August 22, 2007 - Rider's Smith Enters National Soccer Hall of Fame
August 22, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rider’s Smith Enters National Soccer Hall of Fame Sunday
Induction Class Includes Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy
ONEONTA, NY--Bobby Smith, an All-American soccer player at Rider in 1972 and a 1997 inductee into the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame, has been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a Veteran Player. He will be inducted 12 noon Sunday, August 26, 2007. “Obviously we are extremely proud anytime one of our own achieves such a high national honor,” said Rider Director of Athletics Don Harnum.
“It’s phenomenal,” said Rider Head Soccer Coach Russ Fager. “To have somebody from Rider get into a national hall of fame doesn’t happen every day.”
Smith enters soccer’s Hall, located in Oneonta, New York and the equivalent of baseball’s Cooperstown, with Mia Hamm, who was the world’s most outstanding woman soccer player in the first years of the 21st century, and her teammate, Julie Foudy, the captain of the United States teams in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games and the 2003 World Cup. Foudy came to Rider to help celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day in 1997.
“I was sitting at my desk and I got a call from the Hall of Fame committee and I was just floored,” Smith remembers. “I was unbelievably surprised and thrilled. I told my wife when she came home with my daughter and my daughter asked ‘Can I meet Mia Hamm? And when I told my sons they asked ‘can we meet Nomar Garciaparra?’ And I said ‘Hey, I’m going in too.’ Honestly, I wasn’t that familiar with the Hall. I mean I knew it existed. Several of my buddies have gone in over the years. But I never really seriously thought about going in.”
“This is not only a great personal honor for Bobby Smith but a terrific honor for Rider Athletics and Rider soccer,” Harnum said.
Smith attended Rider from 1969 through 1972. He was twice selected as the All-Middle Atlantic Conference West Division Most Valuable Player and was inducted in February of 1997 to the Rider University Athletics Hall of Fame. He still held the Rider records for career goals (46) and career points (112) at the time of his induction, and currently ranks second in both.
“Smitty was an icon at the time,” said Fager, who first came to Rider for Smith’s junior and senior seasons. “He was a tough, hard-nosed guy but a great guy to be around. He was very into playing soccer, very much into winning. He was a fierce competitor who battled all of the time, and he was our all-time leading scorer for over 25 years.”
“I remember coming to Rider because they had the most beautiful field in the state out by the parking lot behind Alumni Gym,” Smith said, “and my first year here they moved the field to the back, where it is now. I remember playing all the time at Rider, all year round, every day I played soccer. We played in the courtyard behind Hill dorm. Anywhere and everywhere we could we played soccer.”
After college, Smith began his nine-year North American Soccer League career as one of the original players for the Philadelphia Atoms, formed in 1973. Smith was one of the first Americans selected as a second round pick in the 1973 College Draft. As a rookie defender Smith helped the Atoms win the NASL Championship and was a key factor in the team’s record for fewest goals allowed in a season (14). “He was one of the very few American players who made it big on the professional level,” Fager said.
Smith is thought of as a pioneer in the development of American Soccer. During his professional career from 1973 through 1981 he was the only American named NASL first team all-star in 1975, NASL second team all-star in 1974 and 1979, and is one of only three American players who won three NASL Championships. Smith’s career play includes 18 full U.S. Men’s international games, four U.S. Men’s World Cup qualifiers, 167 NASL regular season games, and 10 NASL playoff games.
“Bobby Smith was a feared and respected defender during his career in the North American Soccer League,” said George Brown, President of the Hall of Fame. “At a time when foreign stars were getting all the headlines, Smith was the quiet American star who anchored his team’s defense. Bobby Smith was a credit to the game as a player and he will be a credit to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.”
Smith played for the Atoms until 1976. After leaving the Atoms he played for the New York Cosmos, alongside soccer legend Pelé, through 1978. While playing for the Cosmos Smith won two NASL Championships. He then played for the San Diego Sockers in 1979. He finished his NASL career playing one year for the Philadelphia Fury in 1980 and one year for the Montreal Manic in 1981.
“Not in my wildest dreams when I was at Rider did I think I would be playing with Pele,” Smith said. “I was tending bar in Trenton and got a call saying I had been drafted. Back at that time you didn’t want to hear about being drafted (to Viet Nam). I wasn’t all that familiar with the new pro league. I had just starting my student teaching my senior year, and the team (Philadelphia Atoms) said ‘we’re going to England for preseason training,’ and if I didn’t go there was no way I was going to make this team. I did what I had to do.”
Smith continues his involvement in soccer by running the Bob Smith Soccer Academy in his hometown of Hamilton, NJ. The academy invites children of all ages to come play indoor soccer and focus on developing skills, knowledge and love of the game.
-RU-
