Howie Smith
Head Softball Coach
Induction Year: 2016
Howie Smith served as head softball coach at Dodge City Community College for 32 years and worked at the college in the athletic department a total of 37 years. Smith amassed 749 wins and several other accomplishments during his coaching career for the Conquistadors including: three conference championships, two Region VI championships, a West Sub-Regional championship, four conference runner-up finishes, two Region VI runner-up finishes, and two trips to the NJCAA Softball World Series (2000, 2002) - which included a fourth-place finish at the 2000 World Series in Kissimee, Florida.
Smith has been named KJCCC Coach of the Year four times and in 2000, Smith and his assistant (Ed Zyburt) were named NFCA West Region Coaching Staff of the Year, and a finalist for the National Coaching Staff of the Year. In 2015, Smith was named head coach of the NJCAA All-Star team that competed in the Canadian Open International Fastpitch Tournament in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada and helped lead the team to a fifth-place finish, the highest ever for this squad. In the summer of 2014, Smith was selected as one of the assistant coaches for the all-star team.
Smith served as the chairperson for the NFCA Junior College Lead-off Classic, holding that position for the past 12 years. Smith has been the NFCA West Region Director for both the All-American and Coaching Staff of the Year committees.
While at DC3, Smith has had 92 players received All-Conference recognition, 52 players receive All-Region VI honors and eight players receive All-American recognition. At the 2000 World Series, DC3 had one player (Rikki Greenstreet) named to the All-Tournament team. The DC3 softball program has also produced 40 NJCAA Academic All-Americans.
During his time at Dodge City on top of primarily severing as the head softball coach, Smith also served in the roles of athletic director, sports information director, assistant softball coach, assistant women's basketball coach, and more. He also diligently worked to support other Conquistador athletic programs by helping the concession stand at games, keeping the score book at basketball and volleyball games, and more much more.
Smith has one daughter, Chantel and a granddaughter, Madelynn.
