When he retired as executive sports editor in 1992, James N. “Jimmy” Smyth had completed forty-six years with the “Johnson City Press-Chronicle” and was dean of Tennessee’s active sports editors. Valedictorian and senior class president of his 1937 Honaker (Virginia) High School, Smyth got his B.A. from Emory and Henry in 1941 and went to work for the “Press-Chronicle” as cub reporter. After stints as sports editor of the “Bluefield” (West Virginia) “Sunset News” and service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he returned to the “Johnson City Press-Chronicle”, where he was to remain until his retirement. Smyth, who was inducted into the Emory and Henry Hall of Fame and the Northeast Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, also saw the “Press-Chronicle” sports pages win a host of Tennessee press awards. He was official scorer of Bluefield and Johnson City pro baseball games while running Johnson City sports as a one-man department. As his sports staff grew, Smyth was given free rein on national coverage and as a result, he covered nineteen NCAA Final Fours, twenty-six Kentucky Derbys, 340 Winston Cup races, nineteen college football bowl games, and the 1966 Heisman Award ceremonies in New York when Johnson City native Steve Spurrier was the recipient. “Jimmy” Smyth had a long and prestigious career and will always be remembered for his fine contributions to sportswriting and editing, not only in the state of Tennessee, but on the national level as well.
