Sonny Smith

Charles H. "Sonny" Smith (born November 15, 1936) is a retired American men's college basketball head coach. Originally from Roan Mountain, Tennessee, Smith served as a head coach for twenty-two seasons. He is credited with turning around losing programs at East Tennessee State University and Auburn University. Additionally, Smith coached Virginia Commonwealth University from 1989-1998.

Smith is best remembered for his coaching years at Auburn University, where he was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1989. In 1985, he coached the Auburn Tigers to their first SEC Tournament Championship in school history. During his years at Auburn, he coached NBA Hall of Fame player Charles Barkley and NBA star Chuck Person. From 1984 to 1988, he guided Auburn to five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 berth in 1985 and a Final Eight berth in 1986. To date, he is the only coach in Auburn men's basketball history to have three consecutive 20-win seasons, from 1984-86. On January 3, 2007, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

George Smith (Negro League player)

George E. Smith (March 2, 1927 - October 1, 2011), nicknamed "Sonny," was a baseball player who played for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League from 1950 to 1951. He also played basketball as a guard and forward for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1948 to 1954.

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Sonny Smith (musician)

Sonny Smith is an American musician, playwright and multimedia artist residing in San Francisco.

Life and work

Smith began playing blues piano in bars when he was nineteen years old. Skipping between the Rocky Mountains of Denver, San Francisco, and Central America, he began to write original songs, short stories and plays. Smith’s travels in Central America inspired his narrative approach and original style of folk music.

In 2003, Smith was commissioned by Watchword literary magazine to make a CD of one-act plays delivered as songs. This project led Smith in a new direction, incorporating theatre and dialogue into his evolving approach to music. At the Headlands Center for the Arts, he was awarded a residency in May 2005 to create a feature length musical, The Dangerous Stranger, which included guest performers such as folk singer Jolie Holland, local singer Peggy Honeywell (artist Clare Rojas), Miranda July, and set designer Daniel Tierney.

He wrote his last album, Antenna to the Afterworld, based on some paranormal experiences he had.