Ronald "Ronnie" Ray Smith was an American athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4�100 m relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He attended San Jose State College during the "Speed City" era, coached by Lloyd Winter. At the 1968 AAU Championships, Ronnie Ray Smith equaled the 100 m world record in the semifinal, repeating the same time of 9.9 which was run by Jim Hines in the same race and Charles Greene in the other semifinal of the same competition. That evening of June 20, 1968 at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California has been dubbed by track and field historians as the "Night of Speed." Since Green was still 19 years old at the time, that mark also became the World Junior Record, which lasted for exactly 8 years. At the Mexico Olympics, Smith ran the third leg in the American 4x100 m relay team that won the gold medal and set a new world record of 38.24 seconds. Before arriving at San Jose State, Smith ran at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, finishing third in the 220 yard dash at the CIF California State Meet in 1966. Smith died in a hospice facility in Los Angeles, California on March 31st, 2013. He was 64. 

March 28th, 1949 in Los Angeles  /  Died:   Mar 31st, 2013