Louisville basketball, Nolan Smith could be on a collision course with destiny

Nolan Smith’s Louisville roots run deep. Why the son of a Louisville basketball great and Cardinal at heart could wind up returning home.

Derek Ervin Smith is considered by many to be one of the greatest Louisville basketball players of all time.

He was a token stat-stuffer during his time at the university, winning a National Title in 1980 and earning the heralded Metro Conference Player of the Year in ’81. Many folks credit Smith with coining the phrase “high five.”

Amidst his stellar athletic career, he had settled down with his then-wife Monica to build a family in Louisville, Kentucky – having a girl, Sydney, and a boy, Nolan.

Nolan Smith was born in a hospital in Downtown Louisville on July 25, 1988, and taken home to the Springhurst neighborhood in the East End. As a youth, being a Louisville fan, Nolan’s favorite color was red, being that the Smith household was 100% diehard Card and was completely decked out in red and black Louisville decor; And understandably so.

His sports icons growing up were Muhammad Ali, Darrell Griffith, Allan Houston, and Rajon Rondo. He had especially looked up to Rondo, who had played for the Derek Smith All-Stars basketball team as a young man growing up in The Ville.

Alas, his true hero was his father.

Nolan’s father had ended his NBA playing days in 1991, so he had a lot more free time to spend with his blossoming family. It was these years that solidified an unbreakable bond between the father and son and would become the jump-off point in young Nolan’s basketball progression.

Nolan would ask his father to hoop and the elder Smith would oblige, though Derek never forced the hobby on his son, allowing him to carve out his own destiny.

In 1994, Derek Smith received an offer to be an assistant coach for the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards). Full of excitement and intrigue, he accepted the position and proceeded to move his family to the bustling DC area to get back to work.

It was there, in the nation’s capital, that Nolan began attending advanced youth basketball camps, where he truly discovered his work ethic and his love for the game. The tight-knit bunch was living the American dream. Life was picture perfect for the Smith family.

The tragedy

Then one day, it all came crashing down.

On August 9, 1996 while on a Norwegian Cruise ship off the coast of Bermuda, the unthinkable happened. His family on board with him, Derek was attending a party with members of the Bullets when suddenly he suffered a massive heart attack. Being on a boat offshore, there was seemingly nothing the crew could do to revive him.

Untimely, Derek Smith had passed away. He was only 34 years old.

The news of his death sent shock waves through the sports world and shook the city of Louisville and the University of Louisville fanbase to its core. Nolan had just celebrated his 8th birthday three weeks prior.

Even as an eight-year-old, Nolan had witnessed his father’s focus and his hunger to excel in life, both on and off the court. He always felt like he was his father’s little shadow.

The recruitment

Through the fog, the resilient young ballplayer found himself being highly touted as he approached the decision of choosing which college to attend.

As a 5-star shooting guard, he had scholarship offers on the table from several schools, but only two were ever considered: Louisville and Duke.

Throughout the recruiting process, Smith was emotionally embattled. Having been born and raised a Louisville basketball fan/son of Louisville royalty, his decision from the outside looking in seemed variably simple.

But as much as Nolan considered himself his father’s little shadow, it was also this that inspired his ultimate college choice in the end.

Though he was a Louisville guy through and through, if he was to be a Cardinal, the heavy heart he would carry with him would be a great burden to bear for an entire collegiate career, having to follow in the identical footsteps that his father did at U of L.

If he was to attend Duke, a release from that pressure and emotional stress was within grasp. He could write his own chapters while fulfilling his father’s legacy.

Fulfilling destiny

With the guidance of Derek Smith’s former NBA teammate Johnny Dawkins, Smith committed to play for Coach K at Duke on 1/12/2006.

After averaging just over 7 ppg in his first two seasons at Duke, Nolan caught fire his junior year along with the rest of the Blue Devils. He poured in 17.4 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds.

Then, just like his father did 30 years prior, Nolan Smith became an NCAA National Champion in the same city his father did (Indianapolis).

Nolan Smith is currently an assistant coach at Duke, which advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils outlasted the Cal-State Fullerton 78-61.

All roads lead to home

Any time the two teams meet, it’s always a conflicting time for Nolan and the Smith family.

Though his wife, Cheyna, is a graduate of UNC, and the family resides in the lovely city of Durham, Nolan tells me the Smiths will always cheer for U of L.

The outside world would be surprised by all of the Louisville gear in Nolan’s house.

His family’s Durham, NC residence contains plenty of U of L decor and memorabilia the former Duke great still possesses to this day.

The elder Smith is buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery near KFC’s Colonel Sanders and a short distance from Muhammad Ali. His life-sized stone picture at his plot is recognizable to all.

To this day, Nolan is perhaps the most overlooked, unmentioned, and unheralded college player to be born in the state of Kentucky. He was recently named to The Chronicle’s all-decade Duke Basketball team alongside the likes of Zion Williamson, Marvin Bagley, Jahlil Okafor, and Grayson Allen.

With Louisville’s Men’s Basketball’s naming former player and National Champion Kenny Payne as head coach on Thursday, a few names continue to swirl around the rumor mill for potential assistants.

Within the conversation lies a couple of prominent figures possibly being named in supporting roles. One name that is repeatedly mentioned is Nolan Smith.

I’m told the interest could be mutual, but nothing detailed to include here just yet.

Time will tell if he will return to work and live in his hometown of Louisville, but it feels like fate is calling Nolan Smith back home.

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