It’s a safe bet that 99 percent of us will never be enshrined in a Hall of Fame of any kind. Steve Smith belongs to three: the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, and now the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
On the strength of his impressive résumé — standout basketball star at Detroit Pershing High School, second all-time leading scorer at Michigan State, first-round NBA draft choice, 14-year pro, and Olympic gold medalist — Smith was inducted last month at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
Smith’s career highlights include his 2003 NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs and his 2000 Olympic medal. “There’s not a lot of guys who get the chance to do both,” he says.
But Smith is proudest of what he calls “Mom’s center” — the Clara Bell Smith Student Athlete Academic Support Center at MSU. It’s named for his late mother and financed in part by his $2.5 million donation — the largest gift by a professional athlete to any college or university — and the Steve Smith Scholarship Fund he established in 1999 at Pershing to send one outstanding senior to MSU each fall for four years.
The members of the 57th Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Include Induction Class: Mateen Cleaves-MSU basketball/Flint Northern H.S. ; Lomas Brown-Detroit Lions; Tony Dungy/NFL football & Jackson Mich. Parkside H.S.; Mark Howe-NHL hockey & Detroit Red Wings/U.S. Olympian; Pam McGee-Flint Northern H.S. & U.S. Olympian; Dick Kimball-UM Diving & U.S. Olympian; Steve Smith-MSU Basketball & Pershing H.S./U.S. Olympian; Tyrone Wheatley-UM football & track & field/Dearborn Heights Robichaud H.S.
For the full article, see Jim McFarlin, “Mr. Smith Goes to the Hall of Fame – THREE-PEAT: Steve Smith adds Michigan Sports Hall of Fame to his list of ‘little goals’ accomplished”, Hour Detroit, March 2013.