Christopher Gerard Smith (born May 17, 1970) is an American former professional

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 (appro ...

player who was a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

Basketball career

Born in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, Smith played collegiately at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. He left the Huskies after scoring 2,145 points in his four years, an all-time record (this included another record, 1,140 points in

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

history), and also led the team in career three-point field goals with 242, being one of only two UConn players to score at least 500 points in three different seasons. A member of the UConn Basketball All Century Team, Smith was also nominated for the John Wooden Award, was named a McDonald's All American and was a member of an All-Big East first team. He played for the US national team in the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

, winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

. Smith was selected in the second round (34th overall) of the 1992 NBA draft by the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

. He played three seasons (224 total games) with the team, averaging 5.1 points, 2.8 assists, 1.3 rebounds and .5 steals per game. He continued to play for various franchises in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

and Europe until 2000, when a series of injuries transitioned his career to sales and financial services. He received a B.A. in business administration, going on to work as a business development officer for both the People's Bank and its insurance subsidiary, Beardsley, Brown & Bassett.

Personal life

Smith son, Christopher Smith Jr. is now the assistant coach of Indiana Wesleyan University. Smith is

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

of another basketball player, and point guard,

Mario Chalmers Almario Vernard Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Valientes of the Asian Tournament (TAT). He was selected as the 34th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota ...

, who also played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, notably with the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

.Heat acquire draft rights to Mario Chalmers
NBA.com, 26 June 2008

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Chris 1970 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 1990 FIBA World Championship players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Fort Wayne Fury players Goodwill Games medalists in basketball Grand Rapids Hoops players La Crosse Bobcats players Liga ACB players Limoges CSP players Minnesota Timberwolves draft picks Minnesota Timberwolves players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards Rockford Lightning players Shooting guards Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) players Basketball players from Bridgeport, Connecticut UConn Huskies men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players