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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Mourns Loss Of Football Great, Assistant Coach Homer Smith '54
April 11, 2011 | Football
Homer Smith '54, both a former standout player and assistant coach with Princeton football, passed away over the weekend. While he left an indelible mark on Princeton football, he also served as a head coach with three other college football programs and coached in the NFL.
"The Princeton Football program is sad to hear about the passing of Homer Smith," head coach Bob Surace '90 said. "Homer was a legendary player who had great individual and team success as a Tiger. He was a role model for me and other Princeton football players that followed him into the coaching profession.I was fortunate to benefit from his wisdom in the conversations we had in the past year."
Smith was a three-year letterwinner at Princeton and was a sophomore in 1951, when the Tigers were undefeated and his senior teammate, Dick Kazmaier, went on to win the Heisman Trophy. As a junior, he rushed for 273 yards in a 41-21 home victory over Harvard; that was a program record at the time and still stands third on the Princeton single-game rushing list. He still owns the program record for longest touchdown rush, a 93-yard play that helped Princeton to a 27-21 victory over Yale that same season.
Smith was named captain as a senior and earned the prestigious John P. Poe-Richard W. Kazmaier Trophy, the top individual award given annually to a Princeton football player.
In his book "Princeton Football," author Mark Bernstein wrote this about Smith:
Homer Smith started as a linebacker but was so fast and strong—he was a hurdler and long-jumper—that he was moved to fullback and graduated holding several team records, including those for most yards in a game (273, against Harvard) and longest rush from scrimmage (93 yards, against Yale). Smith became a successful coach and coordinator in college and the NFL and also attended Harvard Divinity School.
He was a head coach at three schools, including Davidson and Army. He led Davidson to its only Southern Conference title in 1969; in 1977, while leading Army, Smith was named “Eastern Coach of the Year” by the New York Football Writers Association. He served as offensive coordinator at the U.S. Air Force Academy, UCLA (three times), the Kansas City Chiefs, University of Alabama (twice), and Arizona. In 1990 The Sporting News named him Offensive Coach of the Year, and in 1997 he was a finalist for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation's top assistant coach.
"The Princeton football program lost one of its most distinguished players and ambassadors," Princeton Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 said. "As a player, Homer was a punishing runner and a punishing defender. As a coach, he was a great role model and inspiration to those fortunate student-athletes who played for him. And, finally, during his coaching tenure, he was considered by many to be one of the finest offensive innovators who ever coached football. We mourn his passing."