University of Memphis Athletics
M Club Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1979
Alvin E. “Doc” Smith served as the head athletic trainer at then Memphis State University for 19 years prior to his untimely death in 1979. A native of Kingman, Kansas, “Doc” Smith attended Sterling College, where as an all around athlete, he lettered in football, basketball and track. After receiving his B.S. degree from Sterling, he taught and was an assistant coach at Bazine (KS) High School for four years. In 1953, Doc moved on to Indiana University where he received his master’s degree in Health and Safety with an special emphasis in athletic training. In 1960 Smith became the first certified athletic trainer at the University when he joined Billy J. Murphy, then the head football coach of the Tigers, and began his long association with the Tigers. For 19 years he dedicated his life to his family, his work with young athletes and to the National Athletic Trainers Association. On the regional and national level, Smith was an active member of SEATA and the NATA. He was elected Vice-Director of SEATA in 1971 and served in that capacity until becoming District Director in 1973 where he represented District IX on the NATA Board of Directors until 1976. He was selected as the athletic trainer for the 1973 USA-China All-Star basketball trip, becoming a member of one of the first American groups to ever tour communist China. He later served as the Chairman of the 1979 NATA National Convention held in St. Louis, Missouri. Smith was a featured speaker at numerous sports medicine clinics held around the Mid-South and was a major force for legislation of athletic training certification in the state of Tennessee during the late 1970’s. During his years at Memphis, Smith saw his beloved Tigers play in the 1971 Pasadena Bowl in California and advance to the NCAA National Championship basketball game against UCLA in 1973. He was inducted into the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame in October of 1979. Following his death at age 52, the Eugene “Doc” Smith Scholarship Fund was established and is presented to a graduate assistant football trainer at Memphis each year. He was inducted into the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society Hall of Fame in 1995. TATS named their College Athletic Trainer Award the Eugene Smith/Mickey O’Brien College Athletic Trainer if the Year in honor of two the state’s more beloved collegiate figures. Smith was inducted into the Southeastern Athletic Trainer Association Class of 2009 Hall of Fame.
