John Smith - Part of Eighties Football in the UK

Article by Gordon Dedman

For those of us that watched football when it first hit our television screens via Channel 4 on a Sunday night, you’ll remember the kicker John Smith. For five years of that coverage, Smith played a major part in the presentation.

Everyone knew he had a successful career with the New England Patriots, but while conducting my Steelers research, I was surprised to discover that he spent a week in Pittsburgh during the 1973 exhibition season.

 

In May that year, an American agent on behalf of the Patriots contacted Smith, who was playing soccer with Wealdstone, and invited him over for a trial. With nothing to lose, Smith flew over thinking it was a short holiday at someone else’s expense.

Smith had spent three summers coaching soccer in the USA and that’s when he came to the attention of the Patriots. After his trial, he was offered a contract, but the team felt he was too raw to ply his trade just yet in the professional league.

Adhering to a league rule that prevents a club from re-signing a free agent in the same year unless he’s been cut by another team, the Patriots let him go to the Steelers, who obligingly dropped him within a few days. It would appear that an old pal’s agreement was in place.

The Pittsburgh newspapers recorded his acquisition in early August, suggesting he had been traded to Pittsburgh for a lowly draft choice and also noted when he was cut within five days.

A week later after the Steelers let him go, the New England Colonials announced his signing, stating he was from “South Hampton” (sic), England. The Colonials had started their season in the Atlantic Coast Football League as the new kids on the block. At the time, their kicker was former Harvard star Richie Szaro. A few days later, Szaro was gone; joining rivals the Bridgeport Jets and Smith was in place to make an impression.

The Colonials were the feeder team for the Patriots so Smith’s progress was monitored closely by the pro team. As his team put together a 10-2 record for the season, he fought Szaro to be the leading kicker in the league while their teams won their respective divisions and faced each other in the championship game.

With an admission fee of $3, 10,000 fans turned out to see the Colonials thrash the Jets 41-17 with Smith contributing ten of the Colonials points including field goals from 25 and 30 yards.

 

The next year, Smith began his NFL career with the Patriots and when they played the Steelers in 1976, he reminisced to the Pittsburgh Press about that previous week in training camp.

He acknowledged he received some valuable kicking advice from Steelers kicker Roy Gerela while he was providing an insight on British social graces for one of the Steelers most uninhibited personalities, bachelor Dwight White.

“I got on real well with the players,” Smith recalled. “Dwight White kept trying to take off my accent and always wanted to know what an Englishman says to the ladies.”

Smith spent ten years with the Patriots pre-Brady and certainly made an impression on our screens when football was making its first impact in the UK.

1973 was the final year of the Atlantic Coast Football League. With the World Football League beginning, there would not be sufficient resources for all the leagues.