

# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Larry Smith - Celebration of Life
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 24 May, 2025 at 03:00 pm – Sat, 24 May, 2025 at 05:00 pm
- **Event Description**: We're getting together to honor and remember Larry Smith's amazing life - let's celebrate the good times and share stories!About this EventJohn Laurence "Larry" Smith - Celebration of LifeDate: May 24, 2025Time: 3:00Location: Texas Wesleyan University baseball fieldCome join us for a special event to celebrate the life of Coach Larry Smith. We'll gather at the baseball field at Texas Wesleyan University to share stories, memories, and laughter in honor of Larry.  Let's come together to celebrate the amazing person Larry was and the impact he had on all of our lives. The mic will be open, so bring your Coach stories and memories to share!Celebration and memory sharing will continue with TexMex food and maragitas. Details will be available at the memorial service.Please RSVP, so we can plan to accommodate all. We hope to see you there!John Laurence “Larry” SmithLarry (Coach) Smith was born January 16, 1941 in Memphis, Tennessee to Helen and John C. Smith. He died peacefully April 26, 2025 in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of 84.Larry and his family moved to Scottsdale in the mid 1950’s. He played varsity football and baseball. In football, he was backup quarterback. Helmets did not have faceguards then, so he had numerous injuries to the head and knees. Baseball was his love and where he excelled. He was selected as an All-State high school baseball pitcher for the Scottsdale High School Beavers; honored as MVP his junior and senior years. Arizona Hall of Fame coach Bob Henricks once told a reporter that the best high school game he ever saw was when Larry Smith pitched in a 10 inning, 1-0 loss against a rival school with Smith having 19 strikeouts. That game was also Smith’s most memorable high school game.There was no baseball draft back then; in 1959, the St. Louis Cardinals offered Larry a $35,000 contract, a huge amount. Larry turned it down, as he was offered a full scholarship from Bobby Winkles, ASU’s legendary Coach. His dream was to play for Coach Winkles. He turned down 12 other scholarship offers from colleges around the country.Larry played for Coach Winkles four years, his best year being his junior year. Larry started, or relieved, in 26 games; he had an ERA of 2.85. Before the start of his senior season, he sustained an arm injury and was never the same. Larry said his senior season was horrible. He didn’t have a job after college, so Larry took a marine officer candidate test and did well. The Marines flew him to Los Alamedas Navy Base to take a physical. He flunked. Larry had been hit in the head by a pitch his freshman year at ASU and was in the hospital for 8 days. The Marines had all his medical records from high school and college and would not take him due to all his injuries. Larry said that probably saved his life because it kept him out of Vietnam.Larry married the love of his life, Nancy Clayton, on June 6th, 1966. Nancy preceded him in death in August of 2024.After his playing career ended at ASU, Larry tried to play pro ball. He played some minor league ball with the Astros and Reds, was in the Mexican League for a short stint, then he got into Scouting and Coaching. Larry went on to a long career as a high school, semipro, college and minor league baseball coach. He coached at Arizona State University, Triton College (Chicago), Texas Wesleyan College, Indiana University, Duke University, Northwestern University and Scottsdale Community College. Larry coached in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system for the Welland Pirates and Erie Seawolves.Between coaching assignments, Larry served as a baseball scout for the Texas Rangers, Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates. He also pitched batting practice for the Rangers. He was instrumental in getting a lot of young men drafted and into their dreams of playing pro ball.In 1997, Larry retired (or so he thought) from his coaching career at Scottsdale Community College where the ‘Chokes had a 315-256 record. Larry was named the Coach of the year in 1997. In addition, Larry was named to the Arizona Hall of Fame for Coaches in 2010. The Chokes inducted him into their Hall of Fame around the same time.Larry was also inducted into the Texas Wesleyan Hall of Fame in 2019. Larry compiled a winning percentage of .712, the highest of any coach at Texas Wesleyan during that time. His teams were district champions 3 times and ranked in the top 10 five times in the NAIA division.Throughout the years, Larry and Nancy would spend the summer months in Switzerland and Austria. In1996, as part of an MLB envoy program, Larry met an Austrian gentleman, Martin Zoufal. The two coaches became fast friends; Larry became Martin’s mentor. Larry was instrumental in creating a team in Wiener Neustadt, Austria; the stadium is named Ducksfield. Martin said, “if it weren’t for Larry telling us about the inner part of baseball, the REAL MEANING of it all, we wouldn’t have a triple-year championship team.” As Martin so eloquently said, “sometimes in life it shows decades down the road that what you have accomplished has had a bigger effect than you realized in that moment you are doing it.” Proof: Larry’s last year as the Ducks head coach was 2004; they were just one out away from winning the gold – in dramatic fashion – but lost! This was a repeat of 2003 when the Ducks lost to a Russian team late in the game. Fast forward 17 years; the Ducks won the 2021 championship. They honored Larry by sending him a championship ring; he received 2 more championship rings from the Ducks for 2023 and 2024. In 2016, the Ducks retired Larry’s Number 1 jersey; Wiener Neustadt now carries the nickname “Baseball City”.Earlier this year, the John L. Smith Foundation – a 501.3(c) charity - was formed to promote baseball player exchanges between the United States and Austria. Please visit www.boysofsummer.tours for more information. Memorial gifts to the Foundation are welcome. Donation mailing address is c/o Rusty Jacobs, 6825 Kirk Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76116Nancy and Larry had no children. In the last months of their lives, “Coach Smith’s” Texas Wesleyan players became surrogate sons, partnering with dear friends and neighbors to provide the care and support that they needed. While many helped, special thanks to friends Ron Kevern, Carmen Padgett, Tricia and Ramon Urcuyo, and to Texas Wesleyan teammates Steve Atwood, Donny Carr, Kerry Getter (Becky), Rusty Jacobs (Linda), Larry Kottraba (Gerlinde), Rick Ryser and Max Wayman (Lynn). Thanks to Scottsdale North for their patience and compassionate care of Coach.Memorial services will be held at 3:00 pm, Saturday, May 24th at the Texas Wesleyan baseball field, 3165 E. Rosedale Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76105. A celebration reception will follow; reception information will be available at the memorial service.  https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/92eeace0-2d59-11f0-81af-3d493b525b5a-rimg-w547-h740-dcb9aea7-gmir.jpg
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/fort-worth/larry-smith-celebration-of-life/100001349794424459
- **Event Categories**: sports, nonprofit, charities, football, performances, art, theatre, entertainment
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 0

