Matt Smith, who worked in the sports information office at Southeastern as a student and later became sports information director at the University of South Alabama, died in 2004 of an apparent heart attack.
Smith, a native of Spanish Fort, Alabama, was enrolled at Faulkner State Community College when he was noticed by Johnny Brechtel, then an assistant baseball coach at SLU.
Brechtel came back to Hammond and found SLU SID Larry Hymel. “I’ve got someone for you who does everything,” Brechtel told him.
Hymel recruited Matt and got him to SLU on a sports scholarship. He lived in the dorms before moving into an apartment with Steven Ward, who noted Matt’s affinity for green Gatorade (“Drank it all the time,” he said), cashews and the Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes that often blared from his car.
“He was one of the nicest guys I ever met,” Steve said. “A truly good person. He always had a smile on his face. I’m glad we were friends.”
He graduated in 1996 and began working at the University of South Alabama, which had long been his dream job.
He was promoted to athletics media relations director at USA in 2001. But it was the morning after a game at Starkville, Mississippi, in 2004 when Smith died. He was 33 years old.
The athletic department at South Alabama mourned his death. “He left his mark with so many people,” baseball coach Steve Kittrell said. “He’ll never be forgotten at South Alabama.”
During USA’s next home basketball game, a moment of silence was held in his honor and several pictures off Matt were shown on the overhead scoreboard. That night the team wore a black patch on their shoulder strap and the coaches wore a black ribbon in his honor.
Matt was survived by his parents, Mitchell and Patricia Smith; a sister, Michelle, and a brother, Ed. He was buried in Wilson Cemetery in Spanish Fort.
A plaque memorializing Matt hangs on the wall inside the press box at SLU’s Alumni Field.
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