By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Flavious Smith, a Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Famer as well as influential faculty member, recently passed away at the age of 91.
Smith made a few milestones for the Golden Eagle football team. He was the first recipient of Tech football's highest honor, the Robert Hill Johnson Award, earning the trophy for his efforts in the 1951 campaign. Smith, a team captain, was the first Golden Eagle to be named to the Ohio Valley Conference's all-OVC team, earning back-to-back selections in 1950 and 1951. The end also became the first Tech football player to reach the professional level, joining the Los Angeles Rams in 1952.
In addition to excelling on the gridiron, Smith was also a phenomenal basketball player, earning an all-OVC nod for the 1951-52 campaign, one of the same years he earned the honor in football. To this day, he stands as the only OVC student-athlete to earn all-OVC for both football and basketball.
While he was with the Rams, he was called into active duty with the U.S. Army, and his athletic days were far from over. According to his TTU Sports Hall of Fame nomination, while stationed at Fort Knox, he coached and quarterbacked the post's team to a 1953 championship among military teams. He was named All-Service as a quarterback in 1953, then was on the All-Europe Military football team in 1954.
The 1952 graduate then earned his master's and doctorate degrees from George Peabody College in Nashville in 1958 and 1962 respectively, standing as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar.
Before coming back to Tech in 1962 as the chair of the Exercise Science, Physical Education and Wellness department, he spent time as the athletics director at Cumberland (1959-60), athletics director and head football coach at West Virginia's Shepherd College (1960-61) and athletics director and head football coach at Mississippi's Millsaps College (1961-62).
Smith spent 34 seasons as a part of Tech's faculty, retiring in 1996. During his tenure, he established the EXPW master's degree program, as well as being active with the Tennessee American Legion Boys State program. He also has two awards named after him – the Flavious Smith Outstanding Alumnus Award and the Flavious Smith Distinguished Student-Athlete Award.
He was inducted into the fifth class of the TTU Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. Smith later served as chairman for both the TTU Sports Hall of Fame selection committee and the Faculty Athletic Committee.
According to the University, a public memorial service will be held once restrictions are lifted. Memorial contributions can be made to the Tech Department of Exercise Science or any of the exercise science-specific scholarship funds.