Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame
Terry L. Smith, for the last 20 years alumni from Wabash who watched your dazzling basketball abilities have said, “If only Terry Smith had a three-point line!” Indeed, had you gotten an extra point for all those long-range shots you hit, you would have ranked among Wabash’s all-time leading scorers. Born in Crawfordsville, raised in nearby Kentland, and a graduate of tiny Richland Township High School, you did what all good Hoosier boys do: you grew up playing basketball, and imagining in your back yard hitting the game-winning shot to win the state title over and over again. Wabash is glad you practiced so much!
Though you were ineligible to play as a freshman — a Wabash rule — you made the most of your remaining three years and 56 games, starting at shooting guard for three seasons, leading the team in scoring as a junior and senior, and earning Most Valuable Player honors three straight seasons. In your senior year, you would team up with Dave Moore to combine for 49 points to help Wabash upset DePauw, 88-76, and a week later you made the all-tournament team after Wabash won the Rose Poly tournament. You rank in the top 20 all-time scorers at Wabash, and your career average of 18.9 points per game is the fifth best ever recorded by a Little Giant.
But even with all the impressive scoring statistics, your fondest moment came at Hinkle Fieldhouse in your sophomore season, a year in which you averaged 20 points per game. You drained an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer to help the Little Giants defeat Marian College 62-61 — your backyard dream of hitting the winning shot at Hinkle coming to life, even if it wasn’t for a state championship! You’ve spent the last 37 years with your beloved wife, Kathryn, whom you married in the Wabash Chapel, and have enriched the lives of countless thousands of young people through your career as a teacher and a coach.
For soaring far above your 5-foot, 10-inch frame and filling the nets with basket after basket, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to induct you, Terry Smith, in the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame. Some Little Giant!
