Wrestling | 1/19/2018 4:15:00 PM

MICHAEL "BIGGIE" SMITH OBITUARY
MICHAEL "BIGGIE" SMITH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP PAGE

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - Bloomsburg University, and the entire wrestling community, is mourning the loss of Michael "Biggie" Smith, 70, who passed away on January 17 after a lengthy illness.

Smith was a 1965 graduate of Newport High School where he was a member of the 1963-64 undefeated wrestling team. He then graduated from Bloomsburg State College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education with a major in contemporary social studies and an M.A. degree in European history. He took post-graduate studies at the Pennsylvania State University.

Smith was a pioneer in the amateur wrestling world in Central Pennsylvania.  He was a former PIAA, Eastern Intercollegiate, AAU, and International Wrestling official and officiated numerous national and international events including the 1975 Pan American Games at Mexico City and was the official with the National AAU High School All-Star Freestyle Team to Turkey in 1976. He was the Team Leader for the Middle Atlantic AAU, was the Middle Atlantic AAU General Wrestling Chairman since 1977, served as the Middle Atlantic AAU president for two terms, served the National AAU as Junior Olympic, Senior and General Wrestling Chairman, and was an AAU Life Member. 

In 1988, he was the National AAU Wrestling Junior Olympic "Man of Year" and, in 1995, was the recipient of the National AAU Wrestling Committee's sustained Superior Award for the lifetime achievement in the sport of wrestling. He was inducted into the District III Wrestling Coaches, PA State Wrestling Coaches, West Shore Chapter of the PA Sports, the National AAU Volunteer, the AAU Wrestling, and the PA Chapters of the National Wrestling Halls of Fame.
 
Smith was also the founder and president of the Middle Atlantic Wrestling Association (MAWA) which annually attracted between 8,000 and 9,000 athletes to its competitions.  He served as the tournament director for numerous district, regional, and Eastern National Championships tournaments and annually organized teams from the Middle Atlantic area to compete in the National AAU Scholastic Duals at Disney in Florida and the National AAU Junior Olympic Games.

In 2014, he was named by Wrestling USA Magazine as Pennsylvania's Wrestling "Person of the Year" and was so honored prior to the finals of the PIAA State Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.
 
He is survived by his wife, the former Doris Jean Rudy, a daughter Tracy Hetrick, and two grandchildren Nicholas and Samantha. He was preceded in death by his parents John H. Smith, Sr. and Scivilla, a sister Mildred Curry, and a brother John H. Smith, Jr.
 
Services will be held at the Newport Family Life Center, 27 West Shortcut Road, Newport on Sunday, January 21, with David M. Myers Funeral Home, Newport, handling the arrangements. A viewing will be held on Sunday, January 21, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. with Masonic services at 2:15 p.m. conducted by Newport-Tennis Lodge No 381.  Burial will follow in the Newport Cemetery.
 
Memorial donations can be made to the Zembo Shriners Charity Fund, 2801 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110 or to the Bloomsburg University Foundation, 400 East 2nd St., Nelson Fieldhouse 263, Bloomsburg, PA 17815. Please write in the memo line ... "Biggie" Wrestling Scholarship. An online Michael "Biggie" Smith Memorial Scholarship page has also been created.