Stephen Smith’s passion for sports began with his own successful athletic career. After graduating as a three-sport letterman from Battle Ground Academy, Steve Smith pitched for the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raider baseball team, playing an important role in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship team in 1976 and overcame a life-threatening auto accident in 1977 to lead MTSU to a Western Division OVC Championship.
His lifelong love of baseball continued as a recommending scout with the St. Louis Cardinals, then as an amateur player and coach, where he made the All Tri-State City League. Smith was an original partner and Board Member of the Nashville Sounds, a Nashville Old Timers Baseball Association board member and winner of the Association’s 2009 “Mr. Baseball” award. Along with baseball, Smith was an original partner in bringing professional hockey (Nashville South Stars) and professional basketball (Music City Jammers) to Nashville.
His love for MTSU never waned, and over the years, Smith led the effort for MTSU to construct the first lighted college baseball stadium in Tennessee, MTSU’s new baseball clubhouse – named in his honor – and the new and current 3,000-seat baseball stadium. He helped found the Blue Raider Athletic Association, was elected to the Blue Raider Hall of Fame in 2004, and currently serves as the inaugural chairman of the MTSU Board of Trustees, where today he leads the effort to build $100 million in athletic improvements on campus.
Smith has also been a lifelong horseman. As a rider, he has won 10 World Championships, including the 1992 Amateur World Grand Championship. He was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Hall of Fame in 2001 and received the Reese Smith Award for Leadership in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry.