LEGEND – Dwight Smith Still Among 2nd Region’s All-Time Elites

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Greg Smith (23) is pictured with his brother Dwight (35) and Princeton Dotson head coach Jerry Withrow.

A rainy Mother’s Day weekend in 1967 cut short the life of one of the 2nd Region’s best players ever — one that many basketball fans today may have not even heard of.

Dwight Smith, then a senior at Western Kentucky University, was making the trip back to Bowling Green with his brother Greg and sister Kay following a visit to their parents’ home in Princeton.

A wet roadway led to their vehicle hydroplaning and overturning in a water-filled ditch.

Dwight drowned, as did his sister Kay.

Greg found an air pocket in the vehicle and survived.

Both Dwight and Greg starred on some of the best basketball teams ever for the storied program at Western Kentucky. Both had been instrumental in Princeton Dotson’s regional championship in 1963 and Greg was a senior on Caldwell County’s regional title team in 1964.

After a sterling run with the Hilltoppers, Dwight had been selected in the third round of the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Many observers say the 6-4 guard, with a game more suited to professional basketball, would have been a star for the Lakers. Dwight was a gifted, but unselfish ball-handler who could shoot from long range like a guard but still rebound with the big boys.

In one four-year run at WKU, Dwight and Greg alternated being the team’s leading rebounder each season.

Dwight Smith was also renowned for his tenaciousness on defense, many times drawing the toughest assignment on the defensive end.

He finished his Hilltopper career in the school’s all-time Top 10 for both points (1,142) and rebounds (856).

To many, Dwight was simply bound for stardom, despite being a shy kid from Princeton whom many remember as an even better person off the court than he was a player on it.

Few may know that he was offered a contract with the Harlem Globetrotters, but turned that down for the opportunity to play in the NBA.

Instead, brother Greg was left to carry the Smith banner into the professional ranks. He was a starting forward on the Milwaukee Bucks’ World Championship team in 1970-71, playing alongside future Hall of Famers Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Oscar Robertson.

Greg played in 524 NBA games over eight seasons for the Bucks, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. He scored 4,097 points and grabbed 3,249 rebounds over that time.

 

The Dotson Years

In three years on the varsity team at Princeton Dotson, Dwight Smith helped the Bearcats win 80 of 99 games while averaging 22.3 points a game.

He totaled 2,210 career points over that time.

Dwight scored 24.2 points a game as a junior as Dotson compiled a 35-3 record but fell just short of a regional championship. The Bearcats bowed to Earlington 63-56 in the 2nd Region title tilt.

Against a stiffer schedule in 1962-63, Smith averaged 24.9 points and 17 rebounds a game as the Bearcats went 27-6 and ripped through the 2nd Region to earn their first bid to the KHSAA state tournament.

Smith’s high school career is one highlight after another.

Dwight was named Second Team All-State in 1961-62 and was the All-Area Outstanding Player on the 1962 Evansville Sunday Courier-Press All-Area Team.

Dwight scored 50 points in a 103-53 win over Franklin Lincoln that season in what was a big night for the Smith family. Greg had 16 points against Lincoln while Kay was crowned Miss Dotson at halftime.

Dwight Smith established a Butler Gym record with 39 points and 28 rebounds as Dotson beat Todd County in the Caldwell Invitational Tournament.

As a senior, Smith was a First Team All-State selection and a member of the All-State Tournament Team.

Dwight and Greg were both named to the 2nd Region All-Tournament Team after the duo outscored Earlington in the final by themselves.

Dwight scored 19 points and Greg had 18 as the Bearcats claimed a 54-36 decision in the regional championship game.

In a first-round win at the state tournament in Louisville, Dwight scored 30 points and grabbed 24 rebounds as the Bearcats beat Garrett, from Floyd County, 76-60.

Dotson lost 58-44 to Owensboro in the quarterfinal round. That was the last game in school history as integration ended the high school at Dotson and sent those students to Caldwell County High School the following year.

 

Fateful Day

Henry Smith loved talking about basketball. But his eyes especially lit up when someone would ask him about Dwight.

Henry never ran out of stories when asked about his sons’ playing days.

However, years ago Henry recalled that he and his wife, Pearl, were uncommonly nervous about their children’s trip home that fateful night in 1967, in comments from HilltopperHaven.com.

“My wife and I were running into each other in the house,” he said. “It seemed like a premonition, and I said to myself, ‘Something’s not right.’

“Then the phone rang, and I said, ‘Oh, Lord.’ I got scared. I went to the phone and the man said. ‘Is this the Smith family?’ I put the receiver down, put it right down, turned around and looked at Pearl in the doorway. She passed out. She had an idea something was wrong. It was incredible. Incredible. I’ll never forget it.

“So the phone rang again, and so I went back. It seemed like God gave me strength to go back to that phone and pick that receiver up. When I did, he said, ‘Is this the Smith’s residence?’ I said, ‘Yes it is.’ I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ He said, ‘Do you have two children, or three children?’ I said ‘Yes, I do.’ He said, ‘We believe that Dwight and Kay have drowned,’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, have mercy.’

Henry Smith rushed to the scene, where a crowd had formed to try and save Dwight and Kay, and says that, “It was pandemonium. It said in the papers that they would say, ‘Get up Dwight. Get up Dwight. Don’t be dead, Dwight.’ It seems like yesterday.”

Henry Smith died in 2008. Pearl Smith died in 2011.

But the Smith family’s basketball saga lives on.

Dwight Smith’s life tragically ended too soon. This May marks the 53rd year since his passing.

But his basketball exploits remain the stuff of legend.

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