Adrian Smith obit

Adrian Smith of Cincinnati Royals, Kentucky Wildcats fame dies at 89

 

He was not on the list.

Anderson Township resident Adrian Smith has died at age 89.

If you don't recognize the name, Greater Cincinnati basketball aficionados knew him as "Odie," a talented 6-foot-1 guard from Farmington, Kentucky who won a national championship with the Kentucky Wildcats, an Olympic gold medal in Rome in 1960 and was named the 1966 NBA All-Star Game MVP, which came complete with a Ford Galaxie as a prize. Smith kept the vehicle in great condition over the years and kept it proudly on display.

Adrian Smith's time with Kentucky Wildcats

Though he originally only had a scholarship offer at Murray State, which was withdrawn, Smith started at Northeast Mississippi Junior College. He excelled enough there to warrant a look from the legendary Adolph Rupp and Kentucky's "Big Blue."

Smith finally got some playing time in relief his junior year, then became a starter as a senior, averaging 12.4 points per game. His team became known as "The Fiddlin' Five," and the Wildcats went on to win the 1957-58 NCAA National Championship with an 84-72 win over Seattle University. Seattle featured a future NBA Hall of Famer named Elgin Baylor. Another member of the "Fiddlin' Five" that you may not be aware of was the father of NBC football analyst and former Cincinnati Bengal Cris Collinsworth. Lincoln Collinsworth was a 6-foot-3 guard.

The team was called "The Fiddlin' Five," as Rupp said they were known for "fiddlin' around and fiddlin' around" before pulling out a game.

Gold medal for Adrian Smith in 1960

Smith was drafted in the 15th-round by the Cincinnati Royals in 1958. (The Royals originated in Rochester, New York, moved to Cincinnati, moved to Kansas City-Omaha, and are now the Sacramento Kings.)

He elected to join the Army, played on the Army All-Star Team and made the 1960 team that won gold in the Rome Olympics. That team also featured two other future Cincinnati Royals in Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas. The 1960 Olympic team was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Adrian Smith played for Cincinnati Royals from 1961-1969

Smith served as "The Big O" Oscar Robertson's back-up originally, but became a starter in 1964-65, averaging 15.1 points per game and shooting 46% from the field and 83% on free throws. There was no 3-point shot, but many have commented how Smith would have been a long-distance threat.

In 1966, the NBA All-Star Game came to Cincinnati Gardens, and Smith scored 24 points in 26 minutes to lead the East to victory and win the coveted Ford Galaxie. It would be his only All-Star Game.

Smith would play for the San Francisco Warriors, then the ABA Virginia Squires, before his pro career was up in 1972.

Adrian Smith funeral arrangements

Smith's visitation is at 11 a.m. at T.P. White in Mount Washington, with the funeral service at noon.

Smith was the fifth of six children of Oury and Ruth Smith of Farmington, Kentucky. The family lived in a farmhouse that had no electricity and no indoor plumbing. He was nicknamed "Odie" after a comedian on the Grand Ole Opry. As a child, he attended a three-room schoolhouse in rural Graves County, Kentucky. Because the family didn't have money for a basketball, he learned to shoot one his mother made from rolling up his dad's socks.

Smith enrolled to play basketball at Northeast Mississippi Junior College (now known as Northeast Mississippi Community College). After Smith excelled on the court, Northeast coach Bonner Arnold convinced legendary University of Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp to send a scout to see Smith, and UK offered a scholarship.

Smith didn't see much action his junior season until Kentucky's star guard, Vernon Hatton, went out with an appendectomy, and for seven games, Smith averaged 16.3 points. As a senior, Smith was a starter and averaged 12.4 points per game. The Wildcats' team, known as the "Fiddlin' Five", beat Seattle University 84–72 to win the 1957–58 national championship, led by 30 points from Hatton and 24 from Johnny Cox. Smith averaged just under 14 points in UK's four NCAA tourney wins, including seven in the championship game.

Smith graduated from Kentucky with a business degree.

Instead of attempting to make the Royals, Smith joined the U.S. Army, where he played on the Army's All-Star team and in 1960 was selected to play on the eventual undefeated U.S. men's basketball team that won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy. The team went 8–0 in the Olympics, led by future hall-of-famers Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, and Jerry West, although in the opening win against host Italy, Smith was the team's leading scorer, with 17 points scored. The team's average margin of victory in the eight games was 42.4 points per game.

Smith began his professional career in the 1961–62 NBA season. During his first three seasons, he served as a backup guard behind Oscar Robertson and Bucky Bockhorn, averaging about 20 minutes per game with scoring averages of 7.2, 8.9, and 9.4, respectively.

In his fourth season of 1964–65, he became a starter in the Royals' backcourt alongside Robertson. Playing over 34 minutes per game, he averaged 15.1 points per game, with a .456 field goal percentage and .830 free throw percentage.

The 1965–66 season was both his most productive and noteworthy. He averaged a career-high 18.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game as the Royals went 45–35 and, in the Eastern Division semifinals, extended the Boston Celtics to a fifth and deciding game before falling to the eventual NBA champions. On December 15 he scored a career-high 34 points against the Celtics, and followed that up on January 5 with another career-high of 35 points. During the season, Smith was selected to the 1966 NBA All-Star Game and, surprisingly for a game that including sixteen future Hall-of-Famers, Smith was named MVP after he scored 24 points in 26 minutes. It was his only All-Star appearance, and for winning the MVP award, he received a new Ford Galaxie car.

In his sixth NBA season, 1966–67, Smith averaged 16.6 points per game and led the NBA with a .903 free throw percentage and, for the fourth time, the durable Smith led the league in games played. In 1967–68, Smith averaged 15.6 points per game in his last year as a starter. In 1968–69, playing primarily as a backup to Robertson and Tom Van Arsdale, Smith averaged 9.6 ponts per game.

Career history

1959–1960      USAF All-Stars

1961    Akron Goodyear Wingfoots

1961–1969      Cincinnati Royals

1969–1971      San Francisco Warriors

1971–1972      Virginia Squires

Career highlights

NBA All-Star (1966)

NBA All-Star Game MVP (1966)

NCAA champion (1958)

Career NBA and ABA statistics

Points  8,750 (11.3 ppg)

Rebounds        1,626 (2.1 rpg)

Assists 1,739 (2.3 apg)