Smith was the kind of can’t-miss player fans had to see to believe.

Over the course of four years at Mio High School, Smith was a scoring machine and graduated in 1979 as the career scoring leader in Michigan.

As dominant as he was, Smith said the record is just as much about teamwork.

“I didn’t know I was doing it,” Smith said. “I think it’s what (the record) represents and the journey to get those points and the guys I got to do it with.”

News File Photos Over four varsity seasons, Mio’s Jay Smith scored 2,841 points and still holds the Michigan boys high school record for career points. Smith’s season scoring totals during his junior and senior seasons still rank fourth and seventh all-time in the state.

Today, Smith is still prominently involved in basketball at the University of Michigan.

He currently serves as the Michigan men’s basketball program’s director of player personnel and development, working closely with Wolverines coach Juwan Howard.

Under Howard, Smith does a little bit of everything, from video analysis to helping with recruiting to helping players with academic issues.

In the late 1980s and early 90s, as a Michigan assistant, Smith played a part — as did Alpena native Brian Dutcher — in the recruitment of Howard and other members of Michigan’s famed Fab Five recruiting class.

“It was like traveling with the Beatles,” Smith said. “There were so many people around, it was crazy. It’s cool to see how much he’s matured and to see him develop as a coach and a father.”

News File Photos Over four varsity seasons, Mio’s Jay Smith scored 2,841 points and still holds the Michigan boys high school record for career points. Smith’s season scoring totals during his junior and senior seasons still rank fourth and seventh all-time in the state.

After high school, Smith went to Bowling Green State University and then to Saginaw Valley State to play collegiately. He later got into coaching, leading Grand Valley State, then Central Michigan, and most recently, Kalamazoo College.

But Northeast Michigan basketball fans remember Smith as a force of nature for Mio from 1976-79.

Smith’s travels in basketball have taken him all over Michigan, but he still considers Mio his home and owns property there.

“It’s home, and we played together,” Smith said. “We put winning for the team before anything else.”

A four-year starter for the Thunderbolts, Smith averaged 35.1 points as a junior and 36.6 points as a senior as teams tried and failed miserably to stop him. While helping Mio to a 23-3 record, a regional title, and a North Star League title as a senior in 1979, Smith broke his own single-season scoring mark.

News File Photo An Alpena News headline from January 1979 announces Jay Smith as Michigan’s new all-time scoring leader.

He became Mio’s career scoring leader as a junior, taking the record from his brother, Pat, who in turn broke the previous record set by their father.

Smith became the state’s scoring king on Jan. 19, 1979, breaking the old mark of 2,201 points set by Fennville’s Richie Jordan in the 1960s.

If anything, Smith may have been a bit of a reluctant scorer. But, as the leader of coach Paul Fox’s team, Smith was encouraged — sometimes with colorful language — to just keep shooting.

“I would literally get cussed out by teammates if I didn’t shoot,” Smith said. “It was that kind of selflessness by our team that made it possible.”

Smith ultimately finished his career with 2,841 points — a record without the three-point line — a mark that still stands as the boys career scoring mark.

Courtesy Photo A banner commemorating Jay Smith’s scoring record hangs in the Mio High School gymnasium.

It stood as the all-time scoring record in the state until Central Lake’s Jasmine Hines set the girls career scoring record with 3,034 points in 2011.

For all his accolades — all-state honors, Player of the Year awards, North Star League MVP awards, and the career scoring mark — Smith said none of it would have happened without supportive teammates.

“If it wasn’t for my teammates, none of it would have been possible,” Smith said. “It was all about winning and pride in our school.”

Courtesy Photo/University of Michigan Jay Smith, center, is pictured with other members of the University of Michigan’s coaching staff around head coach Juwan Howard (seated). Smith served as an assistant at Michigan when Howard played for the Wolverines and now serves as the program’s director of player personnel and development.

Courtesy Photo Jay Smith’s jersey along with other pieces of memorabilia are displayed at Mio High School.