Dafford Smith made an impact coaching local prep football:
GDW Analysis:
FAIRVIEW: An outstanding person that is known for his skills in coaching two sports has passed away.
Dafford Smith passed on Sunday morning according to what Gameday Weekly has been able to find out. Smith was 88.
Smith coached high school football at West Point and Fairview. His stint with West Point was between 1973 to 1976 with the Warriors compiling 25 wins, 12 losses and a tie.
Fairview came calling, hiring him in 1986. He would be there for 11 seasons with the Aggies earning 64 victories in 119 decisions.
His win loss record in the AHSAA stands at 89-67-1, a winning percentage of .577.
Fairview football was trying to get through the process of not winning a lot when Smith started in 1986.
The Aggies had only one winning season in a span of 10 seasons, taking in 6 victories in 10 games in 1984.
Fairview went to work with Smith and the winning began to get noticed.
His first three years with Fairview accounted for 21 wins, three trips to the playoffs with his '86 group getting to the 2nd round.
The best season for Smith with the Aggies was 1994. Fairview had 10 wins for the first time in school history and earned a berth to the quarterfinal round of the 4A playoffs.
They started that year winning their first six games before they had a couple of losses to Danville and West Point.
The West Point game was special as it was played on a Saturday, October 22, due to the game being rained out that Friday evening.
Fairview, once beaten, met undefeated West Point with the game being carried live on WKUL FM as Ron Mosley Sr and Eddie McAnally were the announcers.
A new piece of equipment was on display that evening. A wireless microphone with Flash being the game's sideline reporter.
The contest would go to West Point by the final of 7 to 0.
WKUL FM and Smith formed a friendly relationship through the time he coached on the gridiron and also the several seasons he would be in charge of the Lady Aggies basketball team.
Flash remembers a regular season game in 1990, when Smith took his Fairview team to Good Hope.
This was a hard fought game, but what stood out that evening was a shootout between Fairview guard April Plunkett and Good Hope guard Deanna House.
Plunkett torched the nets for a record 57 points while House had a hot hand scoring 35. Good Hope was the winner. Plunkett would go on and play for Larry Slater at Wallace State while House took her skills to Northwest Shoals Community College.
Mosley Sr described Smith in the version of looking like well known country recording artist Kenny Rogers.
Smith earned great recognition for being inducted into the Cullman County Hall of Fame in 2001, the 2nd group in now that has been a part of county lifestyle for 24 years.
Smith shared this honor with well known people from the county, such as Felton Easterwood, Roland "Racehorse" Johnson, Sue Rhodes, Chester Freeman and Tom Drake.
Funeral arrangements are to be set at a later date.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.
