C. Lysle Smith
Year Inducted: 1982
A great basketball and softball player, an accomplished bowler, a champion golfer, and highly regarded as one of Port Huron’s finest and most versatile all-time athletes.
In basketball he was a starting guard for three years on the Port Huron High School teams of 1946-47, 1947-48, and 1948-49. As a Junior he was the top scorer on the team which won 16 consecutive games before losing in the State Class A final to Jackson.
In his Senior year, he was Captain of the basketball team and again the high scorer. The team lost in the Regional finals to Saginaw Arthur Hill, the ultimate State champions. Lysle was named most valuable player in the tournament.
As a Senior he was named to the All State first team in basketball, after being a second team choice in 1947-48.
He won a freshman monogram for basketball at the University of Michigan in 1949-50 and a varsity letter the following year. He entered the Army in 1950. During his three years in the service he gained recognition as one of the top pitchers in all of the armed services, pitching his team to the runner-up spot in the European Command Championships in 1954.
Back from the service he pitched for some of Port Huron’s top teams, such as Gaffney’s Michigan National Bank, Bowl-O-Drome, and Shoffner’s (Port Huron Hall of Fame team). It was while he pitched for Shoffner’s (teaming with Eddie Urban); Shoffner’s won the 1959 State Class B Title and the 1960 State Class AA Crown. Shoffner’s also won the championship in the very tough inter-city league in 1963. In 1965 Lysle was honored as the Port Huron City League’s top pitcher. During these years he had many no-hitters and perfect games, recorded many strike-outs, shout-outs, and helped the team as a hitter, fielder, and base runner.
His bowling honors include being named to the All-City team on five occasions. He has been on many championship teams in various leagues and was a member of the Times Herald team that won the City Tournament in 1964.
In 1972 he bowled a 735 series in the team event of the American Bowling Congress tournament in Long Beach, California. This was the highest series bowled in that event in the entire tournament, which included 15,000 entries.
Since joining the Elks Golf and Country Club in 1975 Lysle has been club champion of runner-up every year. He has coached Little League teams, was JV basketball coach at PHHS and has been a highly respected basketball official for more than 25 years.
