Longtime Athletic Trainer Tom “Doc” Smith Passes Away
10/4/2013 9:06:00 PM | Baseball, Football
Father figure to many was loved and respected by Eagle student-athletes
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Longtime Georgia Southern Athletic Trainer Tom "Doc" Smith passed away Friday, October 4th after a short illness. Beloved and respected by countless Eagle student-athletes, coaches and administrators, Smith truly served the athletic department as an athletic trainer from 1971 until his retirement in 1994, building the sports medicine department from next to nothing to a highly respected program. He displayed his passion for Georgia Southern until his death.
He is survived by his wife Sue, their two daughters, Julie Smith Dempsey and Cynthia Smith Waters, and grandchildren, Tommy, Neal, Abby, and Rachel Watkins, and Ryan and Ross Waters.
Visitation is set for Wednesday, October 9th, at noon at Pittman Park with the funeral to follow at 1 p.m.
"He was a helluva guy, all the way around," said Roger Inman, who served in the training room and equipment room with Smith through the late 1970s through his retirement. One of the qualities mentioned by his former Eagle Football players was that he treated everyone, "from the starting quarterback, to the last person on the depth chart with professionalism, respect and love." His friend, the late Erk Russell, said, "What happened with football at Georgia Southern could not have happened without Doc."
Beginning with one student serving seven men's sports in 1971, Smith built the athletic training department into a four-person and 13-student staff to serve 15 intercollegiate men's and women's programs. He initiated a program to involve local physicians and orthopaedic surgeons in the treatment of Eagle student-athletes.
In addition to his duties as Head Athletic Trainer, Smith served as Georgia Southern's interim athletic director in 1980, and also as an assistant to the athletic director from 1975-1980.
Smith coached basketball at the high school level for 15 years in Indiana after graduating from Indiana State in 1953. A standout basketball player for the Sycamores, he returned to his alma mater and earned a graduate degree in counseling and returned to the hardwood sidelines for another 10 years. He entered Indiana's master's program in health and athletic training for a change in his career. While at IU, he worked with the Hoosier swimming teams, which included U.S. Olympians Mark Spitz and Gary Hall.
A member of the Athletic Trainers professional organization, the National Trainers Association, he was recognized for his knowledge when he was selected to head the Sports Medicine Committee of the United States Baseball Federation in 1981. Smith was inducted into the Georgia Southern Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 and honored with induction into the Georgia Athletic Trainers Association (GATA) Hall of Fame in 2005.
He is survived by his wife Sue, their two daughters, Julie Smith Dempsey and Cynthia Smith Waters, and grandchildren, Tommy, Neal, Abby, and Rachel Watkins, and Ryan and Ross Waters.
Visitation is set for Wednesday, October 9th, at noon at Pittman Park with the funeral to follow at 1 p.m.
"He was a helluva guy, all the way around," said Roger Inman, who served in the training room and equipment room with Smith through the late 1970s through his retirement. One of the qualities mentioned by his former Eagle Football players was that he treated everyone, "from the starting quarterback, to the last person on the depth chart with professionalism, respect and love." His friend, the late Erk Russell, said, "What happened with football at Georgia Southern could not have happened without Doc."
Beginning with one student serving seven men's sports in 1971, Smith built the athletic training department into a four-person and 13-student staff to serve 15 intercollegiate men's and women's programs. He initiated a program to involve local physicians and orthopaedic surgeons in the treatment of Eagle student-athletes.
In addition to his duties as Head Athletic Trainer, Smith served as Georgia Southern's interim athletic director in 1980, and also as an assistant to the athletic director from 1975-1980.
Smith coached basketball at the high school level for 15 years in Indiana after graduating from Indiana State in 1953. A standout basketball player for the Sycamores, he returned to his alma mater and earned a graduate degree in counseling and returned to the hardwood sidelines for another 10 years. He entered Indiana's master's program in health and athletic training for a change in his career. While at IU, he worked with the Hoosier swimming teams, which included U.S. Olympians Mark Spitz and Gary Hall.
A member of the Athletic Trainers professional organization, the National Trainers Association, he was recognized for his knowledge when he was selected to head the Sports Medicine Committee of the United States Baseball Federation in 1981. Smith was inducted into the Georgia Southern Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 and honored with induction into the Georgia Athletic Trainers Association (GATA) Hall of Fame in 2005.
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