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: https://consumer.pxf.io/c/1339408/3151484/39691?partnerpropertyid=1191892&MediaPartnerPropertyId=1191892&svlink=14105511&level=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eventbrite.com%2Fe%2Flarry-smith-celebration-of-life-tickets-1349794424459
- **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: USD

## Event venue details

- **city**: Fort Worth
- **state**: TX
- **country**: United States
- **location**: Texas Wesleyan University baseball field
- **lat**: 32.7319346
- **long**: -97.2795465
- **full address**: Texas Wesleyan University baseball field, 3165 East Rosedale Street, Fort Worth, United States

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 10
- **organizer**: 1970's Wesleyan Teammates (https://allevents.in/org/1970s-wesleyan-teammates/25691900)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/22d41ec9758b37c4a6126632351963e6b735d97aa3dd6b6391c2c2d83bdf18c8-rimg-w1200-h1624-dcc5bfba-gmir.jpg?v=1747116450
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/54b539a8e89b0237885dfe15c1d61b4bb5bbf4d05967b6632b90e34193183fbd-rimg-w400-h400-dcdbd7d6-gmir.jpg?v=1747116449

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Sat, 24 May, 2025 at 03:00 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** Texas Wesleyan University baseball field, 3165 East Rosedale Street, Fort Worth, United States
- **Q**: What is the ticket price?
  - **A:** starting from 0 up to 0 USD
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** 1970's Wesleyan Teammates
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** sports, nonprofit, charities, football, performances, art, theatre, entertainment
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Larry Smith - Celebration of Life ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

## Structured Data (JSON-LD)

```json
[
    {
        "@context": "https://schema.org",
        "@type": "Event",
        "name": "Larry Smith - Celebration of Life",
        "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/22d41ec9758b37c4a6126632351963e6b735d97aa3dd6b6391c2c2d83bdf18c8-rimg-w1200-h1624-dcc5bfba-gmir.jpg?v=1747116450",
        "startDate": "2025-05-24",
        "endDate": "2025-05-24",
        "url": "https://allevents.in/fort-worth/larry-smith-celebration-of-life/100001349794424459",
        "location": {
            "@type": "Place",
            "name": "Texas Wesleyan University baseball field",
            "address": {
                "@type": "PostalAddress",
                "streetAddress": "3165 East Rosedale Street",
                "postalCode": "76105",
                "addressLocality": "Fort Worth",
                "addressRegion": "TX",
                "addressCountry": "US"
            },
            "geo": {
                "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
                "latitude": "32.7319346",
                "longitude": "-97.2795465"
            }
        },
        "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode",
        "description": "We're getting together to honor and remember Larry Smith's amazing life - let's celebrate the good times and share stories!",
        "offers": [
            {
                "@type": "AggregateOffer",
                "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
                "priceCurrency": "USD",
                "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-27",
                "availabilityEnds": "2025-05-24",
                "validFrom": "2026-03-27",
                "lowPrice": "0.00",
                "highPrice": "0.00",
                "price": "0.00",
                "url": "https://allevents.in/fort-worth/larry-smith-celebration-of-life/100001349794424459"
            },
            {
                "@type": "Offer",
                "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
                "priceCurrency": "USD",
                "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-27",
                "availabilityEnds": "",
                "validFrom": "2026-03-27",
                "url": "https://allevents.in/fort-worth/larry-smith-celebration-of-life/100001349794424459",
                "price": 0,
                "name": "General Admission"
            }
        ],
        "organizer": [
            {
                "@type": "Organization",
                "name": "1970s Wesleyan Teammates",
                "url": "https://allevents.in/org/1970s-wesleyan-teammates/25691900"
            }
        ]
    }
]
```