Wabash College Athletics

A native of LaSalle, Illinois, Smith grew up in Indiana where he attended Columbia City High School near Fort Wayne. He excelled in football, baseball, and basketball as a prep athlete and his coach Abe DeVol, a guard on the 1916-1917 Wabash Wonder Five, convinced him to attend Wabash. Smith came to Wabash in the fall of 1929 and earned freshman numerals in three sports. A serious injury in football nearly made him retire, but Coach Pete Vaughan urged him to play and he did.

A quarterback and place-kicker on the football team, Smith helped Wabash shut out a huge Butler team 34-0 in 1932, despite a 14-pound weight disadvantage. Smith also was the Wabash signal caller in the first Monon Bell game in 1932. With less than three minutes to play, Wabash was fourth and goal at the DePauw one-yard-line. Smith called the play from the huddle, a weak side slant, and the Wabash line dumped the Tigers in the mud. However, the Harvey Smith halfback never reached the goal line after slipping in the Blackstock Stadium mud and the final score remained 0-0.

Smith earned eight varsity letters at Wabash, was a member of Blue Key, and won the John Maurice Butler Prize for Scholarship and Character. After his graduation from Wabash, Smith returned to Columbia City to run the family business, Smith's Funeral Home, in which he is still active.