Legends of Basketball Official Website

At a young age there wasn’t much to do in Western Kentucky, so basketball was the sport of choice in my area.  Our hoop was a rim nailed to a tree, and my first official basketball was a Voit rubber ball that I used over and over, and eventually had to put it into retirement. No matter what the conditions were outside like rain, snow, 100-degree heat or bitter cold, I was out there from sunrise to sunset. I didn’t play organized ball until I attended Farmington High School. Believe it or not, my class only had 13 students and the entire school was made up of 80 students. When I was in high school, we used to practice during our study hall. The principal of the school was our head coach, and he’s the one that insisted I play for the team my sophomore year. During my junior and senior years, I averaged over 30 points per game and began to draw more attention locally. 

I wouldn’t consider this to be a funny story, but for those that knew Coach Adolph Rupp or knew of him, you might find it amusing. Coach showed zero emotion and conducted practice like it was business. After we won the NCAA Championship in 1958, I remember grabbing on to coach and hugging him. Then – and only then – he couldn’t help but smile and enjoy the moment. On this particular day, he let his guard down and showed all his emotions. 

During my playing career in the NBA I worked full-time at a bank during the off-season. Back when I played, most NBA players had a summer job because the money was significantly different from today’s standards.  Since retiring from the NBA in 1972, I’ve been in banking for the past 35 years. I’m currently the Vice President of Financial Institutions at Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

I will never forget the opening day parade for the 1960 Olympics in Rome. The minute you enter the stadium, you can not help but get emotional because the experience is breathtaking. I felt so proud to represent my country in basketball. It’s hard to relive my memories of the Olympics and not get goose bumps just reminiscing about it. Our men’s basketball team was led by Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. A fun fact to mention for those that were not aware is that we had four superstars (Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Walt Bellamy and Terry Dischinger) that were at one point in time awarded NBA Rookie of the Year. If you could have kept that team together for several years, I don’t think anyone in the world could have beaten us. 

I never shared this with anyone, but one of my personal goals when I entered the NBA was to 

Adrian Smith with his 7 Litre, Ford Galaxie

make the All-Star team at least once. At that time, only two players per team were allowed to be selected to the All-Star team. In Cincinnati, I played with Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson, so there was no hope there. In 1966, Red Auerbach filled out the final two roster spots with me and Chet Walker. I was so happy to be part of the team and thankful for the opportunity from Coach Auerbach. The word nervous was an understatement when I entered the game.  The first shot I took when I entered the game was an air ball. I’d like to call it early jitters, and once I got that out of my system, every shot following my miss was on target. I ended up posting 24 points and pulled down 8 rebounds.

 

If anyone before the game started was to predict that Adrian Smith would be named MVP, they probably would have been locked up in an insane asylum. On January 11, 1966, I felt as if I could do no wrong and couldn’t miss. After being named MVP, I was awarded a silver-blue, 7 Litre, Ford Galaxie. I never really drove it around, and actually was saving it to give to my son when he became old enough. Many have tried to buy it from me, but there was no way I would consider selling it. I remember the rare times my wife drove it around town, she used to return home and talk about all the people that were mesmerized by the car.