A native of Nashville, Bob Dudley Smith attended West End High School where he lettered in basketball, baseball and tennis. In his junior year (1946-47), he was named to the All-Tournament State Basketball Team. As a senior, he received the Nashville Banner Basketball’s Most Valuable Player award.
Following high school graduation, Smith was offered a basketball/baseball scholarship to Vanderbilt University, which was the school’s second basketball scholarship ever offered. At the same time, he was also offered a contract with the Boston Red Sox organization, but decided to accept the offer to go to Vanderbilt.
In 1949-51, the Vandy basketball team was ranked in the Top 20 in the nation; and the 1951-52 team is the only team in the school’s history to win the SEC Basketball Tournament. On that team, Smith was named to the regular season All-SEC team selected by the coaches.
After graduation from Vanderbilt, he was activated by the United States Naval Reserve and served his country during the Korean War until March, 1954. He was invited to spring training with the New York Giants baseball team, and signed on with Carl Hubbell.
After playing three years in the minor leagues, he decided to leave baseball and enter the business world. In later years, he excelled on the Senior’s Tennis Circuit, playing in tournaments around the world. Vanderbilt selected the Top 100 Athletes of the Century and Bob was ranked 87th overall and 28th in basketball.