Smiley’s Name Lives On in Scholarship

PRESCOTT - A group of teachers in the Prescott School District has created a scholarship fund in honor of former athletic director Jack Smiley, with the first recipient expected to be a 2013 graduate.

The initiators of the Jack Smiley Memorial Scholar- ship, the Prescott Education Association teachers' union, hope the popular sports fig- ure's reputation and his as- pirations for young studentathletes will inspire Prescott alumni and residents of the Touchet Valley to help sup- port it with donations.

"It's a way to remem- ber Jack and benefit stu- dents at the school," said Jeff Foertsch, a social stud- ies teacher and Waitsburg- Prescott middle school coach, who spearheaded the scholarship's creation. "We wanted to keep his name alive."

The association, which has more than 20 members, recently gave Foertsch two enthusiastic thumbs up for the idea, and Prescott graduate Paul Counts created a website to facilitate dona- tions: www.jacksmileyme- morialscholarship.com.

Foertsch, who lives in College Place and knew Smiley for a decade, said he was inspired by a neighbor, Jerry Zahl, a Walla Walla High School alum, who started a scholarship fund among past graduates that is now valued at $25,000. Zahl began a drive asking alumni to donate an annual amount corresponding to the year of their graduation, meaning that a 1995 graduate would donate $19.95 each year, Foertsch said.

"He inspired me to try it on a smaller scale," he said. The website was launched just over a week ago, and the first $100 donation has already come in.

Not knowing how well or how quickly the fund will catch on, Foertsch said the group is expected to make its first scholarship award for a modest $250 to a 2013 Ti- ger. Qualifications include a passion for and involvement in extracurricular sports and academic activities, plus a high GPA - two criteria he said reflect Smiley's lifelong encouragement of his athletes to reach high and create their own opportunities after graduation.

Smiley's surviving fam- ily members said they were in full support of the new scholarship. "We're totally on board," said Julie Doty, Smiley's daughter, who lives in Walla Walla. "He (Smiley) was always very supportive of kids furthering their education."

Doty said she, Smiley's widow Judy, and the cou- ple's son Jeff of Milton Freewater, had considered setting up a lasting legacy for Smiley, whom many in the sports community said always had the backs of the coaches and the athletes. But the family just didn't have the network to spearhead it, she said.

Doty said Smiley's fam- ily hopes to help the teachers reach out for donations beyond Prescott to other communities where Smiley lived or worked, including Walla Walla Community College where he first coached in the area.

Smiley, who had just signed on as Athletics Direc- tor at Dayton High school, passed away less than a year ago, on May 1, 2012, at age 69. He fought a rare form of liver cancer, according to his biography on the scholarship website.

Smiley was a secondary school teacher for almost 40 years, serving in Davenport, Pendleton, Hermiston, Walla Walla and Prescott, where he was AD for two decades until 2011. That year he was hired for the same po- sition by the Bulldogs. He coached basketball for 26 years and was an assistant coach in football, basketball and baseball.

At Prescott, Smiley was credited with making signifi- cant progress in getting its sport teams to be more competitive. The high school's football team made it to the state championship game in 2001 only to lose 36- 29 to a team from Inchileum (near Spokane).

"He brought class to Prescott," said Foertsch, who was the 8-men Tigers foot- ball coach before Prescott and Waitsburg formed the WP combine. "He was or- ganizedtoaTandhemade everybody feel important even though it was a small place. To him, it was about doing it right in the interest of the kids."

Raising the standards for the high school sports programs on the one hand, Smiley would encourage his athletes to "have fun" on the other. He was always willing to listen, help and mentor those under his leadership, Foertsch said.

"We're excited to get it (scholarship fund) going," he said. "Everyone wants to remember Jack in a positive way."