Dwight Smith

Dwight E. Smith (August 27, 1945 – May 14, 1967) was an American basketball player. He played college basketball for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers from 1964 to 1967. Smith was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the third round of the 1967 NBA draft but was killed in a car accident less than two weeks later.

Early life Smith was born on August 27, 1945, in Princeton, Kentucky, to Henry Vernal and Pearl Smith. His father worked as a basketball referee and one of his uncles, George "Sonny" Smith, played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Smith was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) team all three years of his varsity career. Standing at , Smith was one of the tallest guards in college basketball at the time. It was Smith's childhood dream to play for the Lakers alongside Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. He was also selected in the 1967 ABA draft by the Kentucky Colonels. Smith planned to visit Los Angeles in the following weeks. Their car, driven by Greg, was one mile south of Nortonville, Kentucky, when it hit high water and plunged into a rain-swollen ditch. Greg survived and was taken to a nearby hospital where he received treatment. The service was attended by Oldham, Wes Unseld, Butch Beard, Jim McDaniels, and all of Smith's Hilltoppers teammates. Western Kentucky's College Heights Foundation established an annual scholarship from the Dwight and Kay Smith Scholarship Fund for a student from Caldwell County, Kentucky. He was inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

On February 4, 2023, the Hilltoppers retired Smith's number 35 jersey in a ceremony that was attended by Greg and his two other siblings. He was the 11th player in program history to have their jersey retired.