Erika Smith was a Place Kicker at Central

Hunter Smith is a multi-talented junior football player at Central High School. He is the fullback on offense, middle linebacker on defense and kicker/punter on special teams. In the role of place kicker, he is the second in his family line to fill that specialized position.

He was preceded in booting extra points by, of all people, his aunt, Erika Smith, the sister of Hunter’s father Monte. Erika was the second girl, after baseballer Jone Bush at Martinsburg High School in 1950, to play a boys’ varsity sport in our area. Therein lies a tale.

During the 1994 football season at Central, there was a need for someone to kick the point-after-touchdown (PAT) for the Scarlet Dragons. During tryouts, Erika offered herself up as an unlikely candidate for the job. The thought of a girl playing in the violent sport of boys’ football, even at the less arduous position as place kicker, was unsettling for some of the fans. But, Erika prevailed, and won the competition, based largely on leg-strength.

Erika came from a Smith family line of gifted athletes. Her father, Harold, won seven varsity letters in two sports in the Morrison Cove High School class of 1954. Harold later played professional baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies’ farm system. Her brother, Monte, was an acclaimed athlete at Central and Shippensburg University.

An all-state sprinter at Central, Erika continued in college racing at Millersville University. She was once described in a newspaper article there as combining an athlete’s championship speed with “cheerleader cuteness.” That observation proved insightful when she set school track records at Millersville while winning the Lancaster County Miss Pennsylvania beauty pageant. Her talent presentation was a vocal rendition of a blues song and she scored highly in the traditional bathing suit and formal gown competitions of the time.

She won her athletic scholarship to Millersville by excelling in track sprint events (100 and 200 meters). He coach at Central, Jerome Conlon, characterized her talent as one that “comes along only once every so often.” In college she continued to win events setting school (55 meters) and meet (Lock Haven and Susquehanna) records in the process. Her best times in college would have earned a gold medal in state high school finals.

Erika was named to the all-conference team in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in the 100 meter dash. She placed second in the event in the PSAC championships, and also took third in the 100 at the East Coast Athletic Conference championships.

Unfortunately, she suffered a left leg hamstring and sciatic injury that affected her college athletic career. Still running on a injured leg, she completely tore the hamstring and was finished.

I have lost track of Erika since her graduation from Millersville in 2000. If any reader knows her whereabouts, please ask her to contact me at jewentz9@gmail.com and I will write a follow-up.