Todd Smith Obituary

Former Revs General Manager loses his Battle with Leukemia

December 31, 2003 - The New England soccer community lost one of its most admired administrators on New Year’s Eve when former Revolution GM Todd Smith died of complications from leukemia at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He had been diagnosed with the disease in the summer of 2002 and had resigned his position as General Manager of the Revs later that year. Todd Smith was 38 years old.

Todd Smith

Smith came to the Revs in the fall of 2000 and was the club’s first soccer-knowledgeable General Manager. Having played professionally indoors, and having successfully managed the A-League’s Hershey Wildcats, he brought a soccer knowledge that his predecessor, Brian O’Donovan, openly admitted he did not have. Where O’Donovan spent most of his energies on marketing matters, and even allowed marketing considerations to cloud his soccer decisions, Smith put the team first, and believed that a winning team would sell itself. He was also in charge of the Revs during their transition from the old Foxboro Stadium to their new home at Gillette Stadium, dealing with all the logistical issues that entailed from the move.

When he arrived in New England, Smith immediately set about remaking the perennially under-performing Revs. In his first year in charge to Revolution made it to their first major championship game, US Open Cup final, where they lost 2-1 to the Los Angeles Galaxy.

During that off-season, Smith made a hiring decision that was typical of the kind of manager he was, and has left a massive positive impact on the club to this day. While interviewing for the vacant position of Assistant coach, Smith was disappointed that a number of candidate seemed to be interested in the job simply so that they could be in pole position to take over as Head Coach in the then likely event that Fernando Clavijo were fired. The lone exception was Steve Nicol, who seemed interested only in supporting Clavijo and assisting the club in any was he could. Smith offered the vacant position to Nicol and promoted him to Head Coach the following season when Clavijo was indeed relieved of his coaching duties.

Nicol was able to take the under-performing Revs all the way to the MLS Cup in 2002, where they lost, once again, to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Paradoxically, the event marked the final day on the job for Todd Smith. Yet many fans recall fond memories of seeing Smith that day standing before the 61,000 fans gathered (a record crowd for an MLS Cup game) with a contented smile on his face, satisfied at the job he had done, albeit in too short a time.

During is playing time, Smith had been a stalwart player for the Harrisburg Heat of the Major Indoor Soccer League and the National Professional Soccer League and is an inductee into the Harrisburg Heat Hall of Fame. Smith was also a standout athlete at his alma mater, University of Pittsburgh, and at Mechanicsburg (PA) High School. A long-time resident of central Pennsylvania, he also owned and managed a construction company in the Harrisburg area.

As General Manager of the Wildcats his team won two Atlantic Division titles (1997, 1999) and a Northern Conference title (2000). Smith was named the A-League's Executive of the Year in 1997.

Since resigning from the Revs, Smith worked as the Soccer Development Director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In October, he produced the soccer clinic video "Soccer Kicks Cancer" featuring former U.S. National Team stars John Harkes and Tab Ramos as well as professional and college soccer coaches from MLS and New England. Proceeds from the video benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He had hoped to participate in the Boston Marathon last year but was too weak to compete. His fiancee, Lynne Meterparel did complete the course, however, and the couple raised over $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of White Plains, NY

In addition to Meterparel, Smith is survived by his 14-year-old son, Drake; mother, Priscilla; sister Debbie Voight and brother-in-law Rick Voight.