Lyle Hilton Smith (March 17, 1916 – July 26, 2017) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

and

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, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach at Boise Junior College—now

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

—from 1947 to 1967 (except for military compiling a record of . Smith was also the head

coach at BJC for one season in 1946–47, tallying a mark of 24–9, and the school

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

from 1968 to 1981. Boise was a

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

program during Smith's coaching career; it moved up to four-year status in the NAIA in 1968,

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate A ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, and

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Early life and playing career

Born in

Steptoe, Washington Steptoe is a small unincorporated area, unincorporated rural town in Whitman County, Washington, Whitman County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The ZIP Code for Steptoe is 99111. A post office called Steptoe was established in 1 ...

, to Burrell F. and Addie (Humphrey) Smith, Smith's father and older brothers were ranchers. Raised on the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of North Central Idaho, north central Idaho, southeastern Washington (part of eastern Washington), and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. ...

in Steptoe and

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city and the county seat of Latah County, Idaho. Located in the North Central Idaho, North Central region of the state along the border with Washington (state), Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 United States ...

, Smith graduated from Moscow High School in 1934, after leading the Bears to consecutive state titles in He initially attended the University of Idaho's Southern Branch in

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and the largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, containing the city's airport. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metro ...

—now

Idaho State University Idaho State University (ISU) is a Public university, public research university in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, Idaho State offers more than 250 programs at its main campus in Pocatello and locations ...

— where he was a two-sport athlete for the Bengals for 2 years as a linebacker and halfback for football and a forward for basketball. After exhausting his academic eligibility in Pocatello, he then returned to his hometown to attend the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

, where he also played football and basketball for the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

, a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

on the

team under head coach Ted Bank, and a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

on the

team, coached by

Forrest Twogood Forrest Floyd "Twogie" Twogood (April 29, 1907 – April 26, 1972) was a minor league baseball player, college basketball and baseball coach, and college athletics administrator. He is best known as the head basketball coach at the University of ...

. His teammates at Idaho included future coaches

Steve Belko Stephen Maxmillian Belko (February 14, 1916 – May 12, 2000) was an American college basketball coach at Idaho State College and the University of Oregon. He was later the third commissioner of the Big Sky Conference. Playing career The son of ...

and

Tony Knap Anthony Joseph Knap (December 8, 1914 – September 24, 2011) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Utah State University from 1963 to 1966, Boise State University from 1968 to 1975, and the University of Nevada ...

. During Smith's senior football season of

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

, the team went the Vandals' best record in over a decade; Idaho's last winning season in football for a quarter century and the best until

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Idaho was in Northern Division play in the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

and undefeated in the four non-conference games, including a shutout in the season finale in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

over undefeated

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, winner of its conference. The Vandals broke to an early start and there was early talk of the Rose Bowl in the national press. Smith received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in education in 1939 and embarked on a teaching career.

Military service and coaching career

Smith taught and coached for a year at Firth High School in southeastern Idaho, then married fellow 1939 UI graduate Maria Raphael of

Weiser Weiser may refer to: Places * Weiser Airpark, a defunct aerodrome in Texas * Weiser, Idaho * Weiser State Forest * Weiser Township, North Dakota * Weiser River People * Conrad Weiser (1696–1760), German pioneer * Grethe Weiser (1903–1970), Ger ...

in 1940 and returned to Moscow to work in private employment in auto sales. He became head coach at Moscow High School in the spring when Babe Brown crossed town to coach the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal ...

freshmen. Smith entered the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

in June 1942 during World War II. Smith served primarily as a physical training instructor, and returned to Moscow and completed his master's degree in education in 1946. He was to return to the high school as head coach, but resigned in August to accept an offer to be an assistant football coach at Boise Junior College, and became its head coach the following year. Riding a 31-game winning streak in 1950, the team moved into a new 10,000-seat stadium. With the outbreak of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, Smith missed all but the first three games of the 1950 season and the entire 1951 season due to military duty. He returned in 1952 and was a leading candidate for the vacant job at his alma mater Idaho in 1954, but withdrew his name from consideration, content at Boise. Boise won thirteen conference titles in football under Smith and the

NJCAA National Football Championship National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national football champions: Champions Single division era (1956–2021) Split division era (2021–present) For the 2021 season, the NJCAA announced the creation of Division I and Div ...

in 1958.

Administrative career and honors

Smith stepped down as head coach and became the school's first full-time athletic director in November 1967; the Broncos began competition as a four-year school in 1968. He hired former

teammate

as head coach in December, and Knap's successor

Jim Criner Jim Criner (born March 30, 1940) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Boise State University from 1976 to 1982 and at Iowa State University from 1983 to 1986, compiling a career record of as a college football ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

. Smith continued as head

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach through the 1973 season, then was succeeded by Ross Vaughn, a Ph.D. candidate in

biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

and assistant coach at

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. Smith retired at age 65 in July 1981, succeeded by

Mike Mullally E. Michael Mullally (April 29, 1939 – July 15, 2021) was an American college athletics administrator. He was the athletic director at Eastern Illinois University (1974–1979), California State University, Fullerton (1979–1981), and Boise Sta ...

of Cal State-Fullerton. After just months on the job, Mullally resigned under pressure after a backlash at his new priority seating policy. He was replaced in March 1982 by assistant

Gene Bleymaier Eugene Anthony Bleymaier (born c. 1953) is an American university administrator who was most recently special advisor to the president at San Jose State University. Bleymaier was previously an athletic director, first at Boise State University fr ...

, who stayed for nearly three decades. Smith was a key advisor during Bleymaier's first years as director. At the final regular season home game before his retirement as athletic director, the playing field at

Bronco Stadium Albertsons Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Western United States, located on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is the home of the Boise State Broncos of the Mountain West Conference. Known as Bronco Stadium f ...

was dedicated in Smith's honor on November 8,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. Boise State won the game over

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

to secure the conference title and one of the four Division I-AA playoff berths in December. BSU won the opening-round semifinal over

Grambling Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African A ...

in Boise on "Lyle Smith Field" and the national title in Sacramento over defending champion

Eastern Kentucky Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

. Smith

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in March 2016, and died in July 2017 at age 101.

Head coaching record

Football

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Lyle 1916 births 2017 deaths American football centers Guards (basketball) Boise State Broncos athletic directors Boise Broncos football coaches Boise Broncos men's basketball coaches Idaho Vandals football players Idaho Vandals men's basketball players United States Navy personnel of World War II Basketball coaches from Idaho United States Navy personnel of the Korean War Sportspeople from Moscow, Idaho Sportspeople from Whitman County, Washington Players of American football from Idaho Military personnel from Idaho American men's basketball players Boise State Broncos baseball coaches United States Navy officers American men centenarians 20th-century American sportsmen