By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Tens of thousands of athletes have competed for Old Dominion and the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary and VPI, as the institution was known when it was founded in 1930.
But until Brett Smith took the mound for the ODU baseball team this spring, none had been a member of a varsity team for seven years.
How long has Smith been around? When he enrolled at ODU in the fall of 2015, Barack Obama was in his second term as President.
The ODU football team played its first full season as a bowl eligible FBS program.
And the eight true freshman on the ODU baseball roster were all in the sixth grade.
Smith has been around so long he is working on his doctorate in engineering management. He already has earned bachelor's and master's degrees.
At 24, Smith is among the oldest athletes playing college baseball, and the story of how he became a seventh-year doctoral candidate while also toiling in the ODU bullpen is a remarkable tale of perseverance and Christian faith.
"Most people would have given up, they would have quit years ago," said ODU coach Chris Finwood, whose Monarchs play a crucial three-game series against Charlotte this weekend at Bud Metheny Ballpark, with the first game Friday at 6 p.m.
"But Smitty, he has unbelievable determination."
Smith was a high-profile prospect whom Finwood thought had Major League potential when he enrolled at ODU. He was both a football and baseball star at Grassfield High School and had a pretty good first season at ODU – he picked up saves against FIU and Virginia and played a role in a 5-0 shutout of No. 10 North
Carolina State.
That summer, he had a 5-1 record with the Peninsula Pilots.
But then after one appearance his sophomore year, he learned he needed Tommy John surgery, and for those who don't know what that means, it can mean the end of the line for some pitchers.
The surgery involves repairing a torn ulnar collateral ligament inside the elbow by replacing it with a tendon from elsewhere in the body.
It can take as many as nine months to rehabilitate, and you likely will never really regain the full mobility and arm strength you once had.
So, imagine how difficult it was for Smith after he first had the surgery and learned that it was unsuccessful?
He had surgery a second time, and while it was successful, his body overcompensated, and a small bone began growing on his elbow.
He had another surgery to remove the bone, and it grew back again. He then had a fourth surgery to remove it once again.
This time, doctors at Columbia University in New York City prescribed radiation treatments that finally stopped the bone from regrowing.
Yet his playing time has been very limited. After his freshman season, he played one game in 2017, was a starter in 2018, did not play in 2019, played in four games in pandemic-shortened 2020 season and then had 12 appearances last season.
The youngest of four children, Smith grew up in devoutly Christian home. His family attends River Oak Church in Chesapeake, where former ODU basketball player Heath Burris is the minister.
He was taught that God has a plan for everyone, but that didn't stop him from asking, "Why me?"
"I pray a lot," he said. "I had this conversation with God and I was kind of asking him, 'Why me?' But being involved in the church and knowing God had a plan, I knew he was closing one door and opening another.
"I just trusted his plan and that helped me a lot.
"Every time I started to say 'why me?,' I tried to steer it away from that and look at the positives. I took it one step at a time."
Smith participated in Senior Day last season for the Monarchs, and what a season it was to call your final year at ODU.
The Monarchs went 44-16, won their first Conference USA title and were named the No. 1 seed in the Columbia Regional of the NCAA Tournament played at the University of South Carolina.
ODU wasn't eliminated until the regional championship game, 4-3, in ten innings against Virginia.
He had been allowed to play six seasons because the NCAA granted him a medical redshirt season and because the NCAA gave athletes in all sports an additional year because of the pandemic.
Most, Finwood said, would have called it quits and moved on. But not Smith.
"I wanted a seventh season," he said.
He approached Scott Canner, ODU's assistant athletic director for compliance, about asking for a second medical redshirt season.
Canner tried to discourage him. At the time, the NCAA was saying no to all comers asking for that seventh year. As Canner described it, the NCAA was saying that if you can't get those five years of eligibility done in six years, "it's just too bad."
"I told Brett there was no guarantee, and that it's going to be a whole heck of a lot of work on your end," Canner said.
"I asked him, 'are you sure you want to go down this path? Isn't your arm ready to fall off?'
"But I told him if you are willing to spend the time, I'll will write this for you."
Smith spent two months gathering all of the necessary medical records and other documentation. And once it was submitted, it was quickly approved by the NCAA.
Brett Smith
We were both kind of flabbergasted," Canner said.
"To Brett's credit, he did all the work."
According to former Old Dominion sports information director Carol Hudson, Smith is ODU's first seventh-year senior. Hudson should know – he's been around ODU's program since shortly after it became a four-year school.
