A Zoom conference call Tuesday morning brought together many of Terry Smith’s family and friends from his time growing up on Firethorn Drive in Monroeville’s Garden City neighborhood.

Harvey Smith, Terry’s older brother by a few years and a coaching colleague at Gateway for nearly a decade, helped lead the call, a gathering to reminisce about the memories made in athletics and life and how it shaped everyone into who they are today.

For Terry Smith, it was a chance to reflect on all he has accomplished in more than 40 years of football, from a player at Gateway and Penn State and a stint in the pros to a coaching career that brought him back to his alma maters, first with the Gators and then to the Nittany Lions, where he made his mark since 2014 as a recruiter and assistant coach.

Now, after the university relieved James Franklin of his coaching duties over the weekend, Smith begins his tenure as the team’s interim coach, a position he will hold for the rest of the season.

“We’ve had about 16 college athletes that were born and raised on that street, from my generation and Terry’s through some younger ones who went on to do great things,” Harvey Smith said.

“Everyone was on that (Zoom) call because it was a celebration and a crowning moment for all of us. Everybody feels that pride. It was such an emotional call.

“Big strong (Gateway Sports Hall of Famer and Terry Smith teammate) Vern Howard couldn’t get through his message to my brother because it was that emotional for him. We turned it over to my parents. My mother is a minister, so she is our spiritual leader, and my dad was an educator. He worked in the Gateway School District for years. They shared their roles in the journey. It was that mentorship as we all aspired to become successful in whatever capacity.”

Terry Smith met the media Monday.

“Penn State holds a dear place in my heart,” said Smith, who left Gateway and its head football coach and athletic director positions in early 2013 to become the receivers coach and recruiting coordinator for one season at Temple before moving on to Penn State.

“I’m a third-generation Penn Stater. My dad sits up top (at Beaver Stadium). He’s a ’68 grad. I’m a ’91 grad, my son is an ’07 grad and my daughter graduated from here recently. I call this place home. I love this place. I love the Blue and White. I’m proud to be sitting in front of you.”

Smith’s first assignment will be to guide the Nittany Lions into Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium on Saturday as Penn State hopes to get back on the winning track after three straight losses including last Saturday’s 22-21 setback to Northwestern at Beaver Stadium.

“It is just so humbling and rewarding and such a blessing from God to see my brother get this opportunity,” Harvey Smith said.

“The journey is never too far down or too high up. Terry, from when he was a player at Gateway to his college days at Penn State and in the pros, approached everything with a level head and so much hard work. He went through those young stages where he was maturing as an assistant and then a head coach. During that journey, Terry and I have always been brothers first and supportive of each other, no matter the situation — even more so in the tougher times.

“Terry had that calling in coaching that everyone on that (Zoom) call could see. You could tell that he wanted to give back to young men to give them the same opportunities in athletics and in life that he had. That has been his passion for so long.”

Starts with family

Justin King wasn’t just any Gateway football standout during his time in high school from 2001 to 2004. In addition to the coach-player dynamic, there was the stepfather-­stepson bond that continued to develop.

King also played at Penn State, where he was an All-Conference performer and later in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams and the Indianapolis Colts.

“It is unfortunate timing with Franklin getting fired and the season the way it is going now, but it’s great to see him be able to showcase his ability to lead a top-tier program in this day and age of NIL and program building with recruiting and culture and all of those important things. I am extremely excited to see how he will take on this challenge over these last six games (of the regular season).

“I could see his attention to detail from as long as I could remember. I remember how much he motivated me and my (Gateway) teammates to be the best players and young men we could be.”

‘Steadying presence’

Smith’s humble beginnings in coaching began as an assistant at Hempfield in 1996 before taking the passing coordinator job at Duquesne from 1997 to 2000.

He spent the 2001 football season as Gateway’s offensive coordinator before being elevated to head coach in 2002. He added the role of athletic director in 2003 and held both positions until 2012.

Smith won 101 games in 11 seasons as Gateway head coach, captured seven conference titles and took four Gators teams to the WPIAL Class 4A title game. While a great deal of focus was on his football teams, he didn’t let that distract him from making sure the other Gateway sports had the best chance to succeed.

“As soon as I heard that Franklin was fired, my thoughts immediately turned to who they might put in charge, and those thoughts turned to Terry because of his experience as a high school coach at Gateway and also what he’s been able to build for himself and all of the players at Penn State,” said former Gateway cross country and track and field coach Tom LaBuff, a colleague of Smith’s during the entirety of his tenure with Gateway athletics.

“I am confident he will be a steadying presence in what is trying circumstances.

“He was a great athletic director and coach for Gateway. While he had things he was focusing on with the football team, he was always very supportive of the other sports. Very rarely was there a time when I thought we needed something and asked for it that he didn’t do everything he could to get it. If there was something he didn’t think he could do, he would come back a day or two later and would have everything figured out to make it happen.

“We had a good relationship. We may not have agreed on everything, but I had a lot of respect for him for the way he worked with me and with the other coaches.

“He saw the correlation between success in one sport and success in another. He encouraged an athlete to do more than one sport. He just cared so much and had so much pride for Gateway.”

Players’ coach

Smith’s life in athletics was honored and celebrated in 2018 with his induction into the WPIAL Sports Hall of Fame.

He also was a 2001 inductee into the Gateway Sports Hall of Fame and was enshrined into the East Boros Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

“I go up every year for a game at Penn State, and it is super dope to see (coach Smith) progress through the years from when I knew him as a coach at Gateway,” said Dayonne Nunley, a football standout for the Gators through his senior season in 2009.

Nunley, who played in college at Division I Miami (Ohio), credited Smith for his care and dedication to helping him and many other Gateway football players and athletes realize their dreams of playing at the next level.

“It is cool to see him have success at a school (Penn State) where he was a star player just like how it played out at Gateway. I sent him a message (Monday) morning, and it was great to hear how he’s in good spirits and excited to lead this team.

“I will never forget how he was always for every Gateway athlete. Anything anyone needed to be the best in their sport or the resources to get exposure from college coaches, he would do it. That hasn’t stopped.”

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