MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Hall, Frazier, Horhn, Gollott

Senate Concurrent Resolution 583

(As Adopted by Senate and House)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING LEROY TAYLOR "L.T." 

SMITH UPON HIS INDUCTION INTO THE MISSISSIPPI SPORTS HALL OF FAME.

WHEREAS, Leroy Taylor "L.T." Smith was born on September 10, 1918; and

WHEREAS, Leroy Taylor Smith was a championship high school football and basketball coach from Lanier High School in Jackson; and

WHEREAS, L.T. Smith, a native of Jackson, attended Lanier High School, the school he would put on the athletic map, from 1932-1938; and

WHEREAS, he played end in football and a forward in basketball for the Bulldogs, and he was selected to the football All Big 8 Second Team; and

WHEREAS, L.T. attended college on and off from 1938-1945, beginning at Jackson State where he played basketball and football for the Blue Bengals; and

WHEREAS, in 1939, he enrolled at Tougaloo College where he again played hoops and football, and was named to the First Team of the All South Central Athletic Conference in football; and

WHEREAS, from 1942 to 1944, he taught social sciences and coached football, basketball and track at Alexander High School in Brookhaven, where he also drove the school bus; and

WHEREAS, from 1944 to 1945, Coach Smith became athletic director and social science teacher at Bell Street High in Grenada, and entered military service in 1945; and

WHEREAS, he returned to Tougaloo College and received his B.S. degree in 1947, launching his 23-year high school coaching career by returning to his prep alma mater at Lanier, where as athletic director and social science teacher, Coach Smith built a legacy of success in football and basketball at the Jackson school; and

WHEREAS, his Lanier football teams compiled a record of 104 wins, 16 losses and 6 ties, and his Lanier basketball teams won 341 games, losing only 34 contests under his guidance, and won the state title in hoops in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958; and

WHEREAS, Coach Smith officiated SWAC football and basketball games from 1950 through 1980 and received a plaque from the conference for outstanding service; and

WHEREAS, he coached the late Herbert Smith who starred at Jackson State from 1954-1955 and played with the Harlem Globetrotters; and

WHEREAS, one of his football players, William Joe Foggy, became an international hero during the Vietnam War era, after entering the Peace Corps and becoming a boxing coach at the University of Cambodia; now residing in Detroit, Michigan, Foggy loved L.T.'s wife's cooking and would bring groceries to the Smith home just to have Ruby cook for him; and

WHEREAS, Coach Smith has received awards and honors for his hard work too numerous to name in full, among them membership in the Sports Trail Century Club of Chicago, Illinois, 1967 Lanier Alumnus of the year, a Tougaloo College Molder of Champs award and membership in two other Halls of Fame; and

WHEREAS, from 1969 through 1980, Coach Smith orchestrated and organized the Jackson State Homecoming Parades as he served as the Chairman of the JSU Homecoming Committee on an annual basis, setting the standard for the parade which JSU has maintained in the same format for the lively and vibrant downtown Jackson parade; and

WHEREAS, he currently resides in Jackson with his wife, Ruby Jefferson Smith, and is the proud father of 5 children, Carolyn Phillips, Dorothy Smith, Leroy Smith, Jr., Roger Smith and Janis Smith:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby congratulate and commend Leroy Taylor "L.T." Smith upon the occasion of his induction into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be given to Coach Smith.