LARRY SMITH

Larry Smith’s qualifications for the Sports Hall of Fame can come under any of the following headings: Boxing, wrestling, softball, baseball, football, track and field, bowling and coaching.

A very astute business man, he has often been known as “Square Deal Larry”. His idea of a square deal is to trade you a pork chop for a pig and the pork chop would probably be a shoulder cut.

Larry did not come into athletic prominence until around the age of 16 due to the fact that he was an only son and was more than urged to lead a sheltered life. He played a pretty good football game with Collingwood Collegiate under the able coaching of the late Lou Stapleton, earned a letter in Track & Field and made quite an impression in the Coronation Meet at Owen Sound by winning the 100 and 220 yard sprint in a pair of great duels with Eddie Sergeant, the well-known former M.P.P. for Grey. He finished his secondary school education at Glebe Collegiate in Ottawa.

At Glebe, he took up boxing and wrestling and went to the finals in both these sports in the Ottawa Valley championships. Incidentally, he lost out in the boxing final to the late Johnny Quilty of St. Patricks College. Quilty later became a hockey star with the Montreal Canadiens.

At the Aggie College in Guelph, he played football and made the college track and field team in the sprints and relay races.

Along came WWII and Larry enlisted with the 541 st Parachute Regiment. He won the light heavyweight boxing title at Fort Bragg and found in several important military boxing tournaments at Camp Mackall, Fort Jackson, Camp Gordon and Fort Benning.