Russell Smelley (2019) - Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame

Russell Smelley

Induction:
2019
Class:
1979

Russell Smelley's unique college career at the University of Richmond included championships as both an undergraduate runner and as a graduate coach, putting him on track for an award-winning coaching and teaching career.

A walk-on from Prince George County, Va., Smelley ran cross country and track for Richmond Hall of Fame coaches Fred Hardy and Bill Jordan. He won the Southern Conference, state and the Virginia-Carolinas championship in the 880, and qualified three times for the NCAA Indoor Championships. He earned All-America status in the two mile relay in 1976. He was team captain as a senior, and anchored the winning mile relay team that defeated North Carolina in a dual meet in Chapel Hill. He finished his Richmond career with seven school records.

After receiving his BA degree from Richmond, Smelley remained as a graduate student and became the first head coach for the women's cross country and track & field teams. The cross country team tied for the 1979 state championship and had an AIAW Nationals individual qualifier in cross country and track & field in its first two varsity seasons.

In 1979, after obtaining his master's degree from Richmond, he accepted a teaching and coaching position at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. Within three years, Smelley inaugurated the women's cross country and track & field programs and over the next four decades guided numerous NAIA team and individual champions.

He has been honored as the 1995 NAIA National Coach of the Year and earned the 2014 NAIA Coach of Character Award. He was inducted into the NAIA Cross Country Hall of Fame in 1999 and received the NAIA Coach of Character Award in 2015. He has served as President of the NAIA Cross Country Coaches Association. Smelley has also won numerous awards in the classroom as a professor and vice chair in Westmont's Department of Kinesiology.