Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/79477
broke down in tears on the night he announced that he would retire. His players grew to love him be- cause Smith became more mentor than coach for many of them. He made sure all 126 men who played under his watch graduated, and he was as quick to brag about the players that became doctors and lawyers as he was to talk about those that went on to play pro- fessionally. "Lefty made it enjoyable," said Don could have a team, he came onto the basketball floor and he said, 'Coach I want to talk to Beaver,' " Badalich said. "Coach said, 'Lefty, I know what's go- ing on, just take him off the floor.' He was pretty dynamic, one hell of a guy." Smith played four years of hockey Lucia, a 1981 graduate who is now the head coach at the University of Min- nesota. "That's what I take away from Lefty. It's that hockey is a fun game to play, and even though you go through some tough times you still want to make it so you enjoy coming to the rink on a daily basis. That was always one of Lefty's strengths." No matter how much changed around Notre Dame's campus and in the rest of their lives, Irish hockey play- ers knew Smith would always be wait- ing for them when they came back, holding court inside his one-of-a-kind office. "It was a remarkable shrine to Lefty, and baseball at nearby St. Thomas University before he returned to reach legendary status as a coach of the high school team that he founded. His re- cord there was 201-69-11, and he was the decadent, sparkling new Comp- ton Family Ice Arena built on the foundation that he laid. He dropped the first puck at its opening night a few feet from where his name was stamped on the bright sheet of ice — a lasting reminder of the heart of the Irish hockey family that will always remain in the faded photographs hanging from a shabby, old wall in Lefty's office. ✦ Smith lived just long enough to see those bad, paneled walls covered with polaroids and Christmas cards," said Andy Slaggert, who played dur- ing Smith's last two seasons as Notre Dame's coach and is currently an as- sistant coach for the team. "For some- one to come back, and no matter how many years have passed, to be called by your college nickname. … There was always one place where a guy could go that he felt like he was 20 years old again." Lefty knew plenty about nicknames. The one that stuck for him came from his days as a southpaw high school pitcher in St. Paul, Minn. He had sev- eral others over the years: Wrongarm, Wimpy and Hamburger were among the most memorable for Smith's life- long best friend, Steve "Beaver" Bada- lich. Badalich was Smith's catcher at South St. Paul High School and played goalie on the hockey team that Smith started. Long before Smith became the architect of Notre Dame's hockey pro- gram, he built his high school's team as a 15-year-old junior in 1945. Smith pestered his school's principal prior to the 2-1 victory against Bowling Green Feb. 3, one month after Smith passed away at age 81. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND The seven surviving children of Charles "Lefty" Smith participated in a ceremonial dropping of the puck inducted into the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1992. He was recruited to come to Notre Dame twice before he moved his large family to South Bend in 1968. He and McNeill built Notre Dame's program from scratch. He finished his career with a 307-320-30 record despite coach- ing without scholarship players for large chunks of his career. Along the way he started a youth final month of the regular season amid one of the closest conference battles in recent mem- ory. Six points separated the top eight teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association at the start of the month. The exact standings are jumbled on a nightly basis and will likely keep changing until the regular season comes to a close during the last weekend in February. The Irish had a somewhat disappointing Down To The Wire The current Irish hockey team started the hockey program in northern Indiana, which McNeill called one of their proudest achievements, and was in- strumental in adding skating events to the Special Olympics. He orches- trated the 1987 Special Olympic games when they were held in South Bend. For the Irish, he was a pioneering force during an era when college hockey was growing in the U.S. and earned his spot in the pantheon of the sport's great names. "He was one of the guys that really and superintendent long enough to get $600 to start a team. His next stop after learning he had the funding was basketball practice to recruit his best friend to play in net. "When the principal told him that he www.BLUEANDGOLD.com initiated this sport, that started it being more than just college hockey," current Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson said. "They made it into something that was a lot more special, and that was due to their passion for the game. … He was kind of like one of the god- fathers." start to the month, splitting a pair of two- game series with Alaska and Bowling Green, both teams that are on the outside looking in at the hectic race to the finish this year. Irish head coach Jeff Jackson said he'll need some of his best playmakers to step up during the last six games of the season if his team is going to earn a first-round bye in the CCHA Tournament. The sophomore duo of Anders Lee and T.J. Tynan have built on an impressive rookie season and lead the team in points once again. Tynan had 38 points as of Feb. 5 (12 goals and 26 assists), which ranked him in seventh in the country. Lee had 14 goals to go along with his 15 assists. Ranked No. 9 in the nation, the Irish fin- ish the month with weekend series against Ferris State, Miami and Michigan State — all teams very much in the hunt for one of the coveted top four sports in the regular-season standings. — Dan Murphy MARCH 2012 75