(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Former IBA-President Robert Smith and former catcher Ray Fosse elected into St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame
Nederlands
 O'FALLON, Illinois (USA) -
Dr. Robert E. Smith, who is a former President of the International Baseball Association (IBA), has been elected into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.
Smith was elected for his many contributions in sports, as he also was the longtime President of Greenville College and served long for the United States Olympic Committee.
Also elected was former Major League-catcher Ray Fosse.
The first class into this Hall of Fame was inducted in 2009.
Amongst the members are 48, who have been active in baseball as either a player, coach, umpire or administrator.
There are three softball-members.
One of them is Linda Wells, who in 2008 was the Assistant Coach of the Netherlands National Women's Softball Team.
Robert Smith and Ray Fosse belonged to a group of 13 persons from Illinois that was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday (February 11) at Gateway Classic Cars in O'Fallon, which is close to St. Louis.
While O'Fallon is located in the State of Illinois, it borders St. Louis in the state of Missouri and is part of the St. Louis Municipal Statistical Area.
...As President of the IBA, Robert Smith attends...
...the Final between Cuba and the USA of the...
...1988 Baseball World Championship...
...in Parma (Italy)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Robert Smith led the then-International Baseball Association from 1981 to 1993.
During his tenure, he played an important role in getting baseball into the Olympic Games.
In 1984 and 1988, baseball was a demonstration sport when the Games were held in Los Angeles (USA) and Seoul (South Korea) respectively.
Baseball became an official Medal Sport in 1992 in Barcelona (Spain).
For his efforts, he was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest honor given by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
After graduating from Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois, Robert Smith went to work for this College some years later as a physical education instructor and also became the coach of the school's baseball-team in 1962.
Smith was the Head Coach of the baseball-team through 1969 and then again in 1972-1974.
He led the team to 141 victories.
In 1973, Smith was a member of the coaching-staff of the National Baseball Team of the USA.
At Greenville, Smith played a developing role and became Vice-President for Institutional Advancement.
Later, he was chosen to become the ninth President of the College.
He retired from this position in 1998 and since then works for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
From 1977 through 1990, Smith occupied various positions for the United States Olympic Committee.
After being elected President of the United States Baseball Federation in 1979 (which he stayed until 1989), Robert Smith was elected President of the International Baseball Association a year later during the Congress in Japan, which preceeded the World Baseball Championship in Tokyo.
There, he was named to succeed Cuban Manuel González Guerra in 1981.
Smith was President of the IBA until 1993 when he was succeeded by Italian Aldo Notari.
IBA later changed its name to International BAseball Federation (IBAF).
On April 14, 2013, IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation (ISF) to become the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
Robert Smith, who is nicknamed 'Ish', received several honors for his contributions to baseball.
In 1978, he was elected into the NAIA Hall of Fame as a baseball-coach.
In 1999, the NAIA Baseball Coaches Executive Committee created a special annual award for baseball coaches and administrators which honors individuals for 'unselfish promotion of NAIA baseball'.
Smith was the first recipient in 1999.
Also, the baseball-site of Greenville College (renamed Greenville University on June 2017) has been named Robert E. Smith Field.
Ray Fosse played in the Major League in 1967-1979.
He first played for Cleveland Indians in 1967-1972 for whom he also played in 1976-1977.
In between, the catcher was traded to Oakland Athletics, where he played in 1973-1975.
The A's then traded him back to Cleveland in 1976.
On May 30, 1977, Fosse was the catcher when Dennis Eckersley threw a No-Hitter for Cleveland.
After being traded in September, closed the 1977 season playing for Seattle Mariners, which then was in its first Major League-season.
Hereafter, Fosse signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, but missed the 1978 season due to a severe knee-injury he sustained during Spring Training.
Fosse closed his Major League-career in 1979, playing in 19 games for Milwaukee.
Fosse played in two All Star Games (1970, 1971) and won the World Series in 1973 and 1974 with Oakland.
Since 1986, Fosse is the TV color-commentator for Oakland.
(February 14)
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