Jamie Smith

BUTLER TWP — Jamie Smith seemed destined to be a quarterback — and a winner.

The 1984 Butler graduate, a three-year starting quarterback and three-sport standout with the Golden Tornado, will be inducted into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame Dec. 21.

“My favorite high school sports memory is being on so many playoff teams in the different sports,” Smith said.

Also a record-setting quarterbavk at Geneva College, Smith was inducted into the Beaver County Hall of Fame. He entered the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

“This (high school) induction is special to my family and friends, too,” Smith said. “The success I had in high school would not have been possible without their support.”

Smith played quarterback for Center Township of the Butler Area Midget Football League and led his team to the BAMFL championship game. Butler reached the WPIAL title game vs. North Hills in 1982, Smith's junior year. The Golden Tornado reached the WPIAL semifinals his senior season.

Overall, Butler was 21-9-3 in Smith's three years behind center. He threw for 2,261 yards and 19 touchdowns in high school.

“I was surprised to be starting as a sophomore,” he admitted. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Smith played in the Big 33 Game his senior year and was one of the top passers in the WPIAL.

Smith started at point guard for the Butler basketball team his junior and senior year. He was named the Team's Best Shooter his senior year. Those teams made the WPIAL playoffs as well.

A shortstop in baseball, he helped the Tornado win a section championship and make the WPIAL playoffs. Smith lettered for four years in basketball and baseball.

He played football and baseball at Geneva College.

“It was a smaller school and I knew I'd have a chance to start as a freshman,” Smith said of Geneva. “Coach (Gene) Sullivan was great and had a lot to do with me going there, too.

“I received a full scholarship. That didn't hurt, either.”

Upn his graduation from Geneva, Smith held school records of 7,032 yards in total offense, 7,226 passing yards and 62 touchdown passes. He still ranks second in TD passes and third in passing yardage at the school.

Smith also set single-season records of 2,990 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes and 2,967 offensive yards at Geneva. His 375 yards passing and four TD passes were single-game records as well.

“We reached the (NAIA) championship game my senior year, finishing 11-2,” Smith recalled. “We lost to Wisconsin-Stevens Point, but they were later ruled to have used ineligible players in that game.

“We beat Westminster in the playoffs and that was the first time Geneva had beaten them in 30 years. That was pretty exciting.”

Smith was offered a chance to play pro football in Italy upon his college graduation in 1987, but turned it down.

“I was ready to give football up at that point,” he said. “I was done.”

Now employed in financial administration, Smith and his wife, Michele, have three children. Daughters Madelyn and Jeralyn were competitive cheerleaders at Butler High School.

Their son, Jamison, was a quarterback for the Golden Tornado and is now a lacrosse player in his senior year at Wheeling Jesuit.

Smith was named one of the top 100 football players in 100 years of football at Geneva.

“That was fun, going back there and getting together with the other players,” he said. “It's always fun to look back.”