Tulsa Mourns Loss of Basketball All-American and Hall of Famer Bobby “Bingo” Smith

CLEVELAND, Ohio –– One of the most decorated players in the history of The University of Tulsa basketball program, Bobby "Bingo" Smith (1966-69), died Thursday at the age of 77.

After an All-America career at Tulsa, Smith played with the Cleveland Cavaliers across 10 seasons in the 1970s and was a key member of the Cavs franchise in the early years as an expansion team. His No. 7 jersey hangs in the rafters at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Smith also had his college jersey No. 32 retired on February 22, 2020, in ceremonies at the Donald W. Reynolds Center

Smith was a second-team Associated Press and Converse Yearbook All-America selection his senior season of 1968-69. He averaged a team-leading and Missouri Valley Conference high 24.5 points as a senior, while earning first-team all-league honors and being named the MVC Player of the Year.

He completed his collegiate career with 1,338 points for a 17.1 scoring average.

Smith went on to an 11-year career in the NBA. He was the sixth pick in the first round of the 1969 NBA draft by the San Diego Rockets, and a year later he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1970 Expansion Draft.

In his first game with the Cavs, he scored 21 points. He helped contribute to the Cavaliers winning the NBA Central Division title in 1975 and was part of the Miracle in Richfield winning Game 2 of the Semifinals vs the Washington Bullets.

In 11 professional seasons, Smith played in 865 games and logged 22,407 minutes. Smith was especially noted for his ability to hit jump shots from long range. His outside jump shots often were taken from today's 3-point range. For his career, he recorded a .449 field goal percentage (4,776 FGs made out of 10,642 attempts). Smith also had a .798 free throw rate (1,307-of-1,637) and accounted for 3,630 total rebounds, 1,734 assists and 10,882 points.

Smith was inducted into the Tulsa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984. He was also a member of the 2016 Hall of Fame Class of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.

Tulsa Mourns Loss of Basketball All-American and Hall of Famer Bobby “Bingo” Smith

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