Charles Smith (born October 23, 1975) is an American-born British former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. A forward, he played 14 seasons with the

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Playing in the top-tier British Basketball League and holding the franchise for Tyne & Wear, they are the most successful team in the League's histor ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

(BBL). Smith has been considered one of the greatest BBL players ever, representing both the Eagles and

Scottish Rocks The Caledonia Gladiators are a professional basketball club in Glasgow, Scotland. The Gladiators compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. Since 2012, the team have played their home games at the Emirates Ar ...

and most notably winning the BBL Most Valuable Player Award in 2015. Originally from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, he competed for Rider at the college level. His professional career spanned across several countries, including

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, although a majority of his years were spent in Great Britain. Smith's career achievements include winning the

BBL Championship The British Basketball League Championship, often shortened to the BBL Championship, is the top-level men's professional basketball league in the United Kingdom. Established in 1987, the competition is administered by the British Basketball Leagu ...

six times, the

BBL Trophy The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripher ...

five times, and the

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral c ...

one time. He has been named MVP of each of the competitions on a total of six occasions. In addition, Smith has been a part of three different BBL Teams of the Year. He retired as the all-time leading scorer for the Newcastle Eagles and had his number retired by the team after the end of his career.

High school career

Smith played basketball as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for Chichester High School in

Boothwyn, Pennsylvania Boothwyn is a census-designated place (CDP) in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,933 at the 2010 census, down from 5,206 at the 2000 census. The census estimation for population circa 2019 is 6,115. History The ...

. As a junior at the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs, he scored 35 points in a loss to Glen Mills. In the senior season in 1993, Smith became one of the top scorers in his county. On January 6, he led Chichester to its first win over Glen Mills in seven years with 29 points. On January 29, he paced his team with 34 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Harriton. On February 3, Chichester defeated Academy Park behind Smith's team-best 25 points. He helped stage a 10-point comeback late in the game, scoring 15 points in four minutes of the fourth quarter. Smith commented, "This was definitely the best stretch of basketball I ever had." In another notable performance on February 12, he scored a game-high 32 points against Chester. By the end of his final season, Smith was averaging 25.1 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game, and he was named Player of the Year in the Del-Val League.

College career

Smith began playing college basketball for the

Rider Broncs The Rider Broncs are the athletic teams of Rider University, a private nonsectarian university in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, United States. The school is a Division I member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and its athlet ...

Professional career

Shortly after college, Smith began playing at the professional level in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. He returned to Pennsylvania from 1997 to 1999, when he competed for the York City Cyclones of the Eastern Basketball Alliance (EBA). Smith played his first season in the

(BBL) with the

in 1999–2000. He averaged 16.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. In December 2000, Smith signed with the Austrian team

WBC Wels Raiffeisen Flyers Wels, formerly WBC Wels, is a professional basketball club based in Wels, Austria. The team plays in the Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga, Austrian Basketball League since it was founded in 2000. In 2009 the team won the Au ...

. Charles is the only Eagles player who actually pre-dates Fab Flournoy at the club. His first year was 2000-2001 under coach Craig Lynch and since then apart from one year in Spain and 3 games for the

he has remained an Eagle. Charles comes from a family background of basketball. Both his brothers play in Europe professionally. He starred for Rider University in New Jersey in his college days and since coming to England has demonstrated himself to be one of the smoothest and most complete scorers in

BBL A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...

history. He has been MVP in no fewer than three separate final games. He now lives in the UK with his wife, Nicola, and three young daughters. Since retiring from Professional Basketball, Charles has started working as head coach of the Tees Valley Mohawks.

References

External links