Smith inducted into the Montana Coaches Hall Of Fame

When Polson High School softball coach Larry Smith was first hired by Dennis Jones and Bud Veith as the head softball coach in 1988 he was asked by the Pirates’ administrators “if he could field a competitive team.”

Smith responded simply to the question: “that’s correct!”

“When I applied for the job I felt like I could make Polson competitive immediately,” Smith said. “I was able to accomplish that right away. After the guy who I was helping out for two seasons prior stepped down, I applied for it. I got the job and I’ve had it ever since.”

The school administrator who hired Smith probably couldn’t have envisioned the next 29 seasons would include 11 conference titles, seven state titles, a nine-time Montana Coaches Association Coach Of The Year honors and a 5-time winner, and is still the Polson coach at 75. He was also named Regional COY four times and was a National High School Association Coaches Association National finalist three times as as thirty year member of the MCA.

When Polson Principal Scott Wilson offered his congratulations to Larry Smith for being one of the inductees into the Montana State Coaches Hall Of Fame, Smith was quick to credit his players for the honor.

“Like I told Wilson, many hundreds of young girls made us a successful program and I accept this honor on their behalf,” Smith said. “Without them, this induction would have never happened.”

Wilson said he felt Smith was “deserving” of the honor.

“Larry is probably one of the most respected coaches in softball in the state and in the region of Montana,” Wilson said. “I think that reach is further outside of Montana. He has built a program in Polson that is just a top notch program that year after year is competitive.”

Smith moved to Polson in 1978 to become an operating engineer for the dam for a company called Montana Power.

Prior to working at Montana Power, Smith also worked for the Hoerner Waldorf paper mill for 13 years.

Smith, who was the Lady Pirates’ assistant coach for two seasons before he became the head coach in 88, said his first exposure to the game of fast-pitch was in college at Montana State University-Northern in Havre.

“I was introduced to the game in Havre and there was a men’s league,” Smith admitted. “I never knew what fast-pitch was until I was invited to join a team from my friend’s dorm. His team was short and I had never seen or heard of it before. When I joined in, I developed a passion for the game that was a whole lot more exciting than baseball. It was a faster game with so much action and it was just so much more exciting.”

Prior to becoming a Lady Pirates’ head coach, Smith’s experience as a coach was limited to coaching Little League, Babe Ruth teams that his son and daughter were involved in with him. It got him involved in coaching softball with his daughter and her friends.

The competitive nature of softball and Smith’s competitive nature as a coach keeps him going.

“It helps me satisfy the need to stay in the game for me,” Smith said. “The competitiveness and being a coach is still here. It’s something that I can do after my playing days and it’s a part of me wanting to compete in the game and follow through. I am sure that it is what keeps me motivated is that I see these really competitive young gals come along and athletes that compete at a very high level. That inspires me to do more. I’ve had some good ones and that has helped keep the inspiration inside me.”

Smith said he isn’t quitting anytime soon.

“I don’t have any real desire to quit,” Smith said. “I know I have a partner in life and I have to consider that she might have something to say about that. She has been my biggest supporter and has always been there for me. Through the years of all of the ups and downs, she’s been there for me.”

When Smith inherited the team his first year, he took over a team that finished 0-13 the following year and finished with a 13-11 record. By the mid 90s, his team started to climb to one of the more prominent teams in high school prep softball.

By ’97, Smith’s team finished second to Butte Central and from then on, they were an “elite team” according to Smith.

It would be another four seasons before Smith would see his first-ever Montana state crown.

“Winning that state championship was very satisfying and there again, I wanted to do it again and again,” Smith said. “The very next year, we won back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002. I think to the players that was really something. They hadn’t had too many state championships in that community accumulating as fast as we did in the early-00s.”

Polson captured titles in 2004, 2007, and won three consecutive titles in 2010-2013 before being dethroned by conference rival Frenchtown in their 2-1 loss in the state finals. Since that victory, the Broncs have won the last four consecutive titles. Smith, and his Lady Pirates are in the hunt to try to bring the title back to Polson.

Smith, who runs his family-owned construction business called Smith Paving and Contracting with his son Derek, and daughter Robin, said he still gets gratification from coaching.

“I think the greatest gratification I get out of coaching is the enjoyment and the happiness my athletes get out playing softball,” Smith said. “That is the biggest gratification to me is the calls, e-mails and cards or whatever I receive from my alumni to know that I had an influence on them as a softball player and as a person. That always makes me feel good and that is what keeps me going.”