Paul Smith was a good football player coming out of Holy Spirit High School, good enough to draw looks from several larger institutions. When the Ventnor, New Jersey, native finally chose Gettysburg as his destination, nobody was prepared for what happened next.
From the outset, Smith assumed a starting position in the Bullets’ backfield. He rushed for over 100 yards in each of his first three collegiate contests, including 242 yards and a school-record tying five rushing touchdowns against Swarthmore. He was named All-Centennial Conference First Team in his debut campaign, but it was only a hint of what was to follow. Smith began his attack on the records books fully as a sophomore. He led all of Division III in all-purpose yardage, racking up over 2,300 yards. He garnered first-team status from the conference and picked up his first national award as a third-team All-American.
Smith continued his ascent to stardom in 1998 by raising the bar again. He broke the school record for rushing yards, topping the 1,500-yard plateau, and he finished second in Division III with over 2,400 all-purpose yards. Smith rushed for over 100 yards in all but one game, and had three contests with 300 or more all-purpose yards. The Centennial Conference and ECAC labeled him a first-team selection, while he was lauded with national honors from a pair of organizations, including the American Football Coaches Association.
The first three seasons of Smith’s career could easily be called a preview of the main show he put on as a senior. He smashed the school and conference records for all-purpose yardage with 2,717 yards, averaging over 270 yards per game. Over 1,500 of those yards came on the ground and he scored 19 total touchdowns, both new school marks. Needing just two yards to break Division III’s career all-purpose record, Smith put on the greatest single offensive display by a running back in NCAA history against Muhlenberg, shattering the all-divisions record with a mind-numbing 527 all-purpose yards, including a conference and school record 390 rushing yards. He scored a school record six touchdowns in the game, including an 80-yard touchdown reception on a play he called himself. For an encore, he rushed for 335 yards the very next week against St. Lawrence. Smith earned his fourth-straight first-team all-conference award and was named CC Co-Player of the Year. He was also tabbed All-America by every major organization and was named the national Co-Player of the Year by the Lutheran Brotherhood.
When it was all said and done, Smith owned nearly every rushing, all-purpose, punt return, kick return, and scoring record in school history. He finished as one of only two athletes in NCAA all-divisions history with over 9,000 all-purpose yards. He was just the ninth player ever with over 5,000 career rushing yards and he scored 60 total touchdowns. His average of 227 all-purpose yards per game is more than 50 yards better than anyone else in conference history.
Smith graduated cum laude from Gettysburg with a degree in business management in 2000
