• Golden Bears football and basketball competitor (1960-63). Three-time Canada West All-Star in football and four-time All-Star in basketball.
• Quarterback of Canadian university championship football team (1963) and Wilson Challenge Trophy winner (1963).
• Defensive coordinator for Golden Bears football (1970-74). The team played in two Vanier Cups during this span, winning in 1972.
• Head coach of Golden Bears basketball (1976-79), Canada West champions in 1977.
• U of A Athletic Director (1981-85).

Truly a man for all seasons, Garry Smith has achieved success and recognition as an athlete, scholar and coach.

After graduating in 1960 from Bonnie Doon High School in Edmonton, Garry entered the University of Alberta where he received a BPE degree in 1963. He then obtained a Master of Arts at the University of Western Ontario before returning to this University to receive his PH.D in 1974 with distinction. Blended in with these academic achievements Garry managed, just before football training camp, to marry Dodie McMillan in 1963 and they began raising the first of three children before he had received his MA. During this period as well, he obtained teaching positions at the Universities of New Brunswick and Western Ontario.

The wide range and consistent quality of Garry's long involvement with sport is impressive. It began with an outstanding career in both football and basketball at the University of Alberta. Over four years in both sports he was the recipient of many individual awards, established several records, was a league all-star three years in football and four years in basketball, quarterbacked the Golden Bears to a victory in the 1963 Golden Bowl against Queen's and was awarded the Wilson Trophy in 1963.

Subsequently, Garry developed an extensive and successful coaching record in both basketball and football at three universities. He served as an assistant football coach at this University from 1971 to 1975 and as the Defensive Coordinator coached in two Vanier Cups, winning one in 1972. He then became Head Coach of the Golden Bears Basketball Team from 1976 to 1979 and competed in the National Championship in 1977.

Besides his teaching role in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, Garry served as Chairman of the Department of Athletics from 1981 to 1985 and was a member of the CIAU board of Directors from 1983 to 1985.

After his outstanding university athletic career, Garry continued to compete at a high level in basketball until 1980. Subsequently he turned to marathon competitions and has run in over a dozen marathons throughout North America.

The most recent coaching challenge for Garry Smith, however, has been Wheelchair basketball. Since 1985 he has coached the Alberta Northern Lights Wheelchair Basketball Team to five of their seven consecutive Canadian Championships. As well, he was the Assistant Coach of the National Men's Wheelchair Basketball team in the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul and the 1990 World Championships in which they won a bronze medal.

It is here that Garry has made important contributions to the development of wheelchair basketball in Canada. He has had real impact on the success of the sport in this country, but perhaps even more significant, he has enriched the lives of the athletes he has coached.

Throughout his professional and athletic career, Garry Smith has been recognized as an outstanding athlete, scholar and coach. He possesses several individual awards and records as an athlete; he has been named Coach of the Year in football, basketball and wheelchair basketball yet he still has time to serve on numerous sport advisory boards. What makes Garry a special inductee to the Wall of Fame, however, is the fact that after distinguishing himself as a sport participant, he has become a recognized leader in the field of sport sociology with innumerable lectures, presentations and published articles, including a recently published textbook.