Bill Smith (2006) - Hall of Fame

Bill Smith

Induction:
2006
Class:
1973

A basketball scholarship was Bill Smith's ticket to college in 1969, and he's never forgotten about the opportunity that was afforded to him by the University of Northern Iowa. Since concluding his four-year career on the hardwood for the Panthers in 1973, Smith has continued to support his alma mater with both his money and his time.

Smith, who graduated from UNI with a business education degree in 1973, has supported a full men's basketball scholarship since 1996. His William S. Smith Men's Basketball Scholarship Endowment Fund allows other young student-athletes the same opportunity he was given when he came to UNI from his hometown of Eagle Grove, Iowa.

He also served on the university's "Students First" campaign, the effort to raise $100 million for improvements to campus facilities and programs, and has contributed a leadership gift in support of the McLeod Center, which opened in 2006. Smith has also been a trustee for the University of Northern Iowa Foundation.

A second team all-state selection at Eagle Grove in 1969, Smith came to UNI in the fall of that year with the goal of working in stocks and bonds or teaching. He played four years for head coach Zeke Hogeland, with his Panther teams going 40-57 over that stretch. For his senior campaign in 1972-73, Smith was named team captain.

Since 1986, Smith worked to achieve his goal to be in the investments research business, and currently is president of William Smith and Co., an institutional investment research company and registered broker-dealer in Denver, Colo. In 1999, Smith was appointed by Colorado governor Bill Owens to the Colorado Commission on Science and Technology. He also has made numerous television appearances, including several on CNN and CNBC, and has presented a variety of programs to the New York Society of Security Analysts.