USA Today reports that only a handful of college athletes are seventh-year seniors, among them former ODU defensive lineman Miles Fox, who played his seventh season at Wake Forest last season.
Smith and Fox are friends who took classes together at ODU.
"Good guy," Smith said of Fox.
But just because Smith had his seventh year of eligibility didn't mean he had a place on the team. Because of the extra year of eligibility all athletes received during the pandemic, the ODU baseball roster was overflowing.
The NCAA allowed for expanded rosters, but a ton of players were clamoring to play for a nationally-ranked program.
"I didn't learn until the second week of August that I could return," he said.
So, with nervousness in his voice, he called Finwood and asked him if he could return.
"When he asked, I said to him, 'Smitty, how can you even ask that question? Anybody would want you back,'" Finwood said.
"I talk about equity and value and organization for the guys all of the time. That kid has so much equity with me.
"He means so much for our team because of the type of guy he is. He comes from the greatest family in the world. It's trickled down to all of their kids."
Smith strikes a commanding figure on the mound. At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, he's one big dude and he's not just big – he's athletic. Although he keeps his emotions in check, his teammates don't. They love it when he takes the mound.
"He's got one of the highest motors I've ever been around," pitching coach Mike Marron said. "That energy he creates is contagious, it's infectious. It bleeds over to the rest of the group."
Earning a doctorate is a serious commitment, especially for a full-time college athlete, and although he's often fatigued when he shows up for practice, Marron said he doesn't let it show.
"He had plenty of excuses to mail-in a day and he doesn't do that," Marron said. "He doesn't let up. That's the cool part of Brett, and that's where he draws the respect and appreciation from the guys around him. He's very much a leader.
"The guys have an appreciation and respect for who he is, how he goes about his day, the type of person he is, what he's been through. He's such a compassionate person. He has a well-grounded belief system. When he does well, it really affects our guys."
His stats so far this season haven't been stellar – a 4.76 ERA and five strikeouts and an 0-1 record in six short relief stints – but he says his arm is stronger than it's been since he was a freshman.
"I have a cutter and I'm finally able to throw my changeup again," he said. "I had my most success as a freshman, and I'm feeling like I'm at that level.
"This is the first time since my freshman year that I'm pitching without pain."
His off-the-field resume is beyond stellar. He earned his master's degree with a 3.85 grade point average, an amazing stat considering that he's a varsity athlete who travels, practices and plays in 55-plus games each spring, not to mention all the time he spent not only rehabbing his arm, but doing volunteer work.
He has volunteered to help at many events at ODU, including the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and has joined other athletes in doing volunteer work that helps needy residents in Hampton Roads.
That's nothing new for Smith, who as a middle school student saw homeless people along the side of the road one day when his parents were driving him.
Moved by their plight, he approached his parents, Steve and Debbie Smith, about what he could do help. Father and son decided to build birdhouses in their garage and Brett would sell them door to door.
And while building birdhouses is an unusual way to help the homeless, it worked. He would take the money he earned and go to a homeless shelter in Norfolk and feed the hungry.
Brett Smith family
He also often made sandwiches at home, and when he saw a homeless person on the side of the road, would hand them out.
"Brett has always had a big heart," Steve Smith said.
"He's always wanted to help people," added Debbie Smith.
Smith jokes about the treatment his friends and teammates receive when they go to the family home in Chesapeake.
"We call my mom 'Preacher Deb,' because she's always preaching," he said with a smile.
"My parents, they shaped me into being a man of faith. They taught all of us by example to be involved with the word and to pray and have that relationship with God.
"Overcoming obstacles is a part of life for everyone. It just happens in life. My faith gave me the strength to push through it."
Smith said playing his seventh season was meant to be. Before he knew he could return, he had applied for jobs at several places but was also toying with the idea of getting his doctorate.
He couldn't quite decide what to do.
Getting that seventh year made up his mind – he would begin work on his Ph.D.
"I'm getting as much course work done as I can now," he said. "I may move on and get and job and try to go to graduate school on the side."
But first comes his last season as a Monarch.
Charlotte's record (14-6 overall, 2-1 Conference USA) isn't as gaudy as ODU's (17-2, 2-1) but it was one of four C-USA teams to advance to the NCAA Tournament last season and the 49ers have played a difficult schedule including games against ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 teams. Smith likely will see action this weekend.
"I'm so proud of him," Finwood said.
"He went through so much heartache and disappointment for so many years and hung in there and just kept working.
"There's no quit in that young man. And you never give up on a kid who refuses to quit."
Minium: Pitcher Brett Smith Overcame a Ton of Adversity to Become ODU's First 7th-Year Senior
