Lee Roy Smith
American wrestler (born 1958)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lee Roy Smith III (born July 30, 1958) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler. He represented the United States in freestyle wrestling at the 1983 World Championships at 62 kg, where he won a silver medal. As a collegiate wrestler, he was a four-time Big 8 Conference champion, three-time NCAA Division I All-American, and the 142-pound 1980 NCAA Division I champion, competing for Oklahoma State.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | July 30, 1958 Del City, Oklahoma, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Freestyle and Folkstyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Oklahoma State | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | USA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Wrestling career
High School
Smith attended Del City High School in Del City, Oklahoma. As a high school wrestler, he won two Oklahoma state championships.[1] He also won two Junior National freestyle wrestling championships.[2]
College
He attended Oklahoma State University, where he was a four-time Big 8 Conference champion, a three-time NCAA Division I All-American, and the 142-pound NCAA Division I champion in 1980.[3] Smith was also the first Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestler to earn over 100 career wins.[4]
Senior level
Following his collegiate career, Smith wrestled on the freestyle Senior level circuit. He represented the United States at the 1983 World Championships in freestyle wrestling at 62 kg, where he won a silver medal.[5] He won the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at his weight class, only to later lose his spot in a protracted court battle. Smith was also a qualifier at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials.[6]
In 2022, Smith was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.[7]
Family
Lee Roy is the older brother of John Smith, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion in freestyle wrestling, and Pat Smith, the first four-time NCAA Division I national champion in collegiate wrestling history.[8] Smith's nephews Mark Perry and Chris Perry are also NCAA Division I national champions and his other nephew J. T. Realmuto is an All-Star MLB player for the Philadelphia Phillies.[9][10]