Title IX Trailblazer Rita Smith Has Put Together Second-to-None Legacy at Lees-McRae

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." –Text from Title IX legislation in 1972.

This is the first of a series of Body, Mind & Soul special Title IX at 50 stories that highlight member student-athletes, coaches and administrators of Conference Carolinas.

BANNER ELK, N.C. - Considering her long-time tenure and a life intertwined with nearly every aspect of the college, it’s a wonder the Bobcats’ athletic teams aren’t called the Lees-McRae Ritas.
 
After all, Rita Smith has been a fixture on campus for almost 39 years. Arriving in 1983 as an assistant basketball coach and a year later, the school’s first-ever athletic trainer, Smith has worn many hats during her four decades at Lees-McRae: assistant coach for both women’s basketball and tennis, head athletic trainer, assistant professor and division chair, member of the faculty senate and other campus-wide committees, as well as her three current roles as Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman Administrator and Health Care Administrator.
 
Smith, who fittingly lives only five minutes from her office in Williams Gymnasium on the Banner Elk campus, also holds an unofficial title: school historian. 
 
Rarely a day goes by that someone doesn’t utter these words: “Go ask Rita. She might know.”
 
“Yeah, it does happen quite often,” Smith admits. “Particularly in athletics. Most everyone else has retired. Sometimes younger coaches might say, ‘A guy stopped by who played football here in the 70’s. Do you remember him?’ I remind them I’m not that old! But I do try to share memories with coaches and staff to give them a better perspective on how far we’ve come.”
 
And just how far has Lees-McRae athletics come? Let us count the ways:

• When Smith, who holds a B.S. degree from UNC Greensboro and M.A. from Appalachian State, first joined Lees-McRae in 1983 it was a two-year residential junior college that featured a football team that played conference opponents as far east as Long Island, New York and West Virginia. The football student-athletes, some of whom were housed on the second floor of an old gymnasium, comprised almost 20 percent of the entire student body of 800 back then. The program was discontinued in 1993.
   
• Besides serving as the assistant women’s basketball coach and a residence director in her first year at Lees-McRae, Smith needed to complete 1,800 hours of athletic training required to finish her Master’s degree at Appalachian State. Thus, the first-ever athletic trainer in school history was born in 1983. Smith still shakes her head about the department’s humble beginnings.

“I started with a folding table and two coolers,” she laughed. “There was no athletic training room so I taped men’s and women’s teams in storage rooms or in open space in the gym.”
 
Smith was a pioneer not only as the school’s first athletic trainer but also as one of the few female athletic trainers in the region.
 
“It was challenging,” she readily admits. “In our JUCO conference, there was only one other woman. At that time few females were given the opportunity to work with male sports."

For an exclusively male sport like football, there was a time of adjustment for coaches and student-athletes–especially coaches.
 
“The coaches had never had a full-time athletic trainer, no less a female athletic trainer. Before, if a student-athlete didn’t have to see a physician for something, they could go play. I’m sure early on, there were coaches who said to themselves, ‘No woman is going to tell me what to do.’ Sometimes I had to stand up to them. I won’t say there weren’t discussions from time-to-time, some were rather heated. A few times I had to go to the AD. I would tell them, ‘It's your liability and it wasn’t safe for that injured player to return yet.’ It’s certainly not as contentious as it used to be.”
 
The team members welcomed her almost immediately, however. 
 
“The student-athletes came around quickly. They realized I could help them. When new players joined the team, the older guys took care of me and told them, ‘She’s alright.’ Often I had to prove myself and work a little harder. But I wasn’t going to be pushed out. I’m pretty hard-headed. I knew I was learning and I knew I could do the job. I'm still here, so I guess it worked out okay!”
 
Understandably, the work environment has improved dramatically from those early days. Coaches are very supportive and the athletic training operation has grown. Smith now oversees a staff of four full-time trainers, who utilize three taping tables and five other treatment areas to service 325 student-athletes, and recently received a new cold tub from a generous donor.

In 1972, Title IX legislation drastically changed the history of college athletics. By prohibiting sex discrimination by colleges, the law required schools to invest in women’s athletic programs. Rita was a junior in high school when she first experienced the new opportunities.

“When I grew up (in Mount Airy, North Carolina), there were no organized sports for girls,” Smith said. “There were only two of us girls in the neighborhood. So if we wanted to play sports, we had to play with the boys. And sometimes we out-threw them and out-played them. When it came time to play in school, it was hard to see the boys get the uniforms and equipment. We were told ‘you can come and watch.’”

