Robert D. Smith

1918 - 2011

(News Article) A longtime winning football and basketball coach at Fremont St. Joseph High School who was business manager and a freshman coach at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Robert D. Smith died Wednesday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. He was 92.

He had congestive heart failure.

Mr. Smith of Oregon retired, officially, in 1983 from Central Catholic, where he was business manager about seven years. He also coached freshman football and basketball and was an assistant to the varsity coaches.

Until this summer, he helped out part time in the athletic office.

"It was his way of life," said his son Mike, a former Central Catholic principal. "I don't think he ever saw himself as retired. He wanted to help out and stay active in education as long as he could."

Mr. Smith was known widely for his tenure at Fremont St. Joseph, where he was head football coach for 27 years and head basketball coach for 22 years. He taught health and physical education and was athletic director.

He closed his career at the school in the mid-1970s and was a charter inductee in 1986 into the school's Hall of Fame. He summed up his philosophy, which was quoted on his Hall of Fame plaque:

"A true athlete, with his God-given talent, will always perform to his maximum for the good of the team, not individual glory," Mr. Smith said for the plaque. "Attributes of that athlete are dedication, desire, and determination to win with humility and lose with dignity."

His football teams had four undefeated seasons, three of those consecutive, and won a dozen Sandusky Bay Conference titles. His basketball teams had 11 conference titles.

"He had the right temperament to motivate athletes when they needed the motivation and to put his arm around them when they needed one-on-one support," said his son, who played for him. "He'd be the first to tell you that his successes were due to the great talent he had in his coaching staff."

Mr. Smith worked on conditioning and fundamentals. Drills were central.

"We ran until we were nauseated, and we didn't make mistakes," said Mike Breier, who played football through the undefeated 1962-64 streak.

Mr. Smith also worked on the players' Christian values. The team was expected to attend Saturday Mass.

"Prayer life was very important to him, and he tried to instill that in his players," said Mr. Breier, a former Central Catholic High School head football coach for whom Mr. Smith was an assistant. "[His] wisdom was often very helpful," Mr. Breier said. "He was a perfect role model for kids. His character was impeccable."

Two of Mr. Breiers' brothers, Fred and Steve - both alumni of Coach Smith's teams - became high school football coaches.

Mr. Smith was a former coach of the year and athletic director of the year of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Other honors included the halls of fame of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association, Central Catholic in Toledo, and St. Paul High School, Norwalk, Ohio, where he played football and basketball.

He was born Dec. 20, 1918, in Norwalk to Olive and Don Smith. After high school, he went to the former DeSales College in Toledo, from which he received a bachelor's degree in education. He later received a master's degree from Bowling Green State University.

He taught and coached at his alma mater when he was drafted into the Army during World War. He was a physical trainer for the Army Air Corps and was stationed in California.

His first wife, Ethel, was a history and English teacher at Fremont St. Joseph. Their daughters and son Mike became educators. Son Robert is a physician.

"Faith was always at the center of family and [their] lives," said son Mike, who is dean for the college of education and human services at Lourdes University. "They modeled what it meant to be a Christian and teacher."

He and Ethel married Feb. 14, 1941. She died Jan. 14, 1975.

Surviving are his wife, Eileen, whom he married Aug. 27, 1977; daughters, Carol Belle, Jeanne Kerr, and Sharon Moody; sons, Dr. Robert and Michael; stepdaughters, Lynn Langel and Karen Kitchen; brother, John Smith; 18 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. tomorrow in Hoeflinger-Bolander Funeral Home and from 2-8 p.m. Sunday in Keller-Ochs-Koch-Mason Funeral Home, Fremont, with prayers in the mortuary at 7:30 each night. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday in St. Joseph Church, Fremont.

The family suggests tributes to Central Catholic High School in Toledo; St. Joseph Central Catholic High School in Fremont; the Little Sisters of the Poor in Oregon, and Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.