John Douglas Smart (December 4, 1936 – November 18, 2019) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

as a senior. Smart was born and raised in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. He played for Garfield High School, where he averaged 26.7 points per game and led the team to a state championship in 1955. Following the close of his high school career, Smart chose the hometown

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

for college. He was a three-year starter for coach

Tippy Dye William Henry Harrison "Tippy" Dye (April 1, 1915 – April 11, 2012) was an American college athlete, coach, and athletic director. As a basketball head coach, Dye led the University of Washington to its only NCAA Final Four appearance in ...

, averaging 18.9 points and 13.5 rebounds per game for his career. He was named to the All-Pacific Coast Conference (now

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

) team each of his three varsity seasons. He was an

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(AP) honorable mention all three years and a third-team All-American by the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

(UPI) as a senior in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. Smart finished his career as the school's all-time leading rebounder with 1,051 rebounds (since eclipsed). Following his college career, he was drafted by the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

in the seventh round (48th pick overall) of the

1959 NBA draft The 1959 NBA draft was the 13th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 31, 1959, before the 1959–60 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pla ...

. Smart decided against pursuing a professional career, instead becoming a dentist. Smart died on November 18, 2019, at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Doug 1936 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American dentists All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Seattle Detroit Pistons draft picks Garfield High School (Seattle) alumni Power forwards Washington Huskies men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen