...

and was re-elected in 1998 and 2001. As Mayor, Smith was known as "Booster Bill" for his efforts in promoting Edmonton as the "Greatest City in the Greatest Province in the Greatest Country." During his term in office, Smith is credited with being instrumental in bringing the

IAAF World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

, the

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

and the

World Masters Games The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind. Governed by the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), the World Mast ...

to Edmonton. Smith was defeated by Councillor

Stephen Mandel Stephen Mandel (born July 18, 1945) is a Canadian politician and leader of the Alberta Party from 2018 to 2019. He previously served as an Alberta cabinet minister from 2014 to 2015 and as mayor of Edmonton, Alberta for three terms from 2004 ...

in the

2004 Edmonton municipal election The 2004 Edmonton municipal election was held on October 18, 2004 to elect a mayor and twelve councillors to sit on Edmonton City Council, nine trustees to sit on the public school board, and seven trustees to sit on the separate school board. V ...

. After his mayoralty ended, Smith became a director of BioNeutra, a producer of VitaFiber, a natural fiber-based food sweetener. Smith is also a director of Imperial Equities.

Notes

1935 births Living people Businesspeople from Edmonton Canadian sportsperson-politicians Edmonton Elks players Mayors of Edmonton Canadian football people from Edmonton 20th-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians {{Canadianfootball-bio-stub