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MOLLY MOORHEADHarriet Smith was inducted into the national hall of fame in 1978.
ZEPHYRHILLS - In her prime, Harriet Smith was one of the top players in her game. She won countless tournaments, played on an elite team that competed around the world and ultimately earned a place in the sport's national hall of fame.
Mrs. Smith was the First Lady of Shuffling.
As late as April, she could still be found on the court, always ready for a game of shuffleboard. But after beating cancer more than a decade ago, Mrs. Smith was stricken again. She died Thursday (June 3, 2004) at age 82.
"Harriet was an outstanding lady," said her friend and fellow player Earl Ball. "She was ready to play any time anyone wanted to play."
Mrs. Smith was married three times and outlived all of her husbands. She had no children.
Shuffleboard was her life, Ball said.
After moving from Akron, Ohio, in 1965, Mrs. Smith discovered the sport on the courts at Winters Mobile Home Park. She started winning local tournaments. Then she started winning national tournaments.
"I guess she liked it," said her brother, Paul Medkeff. "Of course, winning makes you like it more, and she certainly was a winner."
Mrs. Smith earned enough points during her career to be inducted into the national hall of fame in 1978.
Later, Mrs. Smith became something of a shuffleboard ambassador. She traveled to Ireland and Australia to introduce the sport. She was always promoting her small community of Betmar Acres, known throughout Florida as a shuffleboard hotbed.
"She'd get in her motor home and go anywhere" for shuffleboard, said Ball, who lived a few houses from Mrs. Smith. "She represented us and did a heck of a job."
When Betmar hosted a state tournament, Mrs. Smith put up $800 for prize money, Ball said. She did the same for several masters-level competitions.
But Mrs. Smith seems to have left a mark on the sport as much for her personality as for her ability.
"The biggest thing that I would always say was, don't let (her) beat us because she'll put it on the Web. And she would," Ball said.
Ball, 60, currently holds three national titles and is one of the top players. He used to practice and play casually with Mrs. Smith, but in competition men and women play separately.
Credit Mrs. Smith.
"She was one of the reasons they went to a women's division and a men's division," Ball said.
"The top men's player in the world got beat by Harriet Smith, and he couldn't stand that."
Funeral services for Mrs. Smith were Monday at Whitfield Funeral Home. She was buried at Oakside Cemetery, off First Street.
Ball said several shuffleboard friends attended, though many have returned north for the summer. "Had we had this in the winter, there's not a funeral home large enough to hold everybody that would have been there."
Survivors include Mrs. Smith's three stepsons, Ronald and Robert Smith, both of Zephyrhills, and Mike Dunaway, Washington, D.C.; four stepdaughters, Sharon Smith, Wellsburg, N.Y., Carol Bushong, Susquehanna, Pa., Donna VanPelt, Akron, and Betty Bugni; a brother, Paul Medkeff, Akron; several nieces and nephews; and a stepgrandson.