Ron Smart

With a half dozen athletes from the class of 1952 moving on to Division I universities and another half dozen going on to play at smaller colleges in the Northwest, many believed the AHS athletic cupboard was going to be bare.

Trimmed down maybe, but surely not bare when you have an athlete of Ron Smart’s stature returning to carry the basketball program on his broad shoulders.

When old timers start putting together one of those mythical all-time AHS football and basketball players, Ron Smart’s name is one of the first to surface.

A hard hitting lineman and a powerful inside basketball player is how Smart is best remembered by local sports enthusiasts. Smart used his 6’ 3”, 200 pound plus frame to push around smaller and less agile opponents on the gridiron as an offensive and defensive lineman.

As a junior, he was a starter on the Hall of Fame 1951 team that rolled to an 11-1 record.

With most of the 1951 squad off to college, the 1952 Fishermen struggled for victories. Smart would earn most of the team’s individual honors. During the summer of 1953, Smart represented Astoria as a starter for the State squad in the annual Shrine football game. Smart’s team won 21-13 before 21,000 fans at Multnomah Stadium.

After putting his pads away for the fall, he slipped on his Converse “Chuck Taylor’s” for the winter basketball season. Smart led the Fishermen cagers past some fo the larger schools in the state. By the end of the season, Smart held the AHS all-time single season scoring record with 481 points. His 921 career points still ranked fifth on the Fishermen all-time list at the time of his 1999 induction into the Hall of Fame.

On February 14, 1953, in Astoria’s last home game of the season, Smart was on fire. His 33 points against Central Catholic in a 75-69 win was a school record. Hal Duffy, Central Catholic’s 6’7” center, and later the pivot at the University of Oregon, was taken to school on that memorable night.

At the state tournament, Smart upped the Astoria single game record of 28, jointly held by Einar Carlson and John Fransen. With Astoria knotted and McMinnville knotted up at 46-46 after one overtime session, tournament officials called for a sudden death extra period.

With just 35 seconds off the McArthur Court score clock, Smart took a pass from teammate Dave Lum and hit a 15 foot jump shot to win the game.

Smart earned his final letter during the track and field season at the old Gyro Field oval. He became the first Astorian to hurl the discus over 140 feet. (140-8 feet)