WALT SMITH 1939-2009

December 8, 2009

The HERSHEY BEARS mourn the passing of long-time off-ice official Walt Smith, who passed away Monday evening at the age of 70. A 1961 graduate of Lebanon Valley College, Smith also earned his master’s degree from Temple University in 1967. He served as an off-ice official for the BEARS for the last 45 seasons, working in various capacities including public address announcer at Hersheypark Arena. In addition to his time with the BEARS, Smith also worked for Lebanon Valley College for 48 years, retiring from his post at LVC earlier this year. He was a huge promoter of LVC’s hockey program, and headed up the off-ice officials for the Flying Dutchmen as well as publicity for the program. His last game worked for HERSHEY was this past Saturday’s 5-4 victory over the Norfolk Admirals, a game in which he worked at the official scorer’s table between the penalty boxes at Giant Center. The BEARS will honor the memory of Smith with a moment of silence prior to this Saturday’s game against the Rochester Americans.