We are happy to report that, as a result of the February 2007 Hill on History column on the late, legendary sportscaster Ernie Smith, Smith will be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame later this year. Smith, for whom Ernie Smith Park in Glen Ellen is dedicated, was an innovator in sports broadcasting and a fixture in baseball (San Francisco Seals and sometimes Oakland Oaks) and Cal football between the late 1920s into the 1950s.
He was also an Olympic level swimmer and civic-minded citizen. Smith was always available to emcee or promote events, such as Boy Scouts, Sausalito Boys Club, and Democratic Party functions. The Smiths moved from Sausalito to Glen Ellen in 1959. As a baseball-crazy youngster, many a night I would listen to my bedside radio just long enough to hear the final innings of Smith’s smooth report of the Seals.
The director of the Radio Hall of Fame called me shortly after my column on Ernie appeared and informed me that they had never honored a sports announcer, but Ernie (forgotten by a younger generation) was ideal. Later he called and asked for the telephone numbers or other contact information for one of his children, either Winfield Smith or his sister, Mickey Cooke, also a resident of Glen Ellen. I suggested Mickey might be the first choice to call since Win was battling cancer. Later Mickey called me and said that Ernie was going to be inducted and she would let me know when.
But I am sad that Ernie’s son, Win, died earlier this month and did not live to see his father awarded this honor. Win was greatly responsible for providing the details, insider anecdotes, photographs and warm feelings about Ernie that I used in the Sun column. When I got the idea for the article, my first move was to contact Win, who spent considerable time helping me. It was a real pleasure talking to him because it stimulated my own recollections of Ernie, since when I was growing up we lived about three blocks from the Smiths in Sausalito and I visited his parents after they moved to Glen Ellen.
Win enjoyed an illustrious career as a landscape architect and planner, some of it on an international scale. He had style, technical skill and sensitivity to the environment. After Win and his wife, Pat, moved to Glen Ellen, in addition to continuing his work in landscape design (including the planning for the Ernie Smith Park), he embarked on an additional career.
With his concern for environmental protection and a sense of adventure, he joined the Glen Ellen Volunteer Fire Department. Before long he became chief and for more than a decade he presided over the department’s growth and modernization. His intelligence, practicality and empathetic personality made Win one of the area’s most beloved and respected citizens. Like everyone who knew him, I just hate to see him pass from the scene. Incidentally, I knew him so long that I recall that as kids his youthful nickname was “Windy.” Fortunately, it did not survive into his prestigious adulthood.
I shall pass on the information on the induction of his father as soon as known.
At the recent Glen Ellen Festival and its two-blocklong parade, I happily ran into Bob Glotzbach, who could best be described as the unofficial historian of Glen Ellen. I first encountered his work with the book he organized and edited, “Childhood Memories of Glen Ellen,” which should be read by anyone interested in the community’s history. Published in 1992, it includes detailed personal reminiscences of many oldtimers, and few later arrivals. One of the latter is a lively article by Win Smith.
The photos in the “Memories” book are priceless. Glotzbach has just published a new edition of his “Self-Guided Walking Tour of Downtown Glen Ellen,” following a recent booklet on “The Glen Ellen Volunteer Fire Dept. 2000.” He has also published a booklet on the centennial commemoration of the Glen Ellen Community Church, and two fictionalized stories based on Glen Ellen history, establishing the atmosphere of the early 1900s. These fantasies are illustrated with photos and some quality drawings by graphic artist Archie Horton.
Glotzbach’s works are published by Regeneration Resources (which I strongly suspect is Glotzbach with the aid of a couple of friends), 145 Buena Vista Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476, telephone: 707.939.8601, His writing is clear and his facts are strong. Hope you like his work as much as I do.
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More Hill on History:
Please see the FineLife Home section, page 10, for Gerald Hill’s story on the founding and development of the Sonoma Plaza.
