But that’s the partial story, the outside view.
For Smith, this teammate phalanx also provided a shield.
“I was very nervous; I’m a shy person,” said Smith. “I remember thanking many people. I remember thanking my coaches and joking about everything to make it easier for me to make people laugh somehow. “
The 28-year-old Smith never really enjoyed being the center of attention. As a child in Kitchener, Ontario, he was the only black player on his lacrosse and hockey teams, and although his white teammates never felt him differently, opponents and spectators were sure to remind him.
Smith tried to ignore the vagueness and racist epithet, the trash talk that crossed the border, the mockery of monkeys and bananas that he and his younger brother endured. That was just a normal part of life. Sure, he could tell his trainer. But it was always his word against another child’s, at least until one official overheard him.
The teenage fanatic was kicked out of the game, suspended from school, and forced to write an apology letter that Smith never accepted as real.
“You could see that his parents apologized more than he did,” said Smith, “and I remember going home and saying, ‘Mom, I’m not comfortable with that. I don’t think what he did was right. I don’t think he means that apology at all. ‘
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