Professional baseball’s loss was Whitman’s gain when Smith rejected contract offers to enroll at Whitman in the late 1950s. One of the top Missionary athletes of his day, Tim was a fixture on the baseball and football teams, earning all-conference honors in both sports prior to his graduation in 1961.
A legendary Seattle schoolboy athlete, Smith hit .565 as a senior at Franklin High School to lead the Seattle City League in hitting. That spring, he was picked to represent the state of Washington in a high school all-star game played at New York’s old Polo Grounds, and one newspaper columnist watching the game singled him out as best shortstop in the stadium.
Earlier in his senior year, playing high school football, he led the Seattle City League in both rushing and scoring.
A strong-armed shortstop, Smith anchored Whitman’s baseball infield for four seasons. As a freshman and sophomore, one of his infield mates was his older brother Dave, a member of Whitman’s Class of 1959. Younger sister Margaret followed her brothers to Whitman, graduating in 1963.
Smith enjoyed his best Whitman baseball season as a junior, when he hit .350 and was named the top shortstop in the conference. He also played three seasons of college football, earning the nickname of “Touchdown Tim” as a junior when he scored 12 touchdowns, led the league in scoring and earned all-conference honors. He battled injuries during his senior football season, but the speedy halfback still topped the Missionaries in both rushing, averaging 7.8 yards per carry, and pass receiving.
Smith, 66, a retired computer analyst, lives in Renton, Wash.
