Jamar Smith

On the night of February 12, 2007, Central Illinois experienced one of the biggest blizzards it had received in the previous ten years, dumping 15" of snow in the Champaign area, and making travel dangerous.^[23] At approximately 9 PM that night, Smith and Illini teammate Brian Carlwell, both age 19 at the time, began drinking at one of the apartments in the complex where they lived in the small town of Savoy, Illinois, about 10 minutes south of the Assembly Hall (now called State Farm Center), the University of Illinois basketball arena. Smith says he was engaged in a drinking game they called "Power Hour"—drinking a shot of tequila every 60 seconds, a dozen shots in total. According to witnesses, Smith and Carlwell left the apartment at approximately 11 PM after "things got really rowdy and out of control" and got into a 1996 Lexus belonging to Smith's grandfather; the two intoxicated players drove off into the blizzard toward the university campus on the snow-packed roads.^[24]

Shortly thereafter, Smith returned to the apartment, visibly shaken, and incoherent. About one mile from the apartment, Smith had lost control of the car in the snow, spun 180 degrees, and the passenger door of the car smashed into a tree on the opposite side of the road. He had driven the car back to the apartment complex and Brian Carlwell was still outside in the passenger side of the car—Smith said that Carlwell was dead. Witnesses said the Smith was so distraught over the thought of killing his friend that he broke a window and tried to harm himself and was restrained.

Witnesses outside the apartment saw the damaged car with a person inside who was not moving, and called 911. When authorities arrived, it turned out that Carlwell was not dead, but unconscious—he had suffered a severe concussion and was admitted to a local hospital where he was kept in an induced coma for four days after the accident. Amateur photos of the wrecked car Smith was driving were posted contemporaneously by the administrator of a major Illinois basketball discussion forum.^[25]

Carlwell, a 6'10" freshman reserve center for the Illini, rejoined the team a week later, but did not play in any of the final eight games of the season. He only played in three games for Illinois the following season, and in February 2008, one year after the accident, Carlwell announced that he was transferring to San Diego State University,^[26] where he played his final two college seasons.

Jamar Smith was charged by the Champaign County Sheriff with Aggravated DUI (because of Carlwell's severe injuries) and Leaving the Scene of an Accident Involving Personal Injury; both charges are felonies in Illinois. Smith's blood alcohol content that night was .176, more than twice the .08 legal limit. Three months after the accident Smith entered a plea of guilty to DUI with grievous bodily harm, and the leaving the scene charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement. Partly because Smith had no prior criminal record of any kind, he received a relatively light sentence—15 days in jail, an $850 fine, two years probation, and 75 hours community service. He was also ordered not to consume alcohol as a condition of his probation. After the guilty plea, the Illinois basketball program suspended Smith for one year, and permitted him to redshirt during that time, so as not to lose a year of NCAA eligibility during his suspension.

Smith completed the university suspension in May 2008, and the NCAA basketball pundits were speculating about the effect that the return of Smith to the team would have for Illinois, since the team had struggled to find a consistent shooter. However Jamar Smith was still under the two year probation restrictions imposed by the court, when on July 25 of that year, police were called to the scene of a 2:30 AM altercation outside a campus-area bar. Smith was not involved in any way in the altercation, but police said they ordered Smith, and others who were at the scene, to stay back away from the altercation to avoid inflaming the incident. Police said that Smith walked away three times, but each time returned to the scene. Police then approached Smith, said he smelled like alcohol and asked him about it, and Smith admitted he had a few beers. As a well-known local athlete, the police knew who Smith was, and they also knew that his DUI sentence prohibited him from consuming alcohol. He was not arrested at that time but a few days later, the Champaign County States Attorney, Julia Reitz, asked a judge to revoke Smith's probation.^[27]

As a result of the probation violation, Smith was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, his probation period was extended an additional 18 months, he was ordered to enter an alcohol rehabilitation program, and to wear an alcohol monitoring anklet 24 hours a day until his probation was completed.

The University of Illinois announced that Smith was permanently dismissed from the basketball program.^[24] Smith arranged with court officials to move to Evansville, Indiana where he completed the ordered rehab, worked in a grocery store, and entered the University of Southern Indiana.

Jamar Smith is forthcoming about his alcoholism, the serious errors in judgment he made, and how he was given a second, and a third, chance to get his life together. From some reports, Smith, with the help of friends and family, has turned his life around. He has said that at some point he would like to travel and speak to young people about his experiences. Smith is still in contact with many people from his time at Illinois, including former head coach Bruce Weber, his best friend from the Illinois team, Chester Frazier, and Brian Carlwell, the player who was riding with 19-year-old Smith in the car on the night that changed the direction of his life.^[28]

• eurobasket.com profile
• Jamar Smith at Proballers
• EuroLeague profile
• Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles bio
• NBA D-League profile
• Jamar Smith on X