Smith grew up in Fredonia, Kansas and enrolled at the Homeopathic Medical School at the University of Michigan, receiving his degree in 1912. While attending medical school, he played football for the 1909 Michigan Wolverines football team. Smith was an assistant coach for the Michigan Wolverines football team in 1911 and 1912. In August 1914, he was hired as the athletic director head football coach at Throop College of Technology (now known as California Institute of Technology) in Pasadena, California. Upon his hiring, The Lancet-Clinic reported: