William Earle Smith Jr.

The world lost a remarkable “Southern Gentleman”. William Earle Smith, Jr. (Earle), passed due to cardio-vascular issues, on September 6th, at the age of 85. Born in Mobile, AL on 3-15-34, he went on to become an incredible athlete, a successful U.S. Naval Officer and a “Mover & Shaker” for Kitsap County.

Sports: Earle was Mobile, Alabama’s “Outstanding Amateur Athlete of 1951. He played four sports at his high school (UMS) and earned 14 letters. He was “All City” in football and basketball his Jr. and Sr. years. He earned “All American” for high school football. In 1949, Earle was runner up for the state of Alabama’s Junior Golf Championship. At the Naval Academy, he played First String Tight End for three years. He was selected for Honorable Mention All-American in 1954 when he played on the football team that that beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl 21-0. Earle still holds the record for most touchdowns by a Tight End in an Army/Navy football game. He was voted by his teammates to serve as Team Captain of the football team his senior year. That was the year that Navy beat Notre Dame, 33-7. The family still has that “game ball”. He was selected to play in the North-South Shrine Game (1957). Earle was a versatile athlete and played Catcher for the Naval Academy Baseball team (1954) & was invited to try out with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played the #1 position of the Naval Academy Golf Team (1956). Navy won the Eastern Intercollegiate in Golf that year & Earle qualified as a Medalist (4 under Par for 36 holes). Earle was inducted to the “Mobile Sports Hall of Fame” in 2010, along with such notables as Hank Aaron.

Navy Career (35 years): Earle graduated in the USNA Class of 1957. He retired as an O-6 Navy Captain. When he was a young officer (LT), he was credited for saving many shipmates during a torpedo accident on the USS TIRU (SS 416). He passed out twice, due to the toxic gases, but managed to pull several men up the ladder to fresh air. He was awarded the Navy/Marine Corps Medal for his efforts. He later had command of the submarine USS Remora (SS-487). As a Commander, he went back to the Naval Academy to serve as the Chairman of the Management Science Department and to teach Probability Statistics and Linear Programming. The football coach, at the time, was George Welsh, who played football alongside Earle when they were Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. George asked Earle to help coach some of the players on the football team and to help “scout” high schools for future players. The football team rewarded Earle’s efforts with another “game ball” that reads, “1973: Navy 51-Army 0”. As a Navy Captain, Earle served as Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of SUBASE Pearl Harbor and then of SUBASE Bangor.

Post Navy Career: Earle was selected to serve as the first Executive Director of the Economic Development Council (EDC) of Kitsap County (now called KEDA, Kitsap Economic Development Alliance). The big projects he worked on during this time, were to bring the USS Turner Joy to the Bremerton waterfront and to write the grant to pay for the boardwalk that leads to the ship. His name is still on the documents for the transfer from the Navy to the Bremerton Historic Association. Earle, and his EDC Board members, were the first Board of Directors for the Admiral Theatre Foundation and to start work on the redevelopment of the Admiral Theatre dinner theater. He served on that Board for 26 years and considered the Admiral Theatre staff to be like his “second family”. He also taught classes on how to start a business and assisted many retiring military personnel to find that first civilian job. The Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce awarded Earle with their “Thunderbird Award” on March 20, 1997 for all of his efforts at the EDC and helping to improve the greater Kitsap County area. Earle and his wife, Sandra, are the “founders” of the big “Veterans Day Event”, which is held every year at the Kitsap Sun Pavilion, Kitsap County Fairgrounds. As members of the Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Navy League Council, they helped bring the various veteran groups together for a group effort of honoring our veterans. Before, there were numerous, but smaller Veterans Day events.

Family: Earle leaves behind his wife of 39 years, Sandra (Rustuen) Howes Smith, who is also a retired Navy Captain. They met in Yokosuka, Japan during a “War Game” exercise. Other family members are (his three children) W. Earle Smith, III, Shannon (Smith) Longo and Jennifer (Smith) Bock, (their spouses) Jackson Warring, Paul Longo and Kurtis Bock, (the grandchildren) Anthony Longo, Natalie Longo and Alayna Bock, (his brother) Ben Smith and Ben’s wife, Emily Adkins.

The family wants everyone to know that his success as an athlete, a Naval Officer, and his many activities/efforts on the various projects in Kitsap County were just a small part of who the man was. The most important part of Earle Smith was how he made people feel special. He was able to bring out the best in people and could persuade them to volunteer their time and talents.

“At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did. They will remember how you made them feel.” --- Maya Angelou