Sports editor Ty Schadt created the following multimedia package that features the history of basketball at Asbury.
Bringing hoops to the hoopless: The Smith family’s impact on Asbury University
by Ty Schadt, Sports Editor
Asbury University was founded in 1890 by John Wesley Hughes with the goal of “developing the entire man” through a well-rounded education and love of God. Asbury’s website states: “Since 1893 the University has graduated more than 20,000 men and women, among whom are college presidents, denominational leaders, business executives, medical doctors, lawyers, school administrators and professors.” However, thanks to the influence of one family there is another storied fraternity that has emerged from Asbury’s history that is not often mentioned: coaches.
While the overall focus of the university may have had nothing to do with athletics, basketball was present on campus in the form of intramurals and interclass play. Stuart Smith, class of 1977, claimed the main difference between the pair was the logistics of who played where; class ball was based on graduating years, while intramurals were dorm-based.
Talent was also a distinguishing factor. “Class ball was a step up, and if you played in class then you couldn’t play in intramurals,” Stuart said. Furthermore, interclass had official coaches, whereas intramurals utilized student coaches.
According to Stuart, interclass basketball was extremely well-received. “The gym was always packed with people. It was such a draw, not just for the student body and campus community, but for the community around because it was good basketball.” The games were played in Doddridge Holland, a gym that was removed in 2016.
Steve Smith, Stuart’s twin brother and fellow Asbury alumnus, concurred with the lively nature of class ball. “We took it serious. It wasn’t like a club team. There was always a great turn out,” said the former member of the Vikings class team.
Stuart believes the success of the class program created conversations about the possibility of an actual intercollegiate team, a sentiment to which his father, Winston Smith, agrees. Also an Asbury grad, Winston, class of 1950, coached the class of 1977 Vikings class team and spent a number of years coaching at different universities before returning to Wilmore in 1965 to teach in the science department. But the former anatomy professor says he may have had ulterior motives. “I came, in my mind, to get an intercollegiate program going,” said Winston.
However, Winston claims that try as he might, Z.T. Johnson, the university’s president at the time, wanted no mention of the matter. The former class coach believes the board’s hesitation for hoops stemmed from a fear of changing the campus dynamic of spirituality. “Basketball, to them, would have brought more outside element to campus,” said Winston. “To me, that was good. We wanted them here.”
When Johnson retired in 1966, Winston decided to act. His first step was to consult Cecil Zweifel, the founder of Asbury’s Physical Education and Recreation program and a major proponent for intercollegiate athletics. “I went to Cecil with the idea of maybe starting a tournament to get our foot in the door,” Winston said.
Thus, the Asbury Invitational of 1969 was born. Intercollegiate basketball was coming to campus, even if it was only a small tournament. “It took four years, but to me that was a lifetime,” said Winston, who became the Asbury squad’s coach.
Trevecca Nazarene College, South East Christian College and Mt. Vernon Nazarene College were invited to bring their teams to Wilmore on Thanksgiving weekend of 1969. According to Winston, he and Zweifel compiled ten to twelve of the best class ball players to compete. Asbury went 2-0, winning the invitational and creating a moment Robb Joynt, The Collegian’s sports editor at the time, would dub “as memorable for Asbury students as Neil Armstrong’s moon landing or the Pearl Harbor bombing.”
Steve, then a high schooler, remembers the excitement of the first invitational. “The gym was overflowing,” he said. “I went to the games and mobbed the court with everyone else.”
However, despite the success of the event, questions lingered. “Will Asbury College proceed with her carefully deliberated advance, or will she retreat to her self-made enclosure?” wrote Joynt.
Asbury had the invitational in 1970 and 1971, but after the college lost both years participation declined. “We weren’t improving. A lot of the guys we needed to play were sitting in the stands because after two games they knew we’d just be putting the Asbury jerseys in mothballs,” said Winston. Players questioned whether the payoff was worth the intense practices. Because of this hesitancy, after the tournament’s third year, Winston said he would not coach the team anymore.
But still, Asbury did not retreat, at least not completely. In many ways, the invitational tournament was a springboard for intercollegiate athletics, just not intercollegiate basketball.
Tim Philpot, sports editor of The Collegian in 1970, wrote that in that October the Board of Trustees met to vote on intercollegiate sports. The result, as Philpot described, was “yes and no.” The Board approved three intercollegiate sports for the spring of 1971: track, tennis and golf. But still, no basketball.
As the years went on, however, class ball continued. Winston kept teaching, but stopped coaching class after Stuart and Steve graduated. However, both sons soon found themselves following their father’s footsteps.
Stuart attended Asbury Theological Seminary and coached the class of 1983 Ambassadors. Steve attended graduate school at Eastern Kentucky University and took over the class of 1981 Centurions, as well as the class of 1985 Victors.
Conversations about intercollegiate ball continued, until finally, in 1991, men’s and women’s teams were made official.
