Jerry Smartt dies at 80; distance runner was the coolest cat of all
This hurts to report. Our friend Jerry Smartt, the former world-class distance runner who became a regular at nationals and worlds with his bandanna, died Tuesday at his home in Warsaw, Missouri. (Here is his official obituary.) This sad news first came from several friends as well as USATF national masters chairman Gary Snyder. Jerry was quoted in the book about the 1960 Olympic Games called Rome 1960. (He was an alternate at those Games, but competed in USA-Soviet dual meets.) I’m told that more details will be on the Reiser Funeral Home website. An obituary will run in the Benton County Enterprise. His wife told Don Pratt, a friend: “Jerry ran his last race this morning.” His funeral will be Saturday in Warsaw. Jerry was the coolest cat in masters track, and he’ll be sorely missed.
Jerry Smartt, in his signature bandanna, competed at 2011 Sacramento worlds.
25 Responses
What a terrific guy and what a great wit. His video of training with a shopping cart in a mall parking lot says it all: devotion to his sport, but never taking himself (or anything) too seriously.
The Smartty of this forum? What a pity.
so sorry to hear this – Jerry Smartt was one great guy.
Run in Peace
Yes, Smartty was a frequent commenter here. He used “cat” in many of his posts.
Love you, Jerry. This is a total shock. On this forum a couple of weeks ago, Jerry indicated he would miss Lisle this year but would make Olathe next year (nationals). A shock. I used to love to introduce him as a competitor in the first US-Russia meet.
Such sad news. Smartty will be missed.
I never met Smartty, but always loved reading his posts here…he’d always make me smile with his crazy remarks. RIP, Smartty, your wit and humor will definitely be missed.
Same as Terry…I liked reading his posts. Sorry to hear of his passing.
Oh Smartty….this hurts. Rest easy, cool cat.
What a loss to the Masters. At the WMA champs in Sacramento he was a member of a group of 5 of us who competed at the first world masters championship at Toronto in 1975. We were all competing in the 5000m at Sacramento yet surprisingly Jerry was the only one who did that distance at Toronto, the rest of us did different distances there ranging from sprints to marathon.
Uggggghhh…sorry to lose such an inspirational legend…also lost another legend last week, Alex Ratelle…like Sarasota master said, ‘run in peace’
MF
i too had never met him, but feel as if i did, through his posts…i will miss his wit..may he rest in peace, and may his spirit continue to enrich the lives of all that come to know it…
Smartty was quite a guy for sure. I loved his personality-God speed my friend.
I always liked reading that cat’s post. Rest in Peace Smartty.
Jerry, you will surely be missed,
I too didn’t meet him, but this sport is a brotherhood/sisterhood where we all feel like family. I have met amazing people during my short time in Masters track. Just reading his posts and hearing what people have said about him over the past couple years, I felt like I got to know Smartty a little bit. We have lost a good one.
Rest in Peace
Never met Smarty….but love the cat….Will sadly miss Smarty and his sense of humor….
Sully
What an amazing gentleman and inspirational person:
From the Palm Beach Post, Monday, July 28, 1958:
Moscow (AP) The 106.000 (note: should read: 10,000) meter run went to Evgeny Zhukov, whose time was 29 minutes, 59.8 seconds. His teammate, Alexi Desyatchikov was second, followed by Jerry Smart of Houston, Tex., clocked in 31:11.4. Smart drew a big ovation when he sprinted the last 400 yards.
From the USATF historical files, a recap of the 1956 Olympic Trials:
Jerry Smartt (sp)
3K SC: 5th 9:21.4
5K: 7th 14:57
10K: 4th 31:14 (less than 8 seconds from 3rd place and a spot on the Melbourne Olympic team; he was an alternate in the 10K)
Comment from the 3K results: “In 5th place was ironman Jerry Smartt, who had placed in the top-7 in the 5000 the previous evening and the 10,000 the week before.”
I enjoyed reading Smartty’s posts and seeing him at meets in K.C. and Columbia, MO.
R.I.P. ^Cool Cat^!
Bummer! 🙁 Like Terry said: I never met Smartty, but always loved reading his posts here…he’d always make me smile with his crazy remarks. RIP, Smartty, your wit and humor will definitely be missed.
Like several posts already I too knew Smarty through his posts here on the blog,God speed my friend,gone but not forgotten,Rest In Peace
RIP Smarty. An iron man with a great wit.
I became acquainted with Jerry through the geezerjock website. We traded training updates for a while. He would talk about going to Walmart with tires in the trunk and loading up a shopping cart with tires which he would push around the parking lot for a workout. He enjoyed being a character! He also took good pictures of his beloved pets that he used to email me. Sorry to hear this.
How sad to hear! I had just now tracked down Mr. Smartt. I call him Mr. Smartt because he was my Jr. High drama teacher in 1964 at Columbus Tustin Intermediate School in Tustin, California. I was able to see him run at a local meet that year(he won of course). He was a wonderful man and a great teacher; I still remember some of his wise instructions to us students as well as some of his unique sayings, “pretty grim lad, pretty grim.” He did indeed have a great wit. May the Lord look after you Mr. Smartt; you were an inspiration to all of us!!
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