Samuel Chestley Smith Sr. (January 27, 1943May 18, 2022) was an American 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 played four seasons in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

(ABA). He played for the Minnesota Muskies,

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colo ...

, and

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving to ...

from 1967 to 1971. Prior to turning professional, he was noted for being one of the first three African American basketball players at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

. He later transferred to

Kentucky Wesleyan College Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) is a private Methodist college in Owensboro, Kentucky. Fall 2018 enrollment was 830 students. History Kentucky Wesleyan College was founded in 1858 by the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It ...

and helped the school win its first NCAA Division II championship in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Early life

Smith was born in

Welch, West Virginia Welch is a city in and the county seat of McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,590 at the 2020 census. Welch was incorporated as a city in 1893. History Welch was incorporated in 1893 and named after Isaiah A. W ...

, on January 27, 1943. He later relocated to

Hazard, Kentucky Hazard is a home rule-class city in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,263 at the 2020 census. History Local landowner Elijah Combs Sr. laid out the town in 1824 as the planned seat of the ...

, and attended Hazard High School, where he played

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

and basketball. He was selected to the state's high school basketball All-Star team in 1962 to face the Indiana All-Stars. Later that year, he joined the

after being recruited by

Bernard Hickman Bernard "Peck" Hickman (October 5, 1911 – February 20, 2000) was an American basketball player and coach. As head coach he led the Louisville Cardinals to the 1948 NAIB Championship (today's NAIA), the 1956 NIT Championship and the school ...

, the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

coach who also scouted

Wade Houston Allan Wade Houston Sr. (born October 9, 1944) is a former basketball player and coach who is currently President of Dry Ice Blasting Technologies, a division of Houston-Johnson, Inc. In 1962, Houston became the first African American to sign a b ...

and Eddie Whitehead. The trio became the first black basketball players at the University of Louisville, as well as the first at a traditionally white university in the state. Smith was the first of the three players to start for the Cardinals, as well as the most convincing candidate for playing time and chief rival of Judd Rothman, the Cardinals incumbent starting

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 ...

College career

During his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

year (his first on the

varsity team A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

), Smith averaged 9.2

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player or team per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of poi ...

(PPG), and led the school in scoring. However, he was found to be academically ineligible for the team halfway through the season in February 1964. He consequently left Louisville, claiming that it was "too big for him", and transferred to

. Together with Dallas Thornton and George Tinsley, he helped the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers to the NCAA Division II championship in 1966, the first of eight titles for the school. In the final 15 seconds of the championship game, Smith made a

layup A layup in basketball is a two-point shot attempt made by leaping from below, "laying" the ball up near the basket, and using one hand to bounce it off the backboard and into the basket. The motion and one-handed reach distinguish it from a Jump ...

to break a 51–51 tie and give the Panthers the victory over

Southern Illinois University Carbondale Southern Illinois University (SIU) is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Chartered in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. SIU enrolls students from all 50 sta ...

. Smith, who scored more than 20 points in that game, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Smith received two All-American selections during his college career and was honored as the All-NCAA South Region Most Outstanding Player twice. He was also named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team in 1967. He finished with 1,102 career

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

and 714

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

. He was selected in the third round (28th overall selection) of the

1967 NBA draft The 1967 NBA draft was the 21st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 3 and 4, 1967, before the 1967–68 season. In this draft, 12 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pla ...

by the

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Kings are the ...

. He was ultimately signed by the Minnesota Muskies of the

(ABA) later that year.

Professional career

Smith made his ABA debut with the Muskies on October 22, 1967, scoring 24 points to go along with 14 rebounds against the

. He played 77 games during his rookie season (18th most in the ABA), recording the eleventh-lowest turnover percentage (9.7) and fourth-most defensive win shares (5.2) that year. After one season with the franchise, he joined the Colonels in 1968. During the 1969–70 season, he finished fourteenth in the league in offensive rebounds (301), sixteenth in defensive win shares (3.3), nineteenth in total rebounds (719), and twentieth in

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

(8.9). He was then traded to the

late during the 1970–71 season. This consequently limited his playing time with the franchise, with Smith playing just one game in each of the Stars' three playoff series that year. The Stars ultimately won the championship in seven games against the Colonels. It turned out to be his final appearance in the ABA. Throughout his four-season ABA career, Smith averaged 8.2 PPG and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Later life

After retiring from professional basketball, Smith went back to

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a Home rule in the United States, home rule-class city in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is the List of cities in Kentucky, fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is loca ...

. He carried on playing basketball on a leisurely basis, such as at the local Dust Bowl tournament. He also resided in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. He was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Panthers Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013, alongside Thornton and Tinsley. He was also named to the Panthers All-Century team in voting by fans.

Personal life

Smith was married to Helen Ruth Smith for 56 years until his death. Together, they had two children: Samuel Jr. and Felicia ("Nikki"), who predeceased him. Smith died on May 18, 2022, at the age of 79, following the delay of his pension (which would have been distributed by the

NBA 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 ...

). His funeral was held ten days later on May 28 at a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church near Indianapolis.

Career statistics

ABA

Source

Regular season

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 77 , , 28.2 , , .379 , , .333 , , .661 , , 7.6 , , 1.1 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, 62 , , 22.9 , , .396 , , .100 , , .663 , , 6.3 , , 1.0 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 29.7 , , .424 , , .250 , , .655 , , 8.9 , , 1.3 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 10.4 , , .452 , , .000 , , .629 , , 2.7 , , .6 , , 3.5 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;", † , style="text-align:left;",

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, 10 , , 4.3 , , .300 , , .333 , , .500 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , 1.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 255 , , 24.7 , , .401 , , .200 , , .657 , , 7.0 , , 1.1 , , 8.2

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 10 , , 37.4 , , .394 , , – , , .686 , , 8.1 , , 1.2 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 22.4 , , .333 , , .000 , , .438 , , 6.0 , , 1.3 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 12 , , 29.5 , , .545 , , – , , .737 , , 8.0 , , 1.0 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;",

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

† , style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 3.3 , , .333 , , .000 , , – , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 1.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 32 , , 28.0 , , .431 , , .000 , , .667 , , 6.9 , , 1.1 , , 10.4

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sam 1944 births 2022 deaths African-American Catholics American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kentucky Basketball players from West Virginia Cincinnati Royals draft picks Kentucky Colonels players Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers men's basketball players Minnesota Muskies draft picks Minnesota Muskies players People from Hazard, Kentucky Sportspeople from Welch, West Virginia Small forwards Utah Stars players