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After years of
dedicated service, both as a competitive wrestler and
head coach, Jeff Smith was inducted into the
California High School Wrestling Hall of Fame over the
weekend at the state championships in Bakersfield.
Smith, who has spent the last five years as the Athletic
Director at Cerritos College, spent 21 years as the
Falcons head wrestling coach. For his services, Smith
was inducted as both a California wrestler and head
coach.
In his
competitive years, Smith was a USA Senior Freestyle
champion (1972), Pan Am Gold Medalist (1972), USA Senior
Greco-Roman champion (1970), a two-time AAU-All-American
(1969 & 1971) and a four-time United States Wrestling
Federation/USA All-American. He won the national
championship in Greco-Roman in 1970 and the freestyle
national championship in 1972. Smith was also an
alternate on the 1972 Olympic Team after an injury
knocked him out of the trials.
While wrestling
at Cerritos College from 1966-67, he was a California
Community College state championship before accepting a
scholarship at Michigan State University. While with the
Spartans from 1968-69, he posted a 50-2 record with 23
pins, while winning two Big Ten Championships and was an
NCAA runner-up his senior year. His only other loss was
in the semi-finals of the NCAA Championship his junior
year, where he took third place. He was a two-time
All-American and was named the Michigan State University
Most Outstanding wrestler his two seasons with the
Spartans.
In his coaching
career, Smith started at Arroyo High School in El Monte,
leading the team to their first league title in
wrestling before he moved on to Artesia High School,
where his teams won league titles the next four years in
a row. He took over the program at Cerritos College in
1978, where his success continued with 12 South Coast
Conference championships in his 21 seasons. He led the
Falcons to the 1995 state championship, while they also
won two State Dual Meet championships and were runner-up
three other times. During the 1995 season, Smith was
named the state Coach of the Year.
Prior to being inducted into the
California High School Wrestling Hall of Fame, Smith was
inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,
located in Stillwater, OK, where he received the
Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award. The Lifetime
Service to Wrestling is given in recognition of years of
dedication to the development of leadership and
citizenship in young people through the sport of
wrestling. |
