Peabody’s Smith enters a third national Hall of Fame
By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Charles Smith keeps coaching. The wins and championships keep coming, and so do the Hall of Fame inductions.
Tuesday in Coralville, Iowa, the Peabody Magnet basketball coach was enshrined in his third national hall of fame – the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
He was already in the National High School Coaches Association Hall and the biggie, in 2024, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame – which has the greatest figures in the history of the game.
The latest honor comes after Smith’s Warhorses completed another state championship season, his 10th and the school’s 11th – he was an assistant coach for that one.
Under Smith, Peabody has made the state finals 13 times, in 23 state tournament appearances in his 40 seasons. The Warhorses have won 34 district titles. He has been head coach for 40 years.
After this year’s 31-1 season, Smith, 77, is fourth all-time on the nation’s boys high school coaching wins list. His record is 1,266 wins and just 220 losses, an 85 percent winning rate.
Tuesday, Smith was among 29 men and women from around the country inducted in the national hall.
He was a 2019 inductee in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. He’s also in the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame, among other honors.