Hall of Fame
Garfield Smith, a member of Eastern’s All-Century team, played four seasons of basketball at Eastern, three of those on the varsity, and finished his career as the third all-time leading rebounder with 884 rebounds and just shy of 1,000 points with 983 points. Smith came to Eastern from Campbellsville High School where was an All-District, All-Fifth Region and All-State player. The first African-American basketball player in the history of the program, Smith was named OVC Freshman Center of the Year in 1964-65 after averaging 24.0 points and 15.8 rebounds per game, including one game where he scored 44 points. As a sophomore in 1965-66, Smith averaged 8.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, hit 60 percent from the field and registered a top rebounding performance of 21 boards in a win over Central Missouri. He averaged 17.8 points and 13.4 rebounds as a junior, while hitting 54.7 percent from the field which led the conference. He was also second in the league in rebounding and fourth in the conference in scoring. An honorable mention all-conference selection, his best scoring performance was 39 points vs. Transylvania and his best rebounding effort was 22 rebounds against Florida State. As a senior, Smith was a first-team All-OVC pick, while averaging 17.1 points and 19.7 rebounds per contest. His rebounding average led the team and was the second best in the nation that season. His best rebounding game was 33 vs. Marshall, which still stands as an EKU single game record. He was a first-round pick of the Oakland Oaks of the American Basketball Association and a second round choice of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. After serving a two-year stint in the Army, Smith played two seasons (1970-72) for the Celtics. He also holds the Eastern career rebound average at 13.2.
