Howard’s Anthony Smith (10) listens as coach speaks during a time out in a game at Howard School of Academics and Technology.Anthony Jerome Smith Jr. was destined to be a basketball player. The 17-year-old junior at the Howard School of Academics & Technology has it in his lineage.
Smith isn’t old enough to remember much about his grandfather, but any basketball fan who lived in Chattanooga in the 1970s and ’80s doubtless remembers Anthony Jerome “Woosie” Roberts.
Walter McGary, Smith’s high school coach, remembers when he first met the now local legend. who died in the late 1990s. It was in the early 1970s when McGary was a standout forward for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Roberts was at Riverside High School.
“I played around with the kids in the gym over at Riverside and started shooting around with this kid,” McGary said. “Then I heard people say ‘Woosie.’ Were they saying that because ‘woos’ is the sound of the ball going through the basket? They said, ‘No. That’s his name.’
“Back then I shot with one hand and he asked me to show him how to do that, and because of that we became real good friends. I would go to Riverside and watch games and he would come over to the school. We got to be fairly close, and I know that kid loved basketball.”
Smith is no different when it comes to his passion. He began playing basketball when he was 5 years old. He played football through middle school but chooses now to concentrate on basketball.
Smith’s father, Anthony Sr., said there’s another similarity between grandfather and grandson.
“He’s quiet,” the elder Smith said. “Many people have told me my dad was quiet and kind of shy.”
After graduating from Riverside, Roberts played at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., and later became a member of the school’s athletics hall of fame. His 2,341 points has him currently fourth on the ORU career list, and he still holds the National Invitation Tournament single-game scoring record with 65 points against Oregon in 1977.
Roberts was a first-round pick by the Denver Nuggets — the 21st overall selection in the 1977 NBA draft — and ended up averaging 7.8 points in 213 career games with Denver and the Washington Bullets.
Smith Sr. said he still hears remarks about his father’s storied basketball career, particularly when he was coaching youth football.
“A lot of the ones who had grandkids out there would tell me some stories,” he said. “They’d say he’s one of the best players to come from around here.”
The younger Smith doesn’t remember much about his grandfather, but he’s been educated.
“I heard he was a bad boy,” Smith said. “He knew how to play ball.”
Smith’s focus these days isn’t on trying to reach legendary status so much as just to improve his game — like working on his left-handed dribble — and be a contributor for the District 6-AA-leading Hustlin’ Tigers (11-5, 9-1). He doesn’t consider having a grandfather who was famous locally for his ability to play basketball as a burden.
“I look at it as a positive,” Smith said. “It makes me work harder to be just like him.”
McGary said Smith’s game can improve greatly if he can develop some toughness and consistency. He already has plenty of moves and shots, which he needs if he is to match or exceed his father’s school record of nine 3-point goals in a game.
Anthony’s younger brother, Antonio Jerome Smith, is an upcoming sophomore point guard at Howard. The Smiths’ cousin, T.J. Butts, is another of Roberts’ grandsons and a senior on Red Bank’s basketball team.
The younger Smiths’ mother is Tonja Hodges, who played at Howard in the early 1990s, and with an aunt like former Kirkman standout Priscilla Robinson, it’s no wonder there’s kindred love of the game.
“I’m still that way,” Anthony Sr. said. “It’s all in the family.”