Long before Harry Smith and his Central College baseball cap became familiar breakfast companions to the nation’s television news viewers, his college athletics career had a less-glamorous launch.
When he enrolled at Central in the fall of 1969, basketball games were held in the old college gym, “that tiny, tiny little building,” Smith recalled. He and his football teammates showered in a makeshift locker room in the basement of the Cox-Snow Music Center, adjacent to old A.N. Kuyper Stadium, turf now occupied by the Kruidenier Center and the Vermeer Science Center.
More than 50 years later, Smith, an NBC News correspondent frequently featured on “Sunday TODAY,” needed little convincing in supporting Central’s Forever Dutch initiative and the $18 million renovation/expansion of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium, the building which opened at the start of his sophomore year. A Central trustee, Smith and his wife, NBC sportscaster Andrea Joyce, have given more than $550,000 toward the initiative and are helping the college barrel towards the finish line of the $3-million phase to complete a transformation of the building’s upper level. It will feature team meeting space, a new welcome center, recruitment space, offices and a visitor locker room.
“Harry’s contributions to Central extend far beyond his significant financial support,” said Central president Mark Putnam. “As one of Central’s most visible graduates, he gives so much of himself on the college’s behalf. On countless occasions, he’s traveled to campus to emcee events, hosted visitors in New York City and spoken with current and prospective students, while also providing a wise and respected voice among our trustees. We’re deeply grateful for not only all Harry does, but for who he is.”
Crews are wrapping up a lower-level renovation of the 51-year-old gymnasium, launched Feb. 24. The work includes construction of an expansive women’s varsity locker room with a team meeting room, a reconfigured athletic training room that will provide more treatment space and an enlarged athletics equipment room. It is hoped that fund-raising efforts will allow construction workers to seamlessly transition to the next renovation phase later this fall.
The engaging Emmy Award-winning journalist has traversed the globe, interviewing leaders like Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama and Margaret Thatcher as well as celebrities ranging from Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio and Usher to Bob Newhart and Madonna. He’s covered world-changing events like the Persian Gulf War, Hurricane Katrina and the shootings at Virginia Tech University.
But to catch the ever-poised newsman finally overwhelmed by the moment, listen to the final seconds tick away in the Central football team’s come-from-behind 50-49 overtime victory at Whitworth College (Wash.) in 2016, when he joined KRLS Radio sportscaster Trevor Castle and color commentator Don De Waard ’82 in the booth. Smith is the one screaming, “Yessss! Yesss! Yesss!” after Kohle Helle dove across the goal-line for the do-or-die two-point conversion.