William “Woozy” Smith
1978
Basketball Official
Rated by many as a great athlete who did not play scholastic or collegiate sports during his career. Woozy was an outstanding football, basketball and softball player. He also played soccer and tennis. He led the City Basketball League in scoring with Eddie Knouse’s Croll and Keck Storeboys, was a top halfback with the Olivets and North End Collegians in the Greater Sandlot Conference and was a brilliant outfielder with the Carpenter Steel softball teams. As a professional referee, Woozy’s run-ins with the legendary coach of the Boston Celtics, Red Auerbach, are still topics of conversation to this day. Woozy ejected Auerbach from the annual All-Star game at San Francisco’s Cow Palace years ago. The game was on TV and drew much attention to Smith as a fearless referee. Woozy is best-known as one of the two referees officiating the NBA game in which Wilt Chamberlain scored his legendary 100 points at Hershey, PA (1962).
Deceased
Inducted Posthumously