This Central MN Coaching Legend Played With a Torn ACL

Longtime St. John's basketball coach Jim Smith was born and grew up in Elgin, Illinois. Jim's dad was a milkman and his mother ran the cafeteria at St. Edward's High School.  He recalls his parents being very frugal and hard working.  Smith says his first job was working on the railroad as a Gandy Dancer.  This was a nickname for a railroad worker who laid and maintained tracks before machines were used.  After 3 summers of doing that while in high school, Jim worked on roads laying asphalt during summers when he was in college.  Jim had a brother who was 6 years older than him who had cerebral palsy.  His brother later became a dedicated St. John's basketball fan.

Jim's father was a boxer while in the Marine Corp in the first World War.  He recalls boxing at family events with his cousins.  Jim says his father didn't want him to be a boxer so he traded in this boxing gloves for a basketball.  He starting playing basketball in 6th grade and continued throughout high school and then college.  Jim played high school basketball for Greg True at St. Edward's High School in Elgin, which was a small Catholic School of about 200 students.  He says True was his mentor.  Jim participated in football, basketball and track at St. Ed's.   He was a point guard and recalls halfway through his senior season tearing his ACL in his knee. Smith, at the time wasn't diagnosed with a torn ACL and there was no surgery for the injury.  In 2014 Smith underwent a total knee reconstruction and that's when he learned he had a torn ACL.

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Jim says Elgin, Illinois was a hot bed for basketball talent in the 1950s.  He recalls being 1 of 26 players to play Division I basketball from Elgin.  Smith went on to Marquette to play Division I college basketball and did so with a torn ACL.  He recalls taping it everyday and would wear a brace. Jim came off the bench during his 4 seasons at Marquette.  He enjoyed his time at Marquette and recalls coming within 1 game of the Final Four.  Smith played at Madison Square Garden a couple times and against Bill Russell, when he played for San Francisco.  Jim's head coach his freshman year was Tex Winters before he left for Kansas State and eventually Winters coached with Phil Jackson in Chicago with the Bulls.

After graduating from Marquette Jim coached the freshman team at Marquette while earning his Masters degree.  Jim's first goal after graduation was to become a Navy pilot.  He didn't pass the physical due to this bad knee.  He met his wife, Adrian at Marquette and the two got married after he earned his masters.  Smith agreed to teach Chemistry, Physics, English and History and coach football and basketball at Newman High School in Sterling, Illinois.  Smith recalls getting a call from Marquette head basketball coach Jack Nagle because he needed an assistant coach.  Jim had to get out of his contract at Newman High School to make that jump.  He was able to and stayed at Marquette as their lone assistant basketball coach for 4 years.

While at Marquette, Jim and Adrian family's was growing with 3 young children in the house.  He left Marquette to work as a counselor at high schools in Milwaukee.  Smith did that for 3 years.  Father Tucker from St. John's contacted Jim to come for a visit because they needed a basketball coach.  Jim liked what his saw at St. John's and he and his wife agreed to make the move in 1964.  Jim coached basketball at St. John's for 51 years.  While at St. John's he started the cross county program, coached track and field and golf and was the Athletic Director for 16 years.  Jim is the winningest collegiate basketball coach on any level in Minnesota.  He ended his 51st season at SJU with a 786-556 career record (.586) in 2014-15. He announced his retirement on March 17, 2015.

If you'd like to listen to my 4-part conversation with Jim Smith, it is available below.