William Reece Smith Jr. (September 19, 1925 – January 11, 2013) was an American lawyer. Smith served as the interim president of the University of South Florida, and the president of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

. He was born in 1925 in Athens, Tennessee. Smith was a native of eastern

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, but attended public schools in Plant City, Florida while growing up. He received an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

to attend the University of South Carolina, where he was a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

South Carolina Gamecocks football The South Carolina Gamecocks football program represents the University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern ...

team and participated in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Smith earned a

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

in naval science from South Carolina in 1946, and after graduation he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy. After his years in the service, he attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

College of Law. He received his

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gr ...

in 1949, and he was also a member of the student bar, Florida Blue Key and the Florida Law Review. After law school, Smith was selected as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

and he did graduate studies in international law at Christ Church, Oxford. Smith later joined the faculty of the University of Florida College of Law, and he would then go on to private practice in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

. In 1976–1977, the Florida Board of Control appointed him to serve as interim president of the University of South Florida in Tampa, and, in 1980, he was elected the president of the

. He died in Tampa in January 2013.

Notes

References

*Greenberg, Mark I.
''University of South Florida: The First Fifty Years, 1956-2006''
University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida (2006).

External links

Smith as a leader for the ABA

W. Reece Smith's Official Bio

Info about Smith on a UVA site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, W. Reece Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford American Rhodes Scholars Presidents of the American Bar Association Presidents of the University of South Florida United States Navy officers Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni South Carolina Gamecocks football players 1925 births 2013 deaths People from Athens, Tennessee People from Tampa, Florida 20th-century American lawyers

See also

Notes

References

External links