Sonny Smith: A friend on my journey
The news from Auburn on Wednesday made me a little sad. My friend Sonny Smith will no longer be part of Auburn radio broadcasts. I wasn’t really surprised. He is 87 years old and told me the last time we talked he was thinking it might be time.
I had never met Sonny until he became Auburn’s head basketball coach. I quickly learned what delightful people he, Jan, Sheri and Steve were and are. He was also a heck of a coach, who took Auburn to five consecutive NCAA Tournaments, two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight. Until Bruce Pearl came along, no other Auburn coach had approached that.
Sonny was never too busy to talk, never thin-skinned enough to be bothered by what anyone wrote. He is the kind of person that has made me love my 55-year journey…