Playing, coaching career leads to spot in ABAC Hall of Fame

Jenni Collins Smith arrived at the campus of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in the early 1980s unsure as to how she would adjust to the pace of college basketball. She not only adjusted, but excelled and 30 years later made the list of the inductees to the athletics department’s Hall of Fame.

Preparing for the ceremony, scheduled for today at the school’s Museum of Agriculture Conference room in Tifton, has allowed her to take an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

“It’s been many years since I’ve traveled down memory lane at ABAC, and it made me go back through and think about my time there,” she said. “What was really funny was I had to look really hard for statistics and awards and thing like that that went along with basketball, but what was easy was remembering the big games. Remembering the 1982 men’s team that’s being inducted. I watched those guys play and they were awesome. The people and the situations where I found success or maybe even failure were pretty easy to remember.”

As she thought back to her days as an anxious freshman, she can’t help but think about all of the people who helped her get to that point, starting with former Tiftarea head coach Nicky Darnto, whose love to promote kids in the area benefited her greatly.

“He said ‘if you’re looking for a guard, I’ve got the perfect kid for you,’ and that’s how I got to play college basketball,” she said.

Smith went on to be named MVP of the 1981 and 1982 team as well as Miss Homecoming in 1982. Smith said her fearlessness, coupled with the support of then-head coach Jeff Kincaid helped her get her footing during her freshman year and gave her a strong foundation to build upon as she saw a few more coaches during her playing days.

From there Smith, would get into coaching herself at Westwood, where her husband Tim served as assistant coach. After her youngest daughter graduated in 2016, Smith hung up her whistle.

Smith said the game has certainly been good to her.

“Basketball has been such a huge part of my life, and so many of the best life lessons I have learned have come from being on a team and working together for a common goal,” she said. “My children played basketball for me, my husband was my assistant coach all those years at Westwood. Because of all of the time it takes to coach basketball, we got to spend all that time with our kids as a family, and I will forever be grateful for that.”

Also slated to be honored today by ABAC are the 1982 GCAA champion men’s basketball team, Luis Paredes (1974-76, men’s tennis), Teresa Cromer Walker (1993-95, softball), Jorge Novoa (longtime tennis program supporter), Chuck DeVane (1980-82, baseball) and Andy Vaughn (1981-83, golf).