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Hey, nice guy. What's easy now? Rambo 59. Get on the ball Rambo. Welcome to the Forgotten quarterbacks, hosted by W Earl Kitchens. Our podcast is dedicated to preserving the legacies of black quarterbacks who've. Played the game of American football, and now here's your host, w Earl Kitchens. Good evening and welcome to another edition of the Forgotten Quarterbacks. I'm your host w Earl Kitchens, and it is our duty and job here at the forgotten quarterbacks to make sure we remember the lives and legacies of black quarterbacks who have played the game of American football. These men have. Dedicated themselves to their crafts and their sports, and they have done extraordinary work on the grid iron. And it is our job here at the forgotten quarterbacks to make sure that their lives, their legacies, that history that they provided is never forgotten. The forgotten quarterbacks is a production of quarter five back, the preeminent fraternity for black quarterbacks. And underwritten by the Mentors Foundation tonight, our legacy is about a guy who comes out of the state of Oklahoma. He was a high school and college star during his days in Oklahoma, especially during the days of the integration era. And that man would be Mr. Donald Smith. Located halfway between Oklahoma City and Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, an area known as Ardmore. Oklahoma is about 200 miles from Tulsa, a community of 30,000 people. This outstanding quarterback was from a community that had about 2000 black people. And somewhat of a microcosm of Tulsa. During the era of segregation in America, there was a small segment of town where black citizens lived and worked along with having a vibrant business community that flourished. Many of the black high schools during that time were named after important black Americans of the late 18 hundreds named such as Booker t Washington, Paul Lawrence, Dunbar. Phyllis Wheatley or Frederick Douglas in Ardmore, Frederick Douglas Senior High was that educational bastion where black citizens and their children had a deep connection and loyalty. During the early years of segregation. In the 19 hundreds Douglass fielded football teams. With the 19 31, 32, 36, and even the 1952 teams winning state championships in the old OIAA, the Oklahoma Interscholastic Athletic Association, the OIAA was the governing athletic body for black schools up until 1955. Their last title came in 1957. Segregated competition remained in Oklahoma until 1956 before moving into the O-S-S-A-A. The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association in 1956, Douglass out of Ardmore, recorded a seven and four record in that final season. However, let's go back to those days when. Head coach tm, Tim Chris and his star quarterback Donald Lee Smith led to Dragons to an undefeated records. I. Recording a 12 and oh Class B record for the first State title as a member of the OSAA and just their second year being in that association earning Allstate Honors in his senior year. Smith passed for 1,751 yards and 17 touchdowns with a 64% completion rating in 1958. Chris became the head coach at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, and Smith followed his head coach there. Chris was also a starting Carter quarterback at Ardmore back in the 1927 through 30 years. So that connection between Donald Smith and Coach Chris was very, very well cemented in the fact that they both played. At Douglas High School in Ardmore. So it was just a natural thing for Donald Smith to follow his head coach to the collegiate levels so that he could continue his legacy as a top quarterback out of Oklahoma. Considered a superb signal caller. It did not take Smith long. To earn a starting position for the Lions in his sophomore year. In 1959, Smith began showing his prolific passing skills leading Langston to several lopsided victories, including winning the conference championship with a perfect six and oh slate. The lone loss in the 71 season was a 14 to 18 battle against Texas Southern. Being a member of the Oklahoma Collegiate Conference, the OCC Langston was probably the first black college to compete with over 80% of their game scheduled against white colleges. So you gotta think about where Langton is and where the rest of the families of schools of HBCE Origins are. Many of them are east of the Mississippi River. So once you passed Mississippi, you only had Texas, which had Texas Southern and Prairie View as the lone black colleges in the state. And then I. Oklahoma had Langston, and then Missouri had Lincoln, university of Missouri. So when you went to that part of the country, there weren't many HBCUs for them to play. And of course, back in those days, traveling from Oklahoma to as far east as Florida or Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, anything on the Atlantic Coast that would have been challenging. So. Here's Langston and HBCU pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but they found teams to play and schedule them, and were very successful. Like I said, 80% of the games they scheduled during the Tim Chris era were against white colleges. Their records in 1960 was nine and oh. And led them to an OCC conference title. It also earned Langston an invitation to the prestigious Orange Blossom Classic, the OBC as it was known to many to face legendary coach Jake Gaither and his Florida a m University Rattlers in Miami. The lions suffered their lone loss of that season falling 40 to 26. Smith led the Lions to a nine one regular season in 1960, and as a junior earned NAIA All American Honors with another phenomenal season in 1961, Langston captured another conference title posting a seven and oh record in the conference and eight in one overall, they went on to play in the All sports Bowl against the Panhandle College. Smith was named the OCC back of the year and was the NAIA Total Offense Champion with 2,118 yards. Now, when we talk about total offense, that is what a quarterback does with his passing and his running. So here is a Donald Smith playing back in the 1961 season against NAIA schools. Most of them between Oklahoma and Texas and having phenomenal seasons for his second consecutive year. Donald Smith was named an All American. He finished his final three years at Langston with a combined record of 28 and seven. Here are his statistics over those four years. In 1958, he threw for 1,132 yards. We didn't. Weren't able to find how many touchdowns he had thrown that year, but they posted a four and four record in 1959. He threw for 1,438 yards and 15 touchdowns, posting a nine, I'm sorry, a seven in one record. In 1960, we were not able to find his passing records, although Langston again posted a nine one record, and then in 1961, his best year ever, 2,118 yards, again, unable to confirm. Just how many touchdowns he threw. But of course, he threw enough to earn him all American status and to lead Langston to not only an eight in one record, but to take on FAMU in the Orange Blossom Classic overall in his four seasons. Smith passed for 4,668 yards. Uh, we have to put an asterisk by the number of touchdowns because we could not find and document those other touchdowns. Uh, as we did our research. Uh, unfortunately, uh, we could not get in touch with Langton University to confirm, uh, any additional stats, but we wanted you to know about a coach and his. Outstanding quarterback who led them to many glorious seasons in a four year span in from 59 to 61, Langston went 25 and three, I'm sorry, 24 and 3 24 and 3 24 and three is in a phenomenal record for any. College program, especially when many of the schools you're playing during that time of segregation did not look like you. And you can just imagine what it might've been like when they had to travel to some of those schools and play on some of those campuses without a contingency. Of their fans and supporters and alumni following them to the games. And even though they may have followed them, it was not as large as what they were going to face at those home games. But all in all, we wanted to bring you the story of two outstanding men who not only played quarterback for their high schools back in Ardmore, Oklahoma, but went on to have phenomenal careers. At Langston University and we wanted to make sure that here at the forgotten quarterbacks we did our part to bring you this history. Each week we will bring you more history about phenomenal coaches and or players who were like Coach Crisp and Donald Lee Smith. Here on the forgotten quarterbacks. Until next time, I'm your host w Earl Kitchens. And as always, we want to let you know that here at the Forgotten quarterbacks, we are part of quarter five back the preeminent fraternity for black quarterbacks. Join us again for more of the forgotten quarterbacks. Take care. Thank you for joining us here on the Forgotten quarterbacks with Host w Earl Kitchen. Join us as we discuss more about the legacies of black quarterbacks who've played the game of American football.