Smith

This is the seventh in a series of articles profiling the 2007 honorees of the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame. The annual banquet is Saturday night at the Butler Days Inn.Postseason play was a part of life for former Butler High School and Geneva College quarterback Jamie Smith.The 1984 Butler graduate was a three-year starter behind center and guided the Golden Tornado to the WPIALplayoffs in each of those seasons.He was a four-year starting quarterback at Geneva and led the Golden Tornadoes to the first NAIA playoff appearance in school history his senior year. He was named one of the top 100 players in the 100-year history of Geneva football.Saturday night at the Butler Days Inn, Smith will be inducted into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame."It's a great honor. I had no idea this was going to happen,"Smith said. "My sister spearheaded the whole movement to get me in."I know I'm joining a pretty special group of athletes there."Smith was a special athlete in his own right. Even as quarterback of Center Township's Midget Football League squad, he led his team to a championship game, only to lose to South Side.Butler lost to North Hills in the WPIALchampionship game at Pitt Stadium during Smith's junior year. Butler was knocked out in the semifinals in his senior campaign, when Smith threw for 950 yards."I played quarterback my entire career, ever since I was a little kid," he said.Smith was Butler's starting point guard in basketball his junior and senior seasons, averaging in double figures during his final year. He was named the team's best shooter by the coaching staff.The Tornado basketball teams reached the WPIAL playoffs under Smith's on-court leadership as well.But football was his game. He received a full scholarship from Geneva — recommended there by former Butler and Geneva quarterback and fellow Butler Area Sports Hall of Famer Eddie Hartman."I was recruited by some bigger schools, but in Geneva, I had a chance to play for four years,"Smith said. "(Geneva coach) Gene Sullivan offered me a scholarship after he watched our team upset North Hills in Week 3, when North Hills was ranked No. 1 in the nation by USAToday. I was impressed by the school and I wanted to get on the field."We were around .500 or so for three years, then everything came together and we went 11-2 my senior year," Smith added. "We beat Westminster in the playoffs — the first time Geneva beat them in 30 years."I had one of the best games of my career that day, throwing for more than 200 yards with a high completion percentage. It's a nice memory."When Smith left Geneva, he took almost every school passing record with him. He held career records of 7,226 yards and 62 touchdown passes. He held single-season records of 2,990 yards and 26 TD tosses.Smith also threw for a school-record 375 yards in one game and threw a record four touchdown passes in a game three times.Upon graduating from college in 1987, Smith was offered a chance to play quarterback for the Professional Football Association of Italy. He did not want to relocate to Europe, however, and declined.A shortstop on the Butler High School baseball team that won a section title, Smith went on to become an all-star American Legion player and played in the Pennsylvania Legion All-Star Game.He had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles before calling it a career."A Pirate scout asked me if I was more interested in football or baseball,"Smith said. "I said I wanted to get my education, so I was leaning toward football. ... I guess that hurt my chances."