[1][2] He learned to swim at the Riverside Park Pool in Phoenix, and secretly continued to practice diving despite being forbidden to by his mother Edna after damaging a vertebrae at age 13.

The injury occurred when Smith dove from a 48-foot tower and struck a rocky bottom, suffering a concussion, fracturing his neck and causing a four month paralysis from the waist down.

After taking time to heal, Smith snuck away to a local pool, and slowly taught himself to swim again by progressing gradually with short distances.

His family learned of his secretive rehabilitation program and progress three years later when at 16 he won both the Junior and Senior springboard titles in the Arizona State Championships.

[3] Smith attended the University of Southern California where he received an athletic scholarship to train and compete on their Swimming and Diving Team.

In addition to his diving scholarship, he earned extra money wrangling horses, continuing to ride as an avocation in later life.

[3] He was a Pacific Coast AAU and Intercollegiate Diving Champion at USC under the late Coach Fred Cady.

[1] He served as an Assistant Supervisor of Physical Education at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, beginning his career there as a Head Swimming and Diving Coach from 1950-54.

[6][1][4] From 1969-73, he served as an Assistant Professor of Physical Education and Diving Coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.

[1] Smith instructed the divers he coached, and those he judged that each dive should be a beautiful flow, a smooth blending of fast actions into a single fluid movement that displayed both elegance and grace.

[6] Retired from the U.S. Air Force after 20 years in reserve and active duty as a Colonel in 1973, he earned a Bronze Star for meritorious service.

He was a recipient of the Sammy Lee Award in 1991, presented only once in four years to a person who has brought friendship, knowledge, skill, and dedication to the sport of Diving.