Donald Phillip Smith

"Coach” Don Smith (97) passed away peacefully on May 23, 2024, at his home in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was born on January 12, 1927, in Milton, Pennsylvania, the son of Clarence and Grace Katherine Smith. Coach is survived by his son David, daughter-in-law Anne, nephews Rick Fuge, Steve Fuge and Theodore Smith, niece Tommy Lynn Proctor and their families. Coach was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Lucille Proctor Smith. She was the inspiration and love of his life. Coach was also preceded in death by his sister Frances Fuge and her husband Richard, his brother Lee Smith and wife Gloria, his brother and sister-in-law Kenneth “Tom” and Winnie Proctor, and nephews Doug Proctor and Steve Proctor.

Coach lived his early life in Milton, Pennsylvania, where he was a proud member of the 1943 championship basketball team. In 1944, Coach enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 and was a decorated WWII veteran, serving aboard the USS Suwannee aircraft carrier in the Pacific theater. He received six battle awards, including the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism and survived many kamikaze attacks on his ship. After the war and receiving his honorable discharge, Coach received an athletic scholarship and matriculated at the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, where he was a four-year student athlete on the basketball team and earned a degree in Physical Education.

Coach met his wife Lucille after college in 1951 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when he was in training camp with the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA. Coach and Lucille married in 1952, and they moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania where he began his basketball coaching career at Nazareth High School. In 1954, Coach was named head basketball coach at Elizabethtown College, and, following a highly successful career there, he became the head basketball coach for Bucknell University for eight years, after which he returned to Elizabethtown College for the remainder of his 36-year coaching career, retiring in 1988. Coach was a lifetime member of the NABC for almost 70 years, was named to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, was named to the Elizabethtown College Sports Hall of Fame and was the NABC Eastern Coach of the Year in 1978.

Coach and Lucille retired to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. After Lucille’s death in 2013, Coach moved to Williamsburg, Virginia to be closer to his son, David. Everywhere Coach went, he quickly made friends, was loved by everyone he met, and was always happy having conversations about sports (particularly college basketball). Coach was highly respected by his former players, other basketball coaches and even referees. Many of Coach’s players have stayed in contact with him over the years, and several have gone on to have successful coaching and/or education careers themselves. Coach was proud of each chapter of his life and of all the relationships and associations he had with others, but he was first and foremost dedicated to his family and friends and in his unwavering faith in God, which will be his legacy. Dad will be missed by all of his friends and family and everyone who knew him.