[1] Smith graduated from DePauw University in 1927 where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Smith served as General Secretary of Beta Theta Pi from 1935 to 1946 and President of that organization from 1946 to 1951.
[2] Smith is also the original author of The Son of the Stars, the Beta Theta Pi pledge manual.
During Smith's tenure as president of Willamette University, he was instrumental in bringing international fraternities and sororities to that campus where only local organizations had previously existed.
This was also during Smith's second year as president of the General Fraternity of Beta Theta Pi.