Smith, Walter “Red”

Walter W. (Red) Smith (1905-1982) was an American sportswriter and longtime columnist for the New York Herald-Tribune and New York Times. He was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1927, and went to work as a reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel.

Red then became, in rapid succession, a copyreader, rewrite and assignment man, and sportswriter for the St. Louis Star, the Philadelphia Record, and in 1945 the sports columnist for the New York Herald-Tribune. No long after the Trib’s demise in 1966, Red became the prime sports columnist for the New York Times, where he worked until his death in January 1982.

Among his many awards over the years were an honorary LLB from his alma mater, Notre Dame, the George Polk Award, and in 1975, long overdue, the Pulitzer Prize.

He was name an honorary Lamb in 1960.