Visitation will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21 at the Newport Family Life Center, 27 W. Shortcut Road, Newport, Pa. A Masonic funeral service -- conducted by Newport-Tennis Lodge No. 381 -- will begin at 2:15 p.m. at the Newport Family Life Center with Rev. Mary Kay Miller officiating. Burial will follow in the Newport Cemetery.
Mike "Biggie" SmithBorn in April 1947, Michael L. Smith had a lifelong passion for wrestling, with an involvement in the sport in multiple ways spanning more than a half-century. A 1965 graduate of Newport High School, Smith was a number of the undefeated 1963-64 wrestling team. After graduating from Bloomsburg University, Smith returned to his high school alma mater, where he served as a faculty member, wrestling coach and athletic director.
Smith's impact on wrestling extended far beyond central Pennsylvania. He was the proprietor of D.J. Sportwear, a national and international retailer of amateur wrestling products based in Newport. Smith was also founder and president of the Middle Atlantic Wrestling Association which hosted events attracting between 8,000 and 9,000 athletes each year. He served at the tournament director for numerous district, regional and Eastern National Championships tournaments. Each year, Smith 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.
If that weren't enough, the man affectionately known as "Biggie" was a former wrestling official who worked PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association), Eastern Intercollegiate, AAU and international wrestling 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.
For all these contributions to wrestling, Mike Smith was named by Wrestling USA Magazine as Pennsylvania's Wrestling "Person of the Year" in 2014, and was honored prior to the finals of the PIAA State Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.
What's more, Smith had been inducted into a number of Halls of Fame, including the District III Wrestling Coaches Hall, Pennsylvania State Wrestling Coaches Hall, West Shore Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall, the National AAU Volunteer Hall, the AAU Wrestling Hall, and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Michael L. Smith is survived by his wife, the former Doris Jean Rudy; a daughter, Tracy Hetrick; and two grandchildren, Nicholas and Samantha.
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