V9 N. 52 Dean Smith, An American Gold Medallist You May Not Know

Dean Smith

Thanks to Ricardo Romo for putting me onto the Dean Smith story.  Smith was a Texas Longhorn football player and track sprinter in the late 1940s and early 1950s and one of the fastest men in the US and the planet at that time.  He made the US team in 1952 with Lindy Remigino and finished a close fourth in the 100 meters, then came back in the 4x100 meters and earned a gold medal.  Smith had grown up on a ranch in Texas and had a lot of the skills of a cowboy which would serve him well for the rest of his life.  He had a friend in Hollywood and turned up there after the Olympics and got a job as a stuntman.  His career would enable him to be in ten of John Wayne's western movies including "The Alamo" and "Rio Bravo".  Once he even did a stunt for Maureen O'Hara decked out in a red haired wig.  

Smith between MaDonald Bailey and Lindy Remigino

The Gold Medal 4x100 Relay Team
Harrison Dillar, Lindy Remigino, Andy Stanfield, and Dean Smith

As a Texas Longhorn

With James Garner on the "Maverick" Set

At the 1952 NCAA meet Smith and Remigino only finished 4th and 5th, with Jim Golliday of Northwestern winning.  He would get injured and not make it to Helsinki.  Art Bragg was second at the NCAA and won the Olympic trials but was eliminated in the semis at Helsinki.  It would be up to Remigino and Smith to come through for the Americans and the finish was one of the closest ever with only 0.12 seconds separating 1st from 6th places.Smith still feels he might have deserved the bronze or at least a share of it with E. MaDonald Bailey of Great Britain.  He also notes in the video below that Bailey seems to have run into his lane during the race.  

Here is s 7 minute video of Smith and Remigino discussing their experiences at Helsinki. 

Dean Smith at Helsinki   clik here




Smith recently published a memoir,   "Cowboy Stuntman, From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen".

Smith was born Finis Dean Smith in Breckenridge, Texas,  January 15, 1932.  He won the AAU 100 meters in 1952.   He also had run a 9.4 100 yards.  After the Olympics he did an army hitch, then  signed with the Los Angeles Rams  and later the Pittsburgh Steelers but did not play in any regular season NFL games.  By then his Hollywood career was taking off and he was also competing in the rodeo circuit in bronc riding and calf roping.  

Some of the 100+ films he has appeared in are The Comancheros, How the West Was Won,   McLintock,    Big Jake,  and TV episodes of  Maverick,  Gunsmoke,  Lawman,  Have Gun Will Travel,   and Walker, Texas Ranger

With Maureen O'Hara on the "McClintock!" set

. 

“I could ride, run and jump.  That was my life.”  Dean Smith

By the way,  Dean Smith is still alive.