(Don, Christa and Caren Smith will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor along with Mark Adams, Kirby Dunn, Daniel Franklin, Serenity King, Kristina Edwards Lee, Joe Lombard, Dr. Claude Lusk and Jodie Young during ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 in the Laney Center. Ray Murphree will be awarded the Harley Redin Coach's Award. A continental breakfast begins at 8:30. The public is invited).
Whether it was Don working as a timer at track meets, Christa lending a supportive ear to student-athletes, Caren keeping a meticulous scorebook at basketball games, or all three cheering at countless sporting events, the Smith family has been a close friend and supporter of Wayland Baptist athletics for more than 50 years. It's no wonder many consider them the first family of WBU sports fans.
"We are honored and actually never thought about (being inducted into the Hall of Honor)," Christa said. "We just wanted the students to feel support and have acknowledgement while also entertaining us."
The Smiths' association with Wayland began way back in the summer of 1953 when then university president Dr. James W. "Bill" Marshall conducted a revival in Don's hometown of Pampa. As a result Don enrolled in classes at then Wayland Baptist College for a brief time before serving from 1955-58 as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne in North Carolina and the 11th Airborne in Kentucky and Germany. It was in Germany that he met Christa, who grew up in that war-torn country during World War II.
"While we were still in Germany, Don told me about the amazing girls basketball at Wayland," Christa said. "I also had interpreted for (then WBU religion professor) Dr. B.P. Maddox while he was preaching in Germany to mixed congregations."
Don and Christa married in January 1958, and later that year the couple started their life together in West Texas, with Don re-enrolling in classes at Wayland. After giving birth to Caren in July 1959, Christa also started school at Wayland and worked for the school's language department. Don played with the Wayland softball team for a year, and the couple attended all of the sporting events they could, especially basketball games.
Caren, of course, also came along. "The Queens and Pioneers played their basketball games at the Plainview High School gym, so I was in my car seat during the games the fall after I was born," said Caren, who later was joined by two brothers, Danny and Derek.
"We took our babies to as many games as we could," Christa said.
They even made numerous out-of-town trips to cheer WBU's teams, including to California in the late 1970s to watch the Flying Queens play in the "Final Four" at UCLA. Don flew with his sons to watch the games, while Caren opted to ride the fan bus.
There have been many, many other special memories through the years. Caren recalls watching the Pioneer basketball team defeat Midwestern State for the first time in Wichita Falls – a game dubbed "the biggest Wayland win ever" – and earning a trip to the 1985 national tournament. And they were in San Antonio in 2012 to watch Wayland's football team play its first game in more than 70 years. Often times they would invite Wayland students to join them on their road trips.
Don, a longtime junior high coach and teacher who later worked in advertising at the Plainview Daily Herald, served as a timer when Wayland hosted track meets, and he and Caren "ran the clock" and kept books at PHS basketball games for many years, as well as at the Queens Classic and Pioneer Classic tournaments.
"Since Mom and Dad were so involved with the sports teams at Wayland, it just seemed like that was what I was supposed to do, also," said Caren, a Wayland graduate herself who after working at a CPA firm for 11 years has been with Central Plains Center since 1996, currently as controller.
The Smiths often opened their home to Wayland student-athletes and their families, especially during the Queens Classic over the Thanksgiving holiday. They shared a special connection with students from other countries who had no relatives nearby.
As a professor of 43 years in the School of Languages and Literature (she retired as a full-time professor in 2012 but continued to teach until 2016), Christa was in position to get even closer to student-athletes.
 "There were times students came to my office to vent frustrations that neither the coaches nor fellow students needed to know," she said. "I let them get vocal and feel better about things they could not change. I also tutored them in language adjustments."
Being the first collective family to be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor is special to the Smiths.
"I think that we are all very honored to be inducted. It's a very prestigious group of individuals to be part of," Christa said. "I love Wayland, and especially Wayland athletics."
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