Friends, area coaches dealing with loss of Monte Smith

By John Hartsock

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One of the Greater City Baseball League’s most impressive dynasties was put together by the Zeigler Chevrolet/Thomas Chevrolet/Thomas Subaru entry, which held a monopoly on championships in the league during the 1980s and 1990s.

Monte Smith, a great all-around hitter, was a big part of those title teams, along with Dave Hoenstine, Chris Glass and Jon Szynal.

Smith, a 1980 graduate of Central High School, was a three-sport standout there in football, baseball and basketball, whose son, Hunter — named the Mirror’s 2023-24 Athlete of the Year — has continued the family’s outstanding athletic legacy.

Monte Smith, who died at the age of 62 Monday night at Nason Hospital in Roaring Spring after a brief battle with cancer, was remembered by friends and former teammates as much for his outgoing, friendly personality as he was for his considerable athletic talent.

“Monte was such a gentle giant,” said Szynal, the longtime baseball coach at Hollidaysburg Area High School. “He was just a fun-loving guy who would do anything for you at any time, and who always had a smile on his face and was laughing a lot.

“He was very appreciative of his friends and teammates, and he was just a genuine really good guy,” Szynal added.

In the athletic domain, Monte Smith — who retired as a teacher from the Everett Area School District — was blessed with natural, God-given talent.

“He was a big guy, but for a guy of his size, his natural athletic ability was really phenomenal,” Szynal said. “He possessed a mixture of size, strength and speed, and he had great hands as a batter at the plate. He hit for power as well as average, he had a really good eye, and he was just an overall good hitter.

“He kept it very simple at the plate, and when he got a pitch that he wanted, he usually did not miss it,” Szynal added. “Nobody could ever throw a fast ball by him.”

Glass, a fine hitter in his own right for those championship teams, marveled at Monte Smith’s ability to step on to the field with very little batting practice and mash out hits.

“Monte was a school teacher, and sometimes because of his work, he would need to show up at the baseball field a little late for batting practice ahead of some of the games,” Glass said. “All the other players on the team would get plenty of time for batting practice, but Monte would show up, have his uniform on, tie his shoes, take five or less swings in BP, and go 4-for-4 in the games.”

Dave Hoenstine, who had a Major League Baseball cameo appearance in the Cincinnati Reds’ dugout at one point in his professional baseball career, said that players like Smith and Glass helped to centerpiece a formidable batting order for those great Thomas Chevrolet teams.

“We played together for about 15 years, and our teams won double-digit championships in those years,” Hoenstine said. “Monte hit for power and for average, and he batted third and fourth on those pretty powerful City League teams for us.

“Monte was very friendly, he loved to talk to everybody, and his son Hunter was one of the best athletes that I’ve ever coached,” added Hoenstine, who has served as a longtime assistant coach on both the Central High School football and baseball staffs. “It’s such a shame that this has happened.”

Hoenstine’s son, A.J., was also a former City League teammate of Monte Smith’s, and recalled his sheer power with the bat.

“I grew up watching Monte ‘The Big Cat’ playing baseball, then I got to play baseball with him in his later years in the City League,” said A.J. Hoenstine, who is the longtime baseball coach at Central. “He could hit a ball further than anybody I’ve ever seen.

“He had a gruff exterior at times, but he was a guy with a good sense of humor who loved to crack a joke, and his love for, and pride in his family, was always evident,” added A.J. Hoenstine, who had visited Monte Smith at Nason Hospital Monday. “He will definitely be missed.”

Chip Clarke was a long-time sports teammate of Monte Smith’s in the 1970s who now lives in Florida. Clarke recalled that Smith rushed for over 1,000 yards as a senior back in the 1979 season for the Scarlet Dragons.

“I first met him when we both played flag football as elementary school students in 1970,” said Clarke, whose late father, Harry, was formerly the long-time head football coach at Central. “I played baseball with and against Monte from Little League through high school and for a couple of years in the City League, and he could crush a baseball like nobody I ever saw, except for maybe (former three-sport Central standout) Mark Raugh.”

Monte Smith’s widow is the former Kim (Kiesewetter) Smith, who was an outstanding basketball player at Bishop Guilfoyle High School in the late 1980s. He leaves behind three children, two daughters, Madison and Mickie, and Hunter, who is currently playing collegiate baseball as a freshman at Mansfield University.

Monte Smith was diagnosed with cancer this past fall, and endured a tough battle that involved multiple trips to Pittsburgh for surgery, and stays at both the Presbyterian Home in Hollidaysburg and Nason Hospital.

Syznal is grateful that he got to pay a visit to Monte Smith recently.

“I got to see him a couple weeks ago, and he was the same old Monte,” Szynal said. “I feel really blessed that I was able to get to see him at that point. I just loved talking to him. He’s really going to be missed.”

For funeral viewing information, a full obituary appears on A4 in today’s Mirror.