A 6'1" guard/forward from Rutherford County, North Carolina, Smawley was one of the first basketball players to regularly use the jump shot.

Basketball historian John Christgau has concluded that Smawley and Kenny Sailors of rural Wyoming were using jump shots as early as 1934.

From 1946 to 1952, Smawley competed for the St. Louis Bombers, Syracuse Nationals, and Baltimore Bullets, averaging 12.7 points per game.

During the 1948–49 BAA season, Smawley ranked sixth in the league in total points and fourth in field goals made.

[4] In December 1951, he took a three-month leave of absence from Pembroke State College to finish his playing career with the Baltimore Bullets.