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June 27, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -Former University of Virginia Associate AthleticMediaRelations Director Doyle Smith is one of 10 individuals selected to theNational Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Members of the 43rd class of inducteeshavecontributed to the sport as players, coaches, officials andadministrators.
Smith, who served at UVa from 1968 until his retirement last year, isoneof the nation’s foremost authorities on the sport as his name issynonymouswith the game’s history and record keeping.
His involvement with the sport began as a student at Johns Hopkins inthe1960s where he served as team manager and statistician. A 1966 Phi BetaKappa graduate with a major in history, he continued to serve theHopkinsprogram as a graduate student for two more years before earning amaster’sdegree in American History. He enrolled at UVa for graduate in the fallof1968 and worked with the Cavalier program until his retirement.
In addition, Smith served as the information director compiling theweeklyrankings and statistics for the United States Intercollegiate LacrosseAssociation (USILA) from 1973-95. The USILA’s annual media award isnamedin his honor. He has been named the USILA Man of the Year twice (1984and1993) and has received both the USILA’s Service Award and the GeneralGelston Award from HERO’S, Inc. He served as the coordinator of officialstatistics for the semifinal and championship games of the NCAA Men’sLacrosse Tournament for many years, and was one of the first 10individualsselected to the Virginia Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1995.
Smith’s contributions to lacrosse, and college athletics in general,havegarnered him many accolades. The College Sports Information Directors ofAmerica (CoSIDA) gave him the prestigious Lifetime Membership Award forhismany years of service in athletic publicity. Earlier this month theVirginia Sports Information Directors Association honored him with theVaSID Distinguished Service Award. He is also the only two-timerecipientof the Bus Male Service Award for his untiring and devoted service toUVaathletics.
Joining Smith in the class of 2000 are: Michael A. Buzzell, Navy 1980,AnnO. Coakley, Boston Women’s Lacrosse, Kevin A. Cook, Cornell 1984, SusanDelaney-Scheetz, West Chester 1969, Betsy Williams Dougherty, Penn State1984, Janice Rensimer Kuklick, West Chester State, John WesleyPatterson,Springfield 1951, Lawrence J. Quinn, Johns Hopkins 1985, and LindaSwartzRoth, West Chester. The group includes the National Lacrosse Hall ofFame’syoungest male (Quinn) and female (Dougherty) members. It also featuresthree West Chester graduates (Delaney-Scheetz, Kuklick and Roth) and aninductee (Delaney-Scheetz) who coached one of the other inductees(Dougherty) at Penn State.
This class brings the total number of men and women inducted in theNational Lacrosse Hall of Fame to 273. Each inductee was selected from apool of more than 200 nominees. Candidates are nominated through aquestionnaire, filled out either by the nominee or someone on his or herbehalf. The qualifications of the men’s and women’s nominatingcommittees’top 30 choices are put to a national popular ballot and voted upon by arandom selection of current hall of fame members, coaches, officials,reporters and board members. The votes are compiled by the nominatingcommittees and are used as a guide in the selection of the top 10candidates. The committees present a final slate of nominees to the USLacrosse Board of Directors for approval at their meeting in June.
The 2000 class will be honored Oct. 27 at a formal induction ceremonyanddinner at The Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md.