Euclid City Schools

 Kent Smith is a blue blood. This is, he figuratively bleeds Euclid blue since his pedigree is exclusively Euclid Schools. Both his parents taught in the Euclid School district, Kent graduated from the then-new Euclid High School, he (and his wife Judy) taught at Euclid Shore Junior High School, their three sons Kent, Mark, and Jeff all graduated from Euclid High school. In addition, at least one member of the Smith family, from Kent's parents, to Kent himself, and his son Kent, has owned a home in Euclid since 1943.

Kent has been inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame because of his great skill and accuracy in serving as the official scorer for Euclid's basketball since 1966, first at Shore Junior High School for 14 seasons and then at Central Junior High for the next six seasons. He got his start at the High school when Hall of Fame Coach Doc Daugherty had Kent act as the official scorer for varsity basketball in 1978. Since that time, Kent has scored nearly all of the boys' varsity and junior varsity games.

In 1949, the current Euclid High school building was first opened as a three-year senior high school. Kent has the distinction of playing in the first basketball game ever played in that building when as a sophomore he played guard for the Panthers' junior varsity team in the preliminary game to the varsity game. He played one more season on the varsity squad for Hall of Fame Coach Jim Calvert and made his way into Euclid's record books by scoring one basket during his career as a varsity player.

He graduated from Wittenberg University in 1956 and earned his master's degree from Western Reserve University in 1958. He then began his career as a science teacher at Shore Junior High School, teaching there until Shore closed in 1983. He moved to Central Middle School until he retired in 1986.

Kent continued his teaching career at Phillips Osborne School, a private school, for 13 more years until he retired from teaching for good in 2001 after 42 years as a science teacher.

In 1986 Kent received the Euclid Teachers Association Outstanding Educator Award. In 1987 he became the first educator selected to the Euclid Schools Distinguished Achievement Hall of Fame. With his induction into the Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, he becomes the 10th person to be inducted into both of Euclid's Halls of Fame.

Kent is thrilled that he has been the official scorer for nearly 60% of Euclid's boys' varsity and JV basketball games for the past 27 seasons. He has also scored for the Euclid Sectional and District Basketball Tournaments for 27 years. For about five years he has also served as the scorer for the girls' teams.

Kent has a healthy perspective on his scoring activities over the years. He writes, "The score book has been great and more than a little work. Imagine, the best seat in the gym...everyone stops to say hello, referees, coaches, sports writers...and I get paid for it."

Inducted on October 2, 2008