• Bobby Smith, an All-American soccer player at Rider in 1972 and a 1997 inductee into the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame, was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a Veteran Player on August 26. Smith entered soccer’s Hall, located in Oneonta, N.Y., 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. Smith attended Rider from 1969 through 1972. He was twice selected as the All-Middle Atlantic Conference West Division Most Valuable Player. Smith 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. After college, he 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, he 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). Smith continues his involvement in soccer by running the Bob Smith Soccer Academy in his hometown of Hamilton, N.J.