Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Adrian "Odie" Smith

Former UK men's basketball standout, and member of Adolph Rupp's 1958 Fiddlin' Five National Championship team, Adrian “Odie” Smith was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 1960 gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic basketball team. The 1960 team was one of two teams and eight individuals honored at this years induction ceremony.

Smith is a native of Farmington, Ky and played two years at a junior college before receiving a scholarship to play at UK. Smith averaged 10.1 ppg in two years at UK. After college Smith joined the Army and played for two Army All-Star teams. While in the Army, Smith won gold medals for the U.S. in the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago and the 1960 Rome Olympics.

After his stint in the army Smith played ten years in the NBA with the Cincinnati Royals and the San Francisco Warriors. He was MVP of the 1966 NBA All-Star Game held in Cincinnati, playing with and against players including Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Rick Barry to win the honors. Photograph digital id [KUKAV-1997AV27-3570].