Former coach dies at age 71
5/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | General
Former coach, Don Smith, dies at age 71
Hall of Famer was assistant coach on two national title teams
For immediate release 29 May 2002
ABILENE -- Former ACU assistant track and field and football coach Don Smith died Tuesday night at a local hospital at the age of 71.
Funeral services are tentatively set for 2:30 p.m. Friday at Highland Church of Christ with Dr. Eddie Sharp, Wally Bullington, Pat Holder and Tom Teague officiating. Burial will be at Elmwood Cemetery under the direction of Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home. Pallbearers will be Wayne Walton, Jerry Jones, David Smalley, Bob Keyes, Dale McDonald, Ricky Smith, Jerry Wilson and Steve Paxton.
Visitation will be Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home, 542 Hickory. Memorials may be made to Abilene Christian Schools at 2550 N. Judge Ely, Abilene, TX, 79601.
Smith, a 1953 graduate of ACU, was an assistant football coach at ACU from 1968-81, and in that time he helped coach the Wildcats to a pair of NAIA Division I national championships (1973 and 1977). He was also an assistant track and field coach, and was the head coach from 1974-77. After retiring from ACU, he served as director of athletics at Abilene Christian High School.
After graduating from ACU, Smith joined the United States Army and coached service teams in Germany and Ft. Sill, Okla.
Prior to coaching at ACU, Smith coached Abilene's Cooper High School to the Texas high school Class 4A state championship in track and field in 1964. He was named the Texas High School Track Coach of the Year in 1964. He was also an assistant football coach at Cooper.
"Coach Smith was a great man who had a tremendous amount of influence on a lot of people," ACU head football coach Gary Gaines said. "He loved ACU, and the players he coached loved him. He'll definitely be missed."
While competing at ACU, he was captain and all-conference at defensive back in football, and he ran on winning relay teams at the Texas, Kansas and Drake Relays. He helped the Wildcats claim the 1952 NAIA national title in track and field, and he played on the undefeated, untied football team (11-0 in 1950) in school history. That team -- which included future ACU head football coaches Bullington, Ted Sitton and Les Wheeler -- was dubbed "The Singing Christians."
He was named the outstanding athlete at ACU for the 1952-53 school year. ACU won three conference titles in football and four in track and field while Smith was a student-athlete.
Smith, a 1949 graduate of Polytechnic High School in Riverside, Calif., was inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in February 1998.
At the time of his death, he was a part-time sale assistant at Arrow Ford in Abilene.
Smith is survived by his wife of 53 years, Barbara, and three children: a daughter, Donna, and husband Steve Saffel of Abilene; a son, Terry and wife Tessie of Euless; and a son, Chuck Smith, and daughter-in-law Judy Smith of Kernersville, N.C. He is also survived by eight grandchildren and three grandchildren.
He is survived by one brother, Chuck, and wife Anne of San Angelo, his father-in-law, Alfred Gadberry, and several nieces and nephews.
