orig. Walter Wellesley Smith
born Sept. 25, 1905, Green Bay, Wis., U.S.
died Jan. 15, 1982, Stamford, Conn.
U.S. sports columnist.
Smith worked for various newspapers before his column, "Views of Sport," began appearing in the New York Herald Tribune in 1945; it was syndicated soon thereafter. He joined The New York Times in 1971. His writing, mostly about major spectator sports, shunned jargon and displayed literary craftsmanship, wry humour, and deep knowledge. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976. His columns were collected in five books, including Out of the Red (1950) and Strawberries in the Wintertime (1974).