Smith attended St. Augustine's College in the Bahamas, where he practiced basketball and track.
He started playing American football as a junior at George Washington High School (Denver, Colorado).
He was a three-year starter at defensive end and a Kodak All-American at Colorado College, where he also practiced rugby.
As a rookie, he was a raw player and needed to add more weight, so he played in only 5 games and spent most of the season on the inactive list.
In 1975, he was placed on the injured reserve list with a career-ending neck injury, missing all of the season.