Lovie Smith

He was born May 8, 1958 and raised in the poor farming town of Big Sandy, Texas. His parents named him Lovie after his Aunt Lavana. This son of an alcoholic father, loading hay onto trucks for three cents a bale, could’ve been forgiving had he thought the future looked bleak, but his father also held an equally unflinching belief that his son could do no wrong. With his wife he stressed that his boy could be anything he wanted to be, if he worked hard and treated people right.

After leading Big Sandy High School to three consecutive state championships, Lovie went to Tulsa University on a football scholarship and became an All American. When he wasn’t drafted into the NFL afterwards he turned to another dream that had been with him since the sixth grade: coaching. In 1996, after spending close to two decades working his way up through the high school and university levels, Tony Dungy offered him his first job in the pros, coaching the linebackers of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2004 he became an NFL head coach and the first African American to lead the Chicago Bears.

Lovie’s arrival brought an end to a mediocre spell in one of the league’s most storied franchises. Within several short years of his arrival, the Bears were back in the hunt for the year’s big finish, falling just short to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. Lovie Smith is a man who defies the typical fire-breathing cursing stereotype of the successful coach, favoring instead a calm, positive demeanor he attributes to a faith in God that has led him since childhood.

In today’s Southern Quote we honor a class act. Lovie Smith has said, “… I’ve found that if you tell guys what to do … they will do it. You don’t have to belittle them, threaten them. I simply tell them what I want done. If they can’t do it, there are other guys waiting for the chance…” — Lovie Smith