Larry Smith dies

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:17 pm

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3219274

He made his name elsewhere, but he was a Falcon first.

Roll along, you BG warrior!

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:34 pm

As a coach he was an Indian first, starting as an assistant to my old next door neighbor, Jim Young at Shawnee High School. He and Young both had great success in college but it all began at Shawnee.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:36 pm

h2oville rocket wrote:As a coach he was an Indian first, starting as an assistant to my old next door neighbor, Jim Young at Shawnee High School. He and Young both had great success in college but it all began at Shawnee.

Is that the same Jim Young that coached at Army and is also a Falcon?

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:12 pm

TG1996 wrote:
h2oville rocket wrote:As a coach he was an Indian first, starting as an assistant to my old next door neighbor, Jim Young at Shawnee High School. He and Young both had great success in college but it all began at Shawnee.
Is that the same Jim Young that coached at Army and is also a Falcon?

Purdue and Army. Same guy- Smith followed him around for awhile before getting a head coaching job. Shawnee had some great teams when Young, then Smith were head coaches. Undefeated one year and gave up six points for the year (Defiance had to go and ruin everything). Like Smith, Young happened to be a coach at BG but he was an Indian, not a Falcon.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:01 pm

h2oville rocket wrote:Like Smith, Young happened to be a coach at BG but he was an Indian, not a Falcon.

Class of '57... he was a Falcon, via Van Wert.

http://www.bgsusports.com/mambo/content/view/212/0/

Smith graduated in '62, and was a sophomore on the national championship team and a senior for BG's first bowl game.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:44 pm

My in-laws are from the Van Wert area (Ohio City) and my mother-in-law was Larry Smith's date for his senior prom. Of course if that would have worked out, my wife wouldn't be here

Well, maybe she would, since she was adopted. But it probably would have been by someone else, so I probably never would have met her. And my Father-in-law came to BG on a basketball scholarship, not that it matters. Am I sharing too much?

Back to the point, Rest in peace Mr Smith.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:00 am

I've always had a lot of respect for Larry Smith. He was a good coach and a fine person. I'm sorry to hear of his passing and his family is in my thoughts and prayers.

I saw the news last night when ESPN scrolled it across the bottom of the screen...

Thanks for everything, Coach...you will be missed. Smith will always be a Falcon in my eyes.

rollalong94 · Post by **rollalong94** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:28 am

Here are a couple tributes from Arizona and Missouri- no mention of his ties to our area, but still a nice capsule of his hard work:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/ua/arti ... smith.html

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bernie ... rry-smith/

Strouse · Post by **Strouse** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:41 pm

rollalong94 wrote:Here are a couple tributes from Arizona and Missouri- no mention of his ties to our area, but still a nice capsule of his hard work:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/ua/arti ... smith.html

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bernie ... rry-smith/

Both of those are awesome tributes to him. He obviously did an awesome enough job that it didn't matter what his record was on the field, he was obviously more known for what he did off of the field with his teams and that's awesome.

mjmorefield · Post by **mjmorefield** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:12 pm

I find it amazing all the ties to BGSU. Nobody can say the BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:48 pm

mjmorefield wrote:I find it amazing all the ties to BGSU. Nobody can say the BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.

The 1959 team was ridiculously packed with future HOF coaches.

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:23 pm

mjmorefield wrote:I find it amazing all the ties to BGSU. Nobody can say the BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.

The BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.

mjmorefield · Post by **mjmorefield** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:54 pm

h2oville rocket wrote:
mjmorefield wrote:I find it amazing all the ties to BGSU. Nobody can say the BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.
The BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.

Bugger off H2O! I was in a hurry!

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:31 pm

mjmorefield wrote:
h2oville rocket wrote:
mjmorefield wrote:I find it amazing all the ties to BGSU. Nobody can say the BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.
The BG doesn't contribute to colege atletics with more than athletes.
Bugger off H2O! I was in a hurry!