By Matt Michelone

sports@altoonamirror.com

The Juniata Valley High School boys and girls basketball teams took to the court with heavy hearts on Wednesday night.

They played their respective District 6 Class 1A consolation games after learning that former Green Hornet football and girls basketball coach Mike Smith had passed away. He was 54.

The school district operated under a two-hour delay Wednesday morning to allow for grief counselors to be available.

“The Juniata Valley community was shocked and stunned to learn about the passing of Mike Smith, beloved coach, teacher, husband, father and friend,” former Juniata Valley girls basketball coach Rachelle Hopsicker said. “Mike was not only the father to three of my players, but an integral part of the successes of the Juniata Valley girls basketball family.”

A former multi-sport athlete at Valley, Smith spent time coaching football, track and girls basketball at his alma mater.

“Mike was a kindhearted and passionate man, willing to jump in and help with basketball, track, Hartslog Day and anything else,” Hopsicker said. “My heart and prayers go out to Anita and the entire family in this most difficult time.”

In addition to his wife Anita, Smith is survived by daughters Halee, Olivia, Charlee and Michaela and son Jared.

Halee is currently a sophomore at Lafayette, and Olivia is in her sophomore year at Lock Haven on their respective basketball teams.

Smith coached the Valley football team for 10 seasons and compiled a 70-33 record that included Inter-County Conference championships in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012.

“As a 1987 graduate, and a 27-year teaching veteran, Coach Smith’s influence on the Juniata Valley students, the players and the community as a whole will be felt well into the future,” Green Hornet football and track coach Bill Musser said.

Smith was a football standout and four-year starter in basketball.

He led the Hornets to their first District 6 football championship in 1986, and after graduation, he walked on to the Penn State football team and played safety.

But his best sport may have been track. He won four District 6 Class 2A titles in the 110-meter hurdles and two golds in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

He earned five PIAA track medals, narrowly losing out as a senior to renown sprinter Qadry Ismail in the 300 hurdles and settling for the silver. Ismail later played college football at Syracuse and in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens.

Considered one of Juniata Valley’s best-ever athletes, Smith was inducted into the Huntingdon County Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

Chestnut Ridge girls basketball assistant coach Mike Reed — who coached Halee Smith during the Lady Hornets run to the state championship games in 2017 and 2018 — will remember Smith for how he inspired the people around him.

“Mike was unapologetically passionate about the people and things he cared about,” Reed said. “He was a tremendous motivator of young people that allowed him to impact so many as a coach and teacher. I, along with my wife and daughters, view Mike and Anita and their kids as family and will forever cherish the times that we spent together on and off the court.”

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Cutright Funeral Homes in Smithfield. The funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday.