Norm Smith
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| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | 21 November 1915, |
| Recruited from | Northcote Juniors |
| Death | 29 July 1973, |
| Playing Career¹ | |
| Debut | 1934, Melbourne vs. , at |
| Team(s) | Melbourne (1934-1948)
210 games, 546 goals |
| Coaching Career¹ | |
| Team(s) | Fitzroy (1949-1951)
Melbourne (1952-1967) |
| ¹ Statistics to end of 2006 season | |
| Career Highlights | |
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Norman W. "Norm" Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was a legendary Australian rules footballer and coach in the VFL.
[edit] Playing career
Recruited from Northcote Juniors, Smith made his debut with the Melbourne Football Club in 1935, and quickly made a name for himself as a full-forward and a medium-sized forward pocket. In conjunction with Jack Baggott, Smith formed one of the lethal forward-line combinations that helped Melbourne to premierships in 1939, 1940 and 1941. Smith led the goalkicking at Melbourne from 1938-1941, was named captain between 1945 and 1947, and also tasted premiership success in 1948. Late in his playing career, Smith switched over to Fitzroy, where he captain-coached the club in 1949 and 1950. It was soon after that he began his career as a pure coach.
[edit] Coaching career
In 1951, Smith coached his final year at Fitzroy and went back to Melbourne to coach in 1952. While at Melbourne he established himself as one of the greatest coaches of all time, with Melbourne making every Grand Final from 1954-1960, winning the premiership in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959 and 1960. Smith coached one more premiership for Melbourne in 1964 (except for the Round 12 game against Geelong, which was coached by Ron Barassi, a protege of Smith's).
He was famously sacked as coach of Melbourne mid-season in 1965 after the side had a form slump - but was re-instated the next week after they lost again.
In honour of his involvements in numerous Grand Finals, the Norm Smith Medal was created to acknowledge the best player on ground in a VFL/AFL Grand Final, awarded each year from 1979.
Smith was one of the inaugural inductions into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named coach of the century.
| Preceded by: Allan Ruthven |
Fitzroy Football Club captain 1949-1950 |
Succeeded by: Allan Ruthven |
| Preceded by: Charles Cameron |
Fitzroy Football Club coach 1949-1951 |
Succeeded by: Allan Ruthven |
| Preceded by: Allan La Fontaine |
Melbourne Football Club coach 1952-1967 |
Succeeded by: John Beckwith |
