BUTLER TWP — Dan Smith grew up on baseball.

He will forever be known for softball.

Smith, 69, a 1968 Butler graduate, was recently part of the Class of 2019, USA Softball of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. The 45th annual induction banquet took place in March in Grantville.

The USA Softball Association is formerly known as the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of Pennsylvania.

“I'm on the district staff and go to those meetings every year,” Smith said. “The last thing we do is come up with the Hall of Fame inductees.

“Last year, the rest of the committee said they already had one of the inductees figured out — and pointed at me. I had a year to get ready for this.”

Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame — located in Sunbury — as an umpire. There are more than 200 members of this Hall of Fame.

Smith has been umpiring games for 38 years.

“I played baseball throughout my youth,” he said. “I never played softball until I entered the military. I joined the Navy and our ship had a softball team.

“Once I got out of the service, some of the guys started up a team and asked me to play. I've been involved with softball ever since.”

Smith had umpired American Legion baseball for a few years in the 1970s. He began working softball games in 1980 “because there was a shortage of officials even back then.”

He continued to play for softball leagues in Evans City and at Franklin Field as well.

“There were two divisions. You could play in one division, umpire in the other. That's what I did,” he said.

Smith officially retired as a softball player in 1995. He became one of the charter members of the Butler County Umpires Association and later became president of that organization.

He has held a position on the District 9 staff for 23 years.

Even today, Smith is responsible for assignment of umpires in Butler County to numerous leagues. At one point, he had registered 55 umpires.

There are 38 umpires in the Butler County Association today.

“It's not easy,” he said of assigning umpires.”The high schools are still playing and the spring and summer leagues are starting to play. You have to do a lot of shuffling.”

His wife, Judy, understands. She is a USA Softball registered umpire herself.

Despite retiring from work four years ago, Smith says he remains quite active.

“I hate the winter,” he said. “Once spring rolls around, I get busy. I'm probably out five nights a week through spring and summer working games. Then we do fast-pitch leagues in the fall.”

Smith has worked national tournaments and “received quality ratings that enabled me to work the finals. I'm always proud of that.”

Smith has umpired four ASA National Championships in Meadville and Alabama, along with the 14-under Class A Eastern National Championships in York last year.

He is also a member of the National Indicator Fraternity of USA Softball, one of the highest awards given to USA/ASA umpires.

“As long as I'm healthy enough to do it, I'll keep doing it,” Smith said of umpiring. “It's one of the things that keeps me healthy.”