Byron Lambert "Consuello" "Crook" Smith (March 21, 1899 – March 3, 1990) 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 ...

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 ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. He played for Mercer, and, after a short career as a baseball player and umpire in professional baseball, he was the head coach for the

Georgia Southern Eagles The Georgia Southern Eagles are the athletic team(s) of Georgia Southern University (GS). The Eagles compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A) and are members of the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference. Prior to joi ...

team of

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hine ...

(then known as Georgia Teacher's College). He was later assistant pastor and director of young people's work at Immanuel Baptist Church in Savannah.

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

coach

Herman Stegeman Herman James Stegeman (January 21, 1891 – October 22, 1939) was a player and coach of American football, basketball, baseball, and track and field athletics, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Beloit C ...

said Smith during his playing days was "without a doubt the best all-around athlete of the South."

Mercer University

Smith was from Fayetteville. He earned 13 letters in football, baseball, basketball, and track for the

Mercer Bears The Mercer Bears are the athletic teams of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia with an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and nine women's sports. The ...

. He was inducted into the Mercer Athletics Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 1971. "Crook" was the older brother of

Phoney Smith Joseph Farrar "Phoney" Smith (June 26, 1905 – October 27, 1985) was a college football player and high school coach and athletic director. Mercer University "Phoney" was a prominent halfback for the Mercer Baptists of Mercer University. ...

Football

Smith was a prominent

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 footbal ...

on the football team.

1922

He was selected All-Southern.

1923

He was selected All-Southern by Julian Leggett of the ''Macon News''.

Basketball

In basketball he was a forward, and was selected All-Southern. He was captain of the basketball team. He played alongside George Harmon and Bob Gamble. Their team was the runner-up to North Carolina in the 1922 SoCon Tournament.

Coaching career

Georgia Southern

Smith coached the

team of

(then known as Georgia Teacher's College) from 1929 to 1942. His basketball teams compiled a 116–60 record. His 1937 football team lost the first game played in the Orange Bowl. His 1939 football team won the

Bacardi Bowl The Bacardi Bowl was a college football bowl game played seven times in Havana, Cuba, at Almandares Park and La Tropical Stadium. The games were also referred to as the Rhumba Bowl and were the foremost event of Cuba’s annual National Sports ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Crook 1899 births 1990 deaths American football ends American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Tennessee Georgia Southern Eagles baseball coaches Georgia Southern Eagles football coaches Georgia Southern Eagles men's basketball coaches Mercer Bears baseball players Mercer Bears football players Mercer Bears men's basketball players College men's track and field athletes in the United States All-Southern college football players People from Fayetteville, Tennessee Coaches of American football from Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee Baseball coaches from Tennessee Forwards (basketball)