Hall of Fame
Billy Smith may have been a small, muscular man at 5-6, 180 pounds, but his capacity to convert that strength into unbridled energy allowed him to become one of the greatest sprinters and hurdlers ever to compete at Wayne State.
Smith's athletic roots were planted at an early age and after winning the Detroit Public School League high hurdles title, he enrolled at Wayne State and came under the direction of head coach David L. Holmes, a charter selection to the Wayne State Hall of Fame in 1976.
Holmes dubbed Billy with the nickname "Fireball" due to his extremely intense and competitive nature and because he always was brimming with an overabundance of nervous energy.
Smith earned letters in track and field during the 1951, 1953, and 1956 campaigns, and also lettered in football in 1951. He was forced to take a two-year absence from college track when he entered the army, but continued to excel on the cinders in the military, clocking a 21.3 in the 200-meter dash while stationed in Europe in 1954.
Rising to national prominence in the college track and field ranks after his return from overseas in 1955, Smith established an unofficial world record for the 65-yard low hurdles when he recorded a time of 7.2 in the finals of the 1956 Central Collegiate Indoor Championships and defeated the world-renowned Albie Lewis by three yards. He also played an integral role in helping the 1956 Tartar thinclad unit capture the Presidents' Athletic Conference Track and Field Championship.
Following his graduation from Wayne State, Smith was chosen by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as one of only six men to compete on a tour of the Far East in 1958. He also became one of the founding members of the Detroit Track Club in 1958 and became an instrumental force in the success of that operation, winning the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.3 at the Chicagoland Invitational, and serving as a member of the 1958 880-yard relay team which established a new world indoor record time of 1:30.3 in that event.
Smith's best career times included 5.4 in the 50-yard dash, 6.0 in the 50-yard low hurdles, 6.2 in the 60-yard dash, 7.2 in the 60-yard low hurdles, 7.2 in the 65-yard low hurdles, 8.0 in the 70-yard low hurdles, and 9.7 in the 100-yard dash.