According to Stuart, the inaugural men’s season consisted of exhibition games led by Luke Witte. However, the Ohio State grad’s time as head coach was short lived. In 1992, Asbury brought in Winston and Stuart to take over the team.
Twenty years had passed since the invitational, but according to Winston, the university’s excitement for basketball was just as high. “When we came out on the floor, they went nuts. Alumni were here, and they went nuts,” he said. “Some of them, tears were running down their face because there was Asbury on the jerseys, not Yellow Jackets [or other class names].”
Intercollegiate basketball has been around ever since. Stuart believes the program accomplishes another one of the university’s founding principles: spiritual vitality. “For it to be an Asbury intercollegiate program – if it doesn’t move and push people towards understanding a deeper walk with Christ, we don’t need to have it. But because we are [doing that], we must have it.”
The Asbury Coaching Tree
by Ty Schadt, Sports Editor
It is from Winston’s efforts that a coaching tree with ties to Asbury and class ball has developed.
Larry Davis, member of the Colonels class team, graduated from Asbury in 1978 and immediately joined East Tennessee State’s team as a graduate assistant. Davis landed at Oak Hill Academy in 1983, a co-ed boarding school in Virginia that provides preparatory college education. He brought in Steve to be an assistant, strengthening a relationship Steve attested to class ball. Then in 1986, Davis began a string of several assistant coaching jobs at colleges such as Wake Forest, Ball State and Minnesota, until in 1997, when he joined Furman University in South Carolina as the head coach. From there, he accepted a job as an associate coach at Cincinnati. In 2015 he took over head coaching duties while Mick Cronin was sidelined with health issues. As the interim, Davis led the team to their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. This season, with Davis back in his associate coaching role, UC boasts a 23-4 record and is ranked 11th in the nation.
Once Davis left Oak Hill, Steve took over head coaching duties; a position he still holds today. Under his 32-year tenure as head coach, Oak Hill has become a national powerhouse, traveling across the country to play games and developing NBA stars such as Jerry Stackhouse, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and Rajon Rondo – a quartet that has combined for 25 All-Star Game appearances. However, that was hardly what Steve envisioned when he, as a 27-year-old, accepted the job. “I was only expecting to be here a few years,” he said.
Steve says assistant coaching offers came from several schools, such as Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Louisville, none of which made him leave Oak Hill. “I felt I had more impact and influence on high school players in Oak Hill than I would have in college. I’m big on relationships,” said the three-time Naismith High School Coach of the Year. Under Steve, Oak Hill boasts an astounding .941 winning percentage. This season, the Warriors have an 36-1 record.
During Steve’s early years at Oak Hill, he brought in Scott Chalk, a 1985 Asbury grad, to be an assistant. Chalk was a player on the Victors class team and jumped at the chance to work alongside his former coach. While there, he served as an assistant on the Gold Team full of Division I prospects and the head coach on the Red Team compiled of other Oak Hill students. “Through Oak Hill, I was able to gain ten years of experience in three years. To me, it was the absolute greatest thing that could have happened to a person if they wanted to be a coach,” said Chalk.
Chalk says he learned to work with all kinds of different talent levels through his multiple roles in Virginia before moving back to Kentucky and coaching at high schools in Williamstown and Franklin County. In 2013, he accepted a head coaching job at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, where he led the Bulldogs to a 2016 state championship.
Some branches of the Smith coaching tree have nothing to do with class ball; they’re formed through family ties. Will Shouse, class of 2002, played intercollegiate ball at Asbury and married Stuart’s daughter. After a stint coaching Kentucky Christian University, Shouse returned to his alma mater in 2008. “It’s an honor to coach on the same court I played on,” said the twelfth-year coach. While he may never have experienced class ball, Shouse claims his is able to relive it through Stuart and Winston because they keep him “pretty posted.”
Other branches need not be connected through blood lines or a coach/player relationship—they are simply a product of the Smiths’ legacy and influence at Asbury.
George Barber graduated in 1986 and went on to help Rick Pitino’s 1996 Kentucky Wildcats win the national championship as an administrative assistant. In 1999, he took over Greenville University’s Division III program, where he is the school’s all-time leader in wins. In 2017, he was named among a list of Illinois’ most distinguished men by nonprofit organization Continuing Academic Training (CAT).
Kevin Burton graduated from Asbury in 1999, then went on to coach St. Catharine, a junior college where he’d spend four years, before heading to Lambuth University in Tennessee. Five years ago, he accepted a position at Union College, where he led the Bulldogs to a 2017 NAIA Division II national championship.
One of Asbury’s mantras is “Start here and impact the world.” Based on the coaching positions held by those involved with the basketball program, the world has been impacted. “If I hadn’t coached class ball and liked it so much, I probably wouldn’t be coaching today,” said Steve, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame nominee.
Photos of Steve Smith courtesy of Asbury Archives
