Feature: Steve Smith

AN EXEMPLAR OF MSU FAMILY VALUES

Steve Smith's $2.5 million gift to MSU--the largest ever by a pro athlete to his alma mater--honors his late mother, his university and his high school. Reflecting his past, Steve Smith's gift to Michigan State ranks as the ultimate prologue of a Spartan champion. In his youth, Smith enjoyed a huge advantage--the disciplined guidance of loving parents.

He flourished as a student-athlete in Michigan State's nurturing environment from 1987-91. Despite his superstardom on the basketball court, he remained a quiet achiever, never thumping his chest. In Steve's version of Teddy Roosevelt's maxim, he spoke softly but let his achievements explode with 'big stick' power.

His gift of $2.5 million to Michigan State, the largest ever by a professional athlete to a university, reflects that quintessential style. It was a simple, straighforward act, motivated by his desire to honor his university and his mother. Yet consider just these multiple impacts:

• It put MSU's $6 million capital campaign drive for the academic center for student athletes (Summer 1996, pp. 10-12) over the top.
• By naming the center after his late mother, Clara Bell Smith, and by endowing a scholarship for Detroit Pershing students attending MSU, he restored national prominence to the time-honored concept of 'family values.'
• In an era when greed and neon-haired boorishness is glorified, Smith stood tall as an inspirational model for our nation's youth.

The story of Steve Smith is worth telling for many reasons. It is a tale of simple beauty, packed with tremendous moral power. It resonates with truth and values. It goes to the core of what is right with America.

On Monday, January 6, 1997, Steve Smith stood before the national media assembled at a hotel in Buckhead, a suburb of Atlanta. The press conference was uplinked via satellite to a media gathering at WKAR-TV studios in East Lansing, courtesy of the tech wizards in MSU's Dept. of Public Relations. Tall and slender as always, Smith, starting guard for the Atlanta Hawks, stood high above the podium and explained why he will donate a record $2.5 million to name the Clara Bell Smith Academic Center for Student Athletes.

With President Peter McPherson, Development Vice President Chuck Webb, and Ralph Young Fund director Terry Braverman on hand, as well as Stan Kasten, president of the Atlanta Hawks and Braves, Lee Douglas, executive vice president of the Hawks, and many other VIPs assembled in East Lansing, Smith articulated a logic that was as simple and elegant as the arc of a perfect trey that hits nothing but net. 'I am making (this contribution) in honor of both the future and the past,' he declared. 'In the future, student-athletes at Michigan State will be able to have the finest possible facility to reach their academic goals. 'But this gift to the future has roots in the past. It is given in honor of those who have helped me attain my dream.'

After acknowledging his father Donald, his brother Dennis, his wife Millie, his agent Dr. Charles Tucker, his lawyers ('the hardest working guys in the world,' he says) Jack Davis and Howard Soifer (whom Steve calls 'Big Howie One' after his email name), from the Lansing law firm Loomis, Ewert, Parsley, Davis & Gotting, and his college coaches Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo, Smith cut to the chase on why he chose to name the academic center after his mother. 'Without her,' he explained, 'there would be no press conference today. There would be no gift. There would be no Steve Smith able to make such a gift. I consider this her gift to education, given through me.' Smith continued, 'I have had great coaches, but none greater than my mother. I have had great role models, but none greater than my mom. I have had great teammates and fans, but none greater than Clara Bell Smith.'

As a lasting tribute to his late mother, who died of cancer in 1992, his rookie year in the NBA, Smith could not have picked a more perfect vehicle, since the academic center will go a long way towards helping future Spartans succeed in both athletics and academics--exactly what Clara Bell wished for Steve. 'My mom had high expectations for me,' Steve explained. 'She gave me the confidence and the will to succeed. Because I had this kind of support, I want to give to others the same kind of help.'

Steve's eternal respect for his late mother can be seen at every Atlanta Hawk game. On his right arm's triceps area is a bell-shaped tattoo, with 'Bell' for his mother's nickname, along with the name 'Janice' in honor of his late sister. He touches it before shooting every free throw. 'It motivates me,' he explains. 'It gives me inner strength. It gives me something that I'm always thinking about to let me know and to let them know that I'm always thinking about them.' 'And,' he adds with a smile, 'it helps me with my free throws, I think.'

MSU's campaign for the academic center had been going well under the leadership of campaign co-chairs Peter Secchia, industrialist from Grand Rapids and former U.S. ambassador to Italy, and superstar Kirk Gibson, whose heroics on the baseball diamond and gridiron will soon be told in an upcoming autobiography. Many donors--including football coach Nick Saban and Tom Izzo, who were also at the Atlanta press conference--made sizeable 'Inner Circle' donations. But the Smith gift gave the campaign its definitive 'big stick' closure.

The outpouring of praise following Steve's gift resulted as much from the sheer amount as from its thoughtful focus. And praise came from coast to coast, from leaders in education, business and politics, to talk shows, editorials and even columns from the most grizzled of media cynics.

Said President McPherson in Atlanta: 'In a world where people decry the lack of role models . . . we have today two role models who deserve our thanks and admiration: Clara Bell Smith and her son Steve. After today, Steve will be known as a man who had both convictions and the courage of those convictions--a Spartan whose gifts on the court were transferred to gifts off the court.' Michigan Gov. John Engler added, 'Steve Smith is creating a legacy--a legacy of honoring one's parents, a legacy of giving back, and a legacy of helping the next young person fulfill his or her dreams. . . This act of generosity will endure through the generations.'

Campaign co-chair Ambassador Secchia said, 'This is a remarkable gift from a remarkable man. It is extremely satisfying to see someone like Steve Smith, who is so talented and has accomplished so much in his young life, pay tribute to those who helped him along the way.' Added Campaign co-chair Gibson, 'Steve's commitment to Michigan State and the student athletes who will follow in his footsteps is tremendous. He is one of the select few athletes who have stepped forward to show their support, and I believe this will help motivate others to do the same.'

Steve Smith was born in 1969 in Highland Park to a family that really gave him the most important things one needs to succeed. They include love, discipline, and a strong guidance on what's truly important in life. Donald Smith is a very special father who, as Steve acknowledged, 'taught me everything there is to know about hard work, values, and making a difference in life.'

In one media profile, under the category of things he enjoyed doing, Steve cited 'hanging out with my dad.' For more than three decades, Donald drove a city bus in Detroit. At times, he worked three jobs, including driving environmental trucks, to make ends meet. 'There isn't a street I don't know (in Detroit),' he says. Because of that strenuous work schedule, he says, the day-to-day task of directing Steve fell on Clara Bell.