Early Years
Born in Leafield, Smith was offered a pro soccer contract at the age of 16 in 1966. He turned it down, though, to pursue his education. Smith arrived in the United States in 1972 prepared to teach and coach soccer when a young camper asked him to kick an American football. Despite having had no gridiron experience at any level, his strong left foot impressed Patriots coach Chuck Fairbanks. In 1973, Smith was given a tryout; the 1973 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was the first American football game he had ever seen, let alone took part in. It made Smith the only player in NFL history to have played in the very first American football game he had ever actually attended. Smith spent that season in the Atlantic Coast Football League before re-signing with the Patriots in 1974.
John Smith was a soccer counselor at Camp Lenox in Lee, Massachusetts in 1971 and 1972. Jack Rohan, then Head Basketball coach at Columbia University, and Jerome "Leo" Leonardi the Camp's Senior Head Counselor saw his prowess as a kicker of an American Football. Rohan brought Smith to a Jets' tryout which eventually became a Boston Pats tryout and a contract with the Patriots. Said Leonardi, "John was a gentleman and a wonderful teacher. No one was surprised that he became a star in the American Football arena."
Read more about this topic: John Smith (American Football)
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