Darlington School is pleased to announce that Gordon Smith (’71), executive director and chief operating officer of the United States Tennis Association, is the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award. He was recognized today during a special luncheon and chapel service, kicking off the school’s Alumni Weekend celebration.
“Gordon Smith distinguished himself here as a student at Darlington and in his life thereafter,” said Frank Stegall (’62), chairman of the Board of Trustees. “It is my pleasure to present the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award to him today.”
As a student at Darlington, Smith was editor of the Jabberwokk and a member of the “Y” Cabinet, D-Club and Pep Club. He received the Journalism Cup, the Journalism Key and the Alice Allgood Cooper Award. He also captained the varsity tennis team and played basketball on the freshman squad, Jim Van Es’ first team at Darlington.
“We went defeated – meaning we didn’t win a game,” laughed Smith. “One day at practice, I remember Coach Van Es held up the ball and said, ‘This is a basketball. You won’t see it the rest of the week.’ And we didn’t – we spent that week running laps.”
Smith had better luck in tennis, becoming the top-ranked junior tennis player in Georgia in both singles and doubles. He was also the first player from Darlington to win a state tennis championship.
After Darlington, Smith attended the University of Georgia, where he received a B.A. in Journalism and a law degree. While there, he captained a tennis team that swept four straight Southeastern Conference titles from 1971 to 1975. He was also the SEC doubles champion in 1975 and twice earned an All-SEC selection. These successes would later earn him an induction into the Rome-Floyd County Sports Hall of Fame and the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.
Following law school, Smith clerked with the federal judiciary before joining Atlanta law firm King and Spalding, where became senior partner. He is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been listed in the publication The Best Lawyers in America for many years.
A past-president of USTA Southern, Smith was an active member of the section for the better part of two decades, serving as Southern Section counsel, vice president, delegate at large and a member of many of the section’s committees. He received the Jacobs Bowl Award as the Southern Section’s Outstanding Volunteer in 1996. He also has served on the Boards of the Southern Tennis Patrons Foundation and the Georgia Tennis Foundation.
As executive director, Smith is the USTA’s senior staff member, overseeing more than 300 employees as they work to put on the U.S. Open and support the organization’s Sectional Associations and thousands of grassroots volunteers across the country. Prior to his appointment in November 2007, he served three years as vice president of the USTA Board of Directors and, previously, as director at large. Among his posts on the Board, he was chairman of the Constitution and Rules Committee and vice chairman of the Grievance Committee. He also served as Board liaison to the Sections and to the Community Player Council, co-chairman of the USTA Tennis Plan for Growth Steering Committee, and a member of the Budget, Compensation, Public Affairs and Strategic Planning Committees. Additionally, he served on the Board of the USTA Serves, the philanthropic arm of the USTA.
“I was lucky because the day I left Darlington, I was ahead of the game. And what I left with kept me ahead of the game,” said Smith, who mentioned legendary teachers like Jack Summerbell, Carl Paxton, George Awsumb and Rick Buice in his acceptance speech. “I was prepared to excel at whatever I chose to do. For many years that was being a lawyer, but I had the opportunity four years ago to return to my first love – tennis.”
Smith remains an active member of the Darlington Community. He is a visitor emeritus, a former trustee and a former class agent. He and his wife, Jane, have three children.
“You probably don’t realize – and you won’t until sometime later in life – how lucky you are to have the great teachers you have here at Darlington,” Smith told students. “Use the head start you are getting here and keep your options open.”
Nominees for the Distinguished Alumnus Award must have distinguished themselves in one or more of the following areas since graduating from Darlington or Thornwood – notable achievement within a professional field; service to his or her community, state or nation; service to the arts, sciences or humanitarian causes; or loyalty to Darlington. After nominations have been solicited from the alumni body, the award recipient is selected by an Executive Committee of the Alumni Council, composed of the president of the Alumni Council, the chairman of the Board of Trustees and the director of alumni relations.
