Hall of Fame
John Smith was the leading scorer on the men’s basketball team from 1968 to 1970. He holds the Red Raider career record for scoring average with 20.7 points per game and at the time of his graduation is the only player in team history to average 20 or more points in their career. Smith played in 66 games scoring 1,369 points.
When Smith arrived in 1966, he played on the junior varsity team because NCAA rules prohibited freshmen from playing on the varsity squad.
In 1968, Smith led the varsity team with an average of 20.8 points per game. He tallied 479 points in 23 games. During the season he scored double figures in 22 games, including 16 games with 20 or more points. He had a season high of 33 points in an 81-69 win over Juniata in the Highspire Lions Club Tournament.
The following season Smith played in 20 games and scored double figures in 19. He scored 20 or more points seven times and had a season high of 28 points. He finished the season with 343 points for an average of 17.2 points per game.
As a senior, Smith averaged 23.8 points per game, scoring 547 points in 23 contests. He finished his career with a flourish, tying the team single game record with 45 points in a 98-89 loss to Mansfield in the season finale. That record held up for 13 years until it was broken by Rich Dyer in 1983, when he scored 46 points.
Smith reached double figures 21 times as a senior and scored 20 or more points 16 times, including one stretch of eight games in a row. In addition to his career high of 45 points, he tallied 30 points in a loss at Shepherd College.
Since graduation, Smith has built a successful career as a teacher and coach. He was the assistant men’s basketball coach at Shippensburg University for three years before taking over as head girls coach at Shippensburg High School for 20 years. His Greyhound teams won three league titles.
He took the head coaching job for the Cumberland Valley High School girls team in the 1997-98 season and in six years guided his teams to four Commonwealth Mid-Penn League titles. The 2002 Cumberland Valley team won the PIAA Class AAAA state championship. The team also won the District Three crown and Smith was named the Associated Press Pennsylvania Coach of the Year. Smith then became taught math, science, and reading at Eagle View Middle School.
