Mercer Bears | |
---|---|
Position | Halfback |
Class | Graduate |
Personal information | |
Born: | Fayetteville, Tennessee | June 26, 1905
Died: | October 27, 1985 Palm Beach County, Florida | (aged 80)
Career history | |
College | Mercer (1925–1927) |
Career highlights and awards | |
|
Joseph Farrar "Phoney" Smith[1] (June 26, 1905 – October 27, 1985) was a college football player and high school coach and athletic director.
"Phoney" was a prominent halfback for the Mercer Baptists of Mercer University. His brother was Crook Smith. He was elected to the Mercer Athletics Hall of Fame in 1971,[2] and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1969.[3] Smith was a teammate of later Georgia coach Wally Butts and played for coach Bernie Moore.[4]
Smith was selected All-Southern in 1927.[5] called by one writer "the best athlete who ever put on a Mercer uniform."[6] Smith was the first Southern player to cross the goal line against the "dream and wonder" team of Georgia on a 95-yard kickoff.[7]
In the late 1920s, he went on to play semi-pro football with the Ironton Tanks in Ironton, Ohio, a team that was the forerunner of the Cleveland Browns.[3][7][8]
Smith was a coach and athletic director at South Broward High School, where he taught for more than 20 years.[3]