Sam Smith

Samuel Chestley Smith Sr. (January 27, 1943 – May 18, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played four seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA). He played for the Minnesota Muskies, Kentucky Colonels, and Utah Stars 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. He later transferred to Kentucky Wesleyan College and helped the school win its first NCAA Division II championship in 1966.

Early life Smith was born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 27, 1943. He later relocated to Hazard, Kentucky, 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 University of Louisville after being recruited by Bernard Hickman, the Louisville Cardinals coach who also scouted Wade Houston 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. and led the school in scoring. 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. 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.

Professional career Smith made his ABA debut with the Muskies on October 22, 1967, 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 (8.9). with Smith playing just one game in each of the Stars' three playoff series that year. 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. His funeral was held ten days later on May 28 at a Catholic church near Indianapolis.

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