Smith took full advantage of the new opportunities, playing volleyball, basketball and softball during her final two years of high school. She also played clarinet in the school band and was a member of the band’s flag corps.

“For volleyball, we used our t-shirts and shorts we had in gym class. In basketball, you would have thought we were given the world when we got real uniforms!”

As a softball player, Rita played in blue jeans and t-shirts but was given a baseball cap left over from the men’s baseball team.

“We were just happy to have something that said ‘Mount Airy!’”

Beyond improving their physical skills, Smith said that the experience of team sports may have had a bigger influence on the mental side for these newly-minted female athletes. 

“When you have your teammates, it becomes a different story. It’s a smaller group. Lots of us had to gain confidence to play out there on the court. We had never done that before. But we just wanted to play. Just like the guys would do.”

Rita particularly pointed out that having teammates is a very powerful dynamic for young women playing organized sports

“Having a teammate that believes in you always gives you more confidence and a sound foundation to build on. Over my years here at Lees-McRae, I’ve seen quiet freshmen who hardly speak and make no eye contact. Yet they graduate as team leaders. The bonds between your teammates and coaches are friendships you don’t get in any other place. There’s so many shared experiences, from hard practices, the wins and losses, the road trips, and sometimes even losing a teammate to a tragedy.”

Smith still marvels on how far women’s athletics has come during her 39 years at Lees-McRae.
 
“I remember seeing the first NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four on national TV. I couldn’t believe it! And I had the opportunity to attend the 1996 Olympics women’s soccer semis and finals in front of 86,000 fans at Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia. What a thrill to see such great athletes receive so much attention.”
 
Rita also stressed that Title IX played a vital part in her pursuing a career in athletics and athletic training.
 
“This anniversary is not just about sports. It’s about academics and opportunities to make a living. I wouldn’t have had the career I’ve had if it wasn’t for Title IX. While there are still some inequities, now we have opportunities that just weren’t possible before.”
 
Craig McPhail, Vice President of Athletics and Club Sports at Lees-McRae, first met Smith in 1998 when he was hired as the Bobcats’ cross country coach. Before long, he witnessed first-hand some of Rita’s special qualities.
 
“Everyone knew Miss Rita as someone you could count on,” said McPhail, who became Athletic Director in 2009. “Many coaches and administrators would pick her brain about various issues and she would always give great advice. You could see she was very organized, very detailed. She always wanted to give the students the best experience possible.”
 
As time went on, Smith earned McPhail’s trust and the Bobcats’ AD gave her added responsibilities as they formed a close bond.
 
“I found myself getting more and more busy with fundraising and being off campus,” McPhail said. “Rita is someone who knows the college and the culture. Often I kid that she’s really the AD; I just have the title.”

As one might expect, Smith has many stories and memories to share. Maybe her favorite tale happened early in her time on campus. It involved a Bobcat football player during a spring practice.
 
“He suffered an injury during a scrimmage,” she recalled. “We took him to the sidelines off the field. Before our team doctor could even come over to evaluate his condition, his mom came down from the bleachers. She called him by his full name and said, ‘I told you to cut those toenails!’ We still keep in touch. He married a former women’s soccer player from here and they have a beautiful family.”
 
Over the years, Smith has received numerous awards for excellence, both in and out of the athletic department. She was given the Edgar Tufts Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Edgar Tufts Humanitarian Service Award, the Order of the Tower Special Recognition Award and the Conference Carolinas Administrator Milestone Award. In 2021, she was honored as Faculty Emerita at Lees-McRae College.
 
McPhail seems to know why Smith has stayed at Lees-McRae for so long.
 
“I think she just loves the student-athletes,” he said. “This campus and this athletic department is her extended family. Every time a student-athlete graduates, she sees the impact she’s making. Her impact across our campus and community has made quite a legacy.”
 
Perhaps her crowning moment, though, came in 2012 when she was inducted into the Lees-McRae College Fred I. Dickerson Athletic Hall of Fame.
           
“I was so humbled when I learned I had been selected for the Hall of Fame,” she said. “It was a very special moment. Many of my alumni athletic training students came back for the ceremonies and I received so many notes and phone calls.”

And Smith adds, “I’m still here and going strong.”

To learn more about Title IX at 50, please visit here. 

Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations. Bob works with Assistant Commissioner for External Relations Brian Hand and the entire Conference Carolinas office to help tell the stories of the tremendous student-athletes, coaches and administrators in Conference Carolinas.