RH Newsletter Feb 2026 - Flipbook - Page 11
Basketball Legend Bill Smith
Returns to Rush-Henrietta
As a teenager, Bill Smith towered over
his opponents on the hardwoods. The
local basketball legend – standing
seven feet tall — dominated with a
soft, deceptive touch. A force in the
paint, he was a classic post player
who rarely shot outside 15 feet. Yet,
he perfected hook shots with both
hands and maintained an exceptional
free-throw percentage for a man of
his size.
Smith reminisced about his time in
Rush-Henrietta while visiting the
district this past fall; he was in town
to be inducted into the Section V
Hall of Fame. Smith is remembered
as one of the area’s most dominant
basketball players. His coaches and
teammates recall him setting the
team’s single-game scoring record –
an incredible 43 points in support
of his Rush-Henrietta squad against
Brighton.
In 1967, Rush-Henrietta’s varsity
basketball team won the Monroe
County AA Championship for a
second consecutive year. Smith
influenced a new generation and
helped jumpstart basketball success
throughout the district. After seeing
him play, many children flocked to
the gymnasium, inspired to learn
basketball. “Kids that were my age
idolized the players on that team,
especially Bill,” says Ed Pierce, a 1971
R-H graduate who joined Smith for
this trip down memory lane.
After graduating from Rush-Henrietta
in 1967, Smith arrived at Syracuse
University. He earned legend status
there, too, pairing scoring ability
with his relentless rebounding. Smith
averaged a staggering 22 points and 14
rebounds per game in his final season
and drew national attention as one of
the premier big men in the country.
His senior-year performance earned
his place in a statistical stratosphere
that has almost vanished from the
modern game.
The 1967 edition of the Cometeer,
Rush-Henrietta’s high school
yearbook, described basketball
player Bill Smith both
accurately and succinctly.
In 1971, the Portland Trail Blazers
selected Smith with the ninth pick
in the first round of the NBA draft.
Smith went one-on-one in the paint
with legends including Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and
Moses Malone. His coach directed
Smith to go hard after Abdul-Jabbar,
considered one of the all-time greats,
during one game. He did as instructed
and left the game in quick fashion.
“I managed to get all six fouls in the
first half,” Smith recalls, with a laugh.
Nearly 60 years after dominating the
hardwoods for Rush-Henrietta,
Bill Smith is still an imposing figure.
We caught up with him this fall when
he returned to his hometown.
Smith proved he belonged in the pros
but soon sufferered a career-ending
knee injury. It was an unfortunate end
to what could have been a brilliant
professional career. Smith found
success in other ways, though. He
pursued a second act in finance,
translating the intensity and strong
leadership he displayed on the court
into a successful career in financial
services with Merrill Lynch and Smith
Barney in Oregon, where he still lives
today. Now 77, Smith anchored a
family life with Mary, his high school
sweetheart, and kept close ties with
his hometown.
“It all started for me right here in
Rush-Henrietta,” Smith says.
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