Dean Smith
Smith was an all-state running back at Graham and played football and ran track at the University of Texas. He was a halfback on the Longhorns’ team that beat Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl. In 1952, he was a gold medalist on the United States’ 4×100 relay team at the Helsinki Olympics in Finland and finished fourth in the 100-meter dash. Smith was drafted by the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, but when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, he quit football to become a stunt man in Hollywood, enjoying a career that lasted more than 50 years. He appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, including many of John Wayne’s movies.
