Back in December, Chase Smith was lying next to his father and made a request:
Dad, promise me you’ll keep pushing yourself.
Brad Smith remembered that conversation this summer when he was approached about the newly-created aquatics director position at Center Grove.
An Indian Creek graduate and the face of swimming in that community for a generation, Brad never pictured himself leaving the job he’d held for the last 27 years. But presented with the opportunity to oversee a sparkling new swim facility that even most Division I colleges would envy, he thought back to what his late son said to him months ago.
“When (Chase) realized his dreams weren’t going to be met, he wanted me to make sure to go on,” Smith said.
That’s exactly what Brad Smith did. On Monday afternoon, he was formally introduced as the new point man for Center Grove’s new natatorium.
Such an introduction would have been hard to foresee at any time in the recent past. For nearly seven years, Brad and Kelli Smith essentially put their own lives on hold to care for their son, who was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in the summer of 2014 — shortly after his 13th birthday.
But Chase’s message to both of his parents before he passed away in early April of this year was pretty straightforward: You’ve put me first for so long; when I’m gone, please put yourselves first.
Both of them listened. Kelli has since gone back to school to work toward a master’s degree, something she’d put on hold for years. And when the Center Grove opening came up, Brad Smith says he felt Chase nudging him toward it.
“I know he’s proud,” Brad said of his son. “I know he’s pushing me in a good way, and that’s where I’m standing right now.”
No matter how strong that push, leaving Indian Creek behind after an entire lifetime there as a student, teacher and coach wasn’t easy. Not only did the Smiths have countless relationships built up with members of the community, but there were also years of memories from the pool where Chase Smith grew up — a pool that’s now named after him.
On Monday evening, Brad Smith and Chase’s widow, Sadie, cleaned out Chase’s locker in the Indian Creek coaches’ office. Doing so was yet another reminder of how painful it would have been to continue working in that setting every day.
Coming to Center Grove offered Brad the chance to get a change of scenery that might feel slightly awkward at first — but was also likely necessary in order to move the grieving process forward.
“I’m sure I would have learned to manage, but that’s also a factor into my decision,” Brad Smith said. “It’s been tough, and (Chase has) had so many great memories, especially even within the last year. I remember him coaching on the deck, or this and that; it’s almost painful at times.
“There’s part of me that tugs and says I may need to be around that every day. But this just seems right.”
As good a fit as Center Grove was for Smith, he was ultimately just as good a fit for the school. The candidate pool for this new position was deep and talented, but Smith’s body of work proved too appealing for Center Grove athletic director Scott Knapp to pass up.
“Part of what made Brad so appealing was just his experience running a facility, because that’s what this person will do,” Knapp said. “They’ll be the figurehead of that new natatorium.
“(Smith) just checked off all the marks we had.”
Whether or not it played into the hiring decision, Smith’s ties to the local swimming community should work in his — and Center Grove’s — favor. Brad is longtime friends with Jim Todd, who has been the Trojans’ varsity swim coach since 1984, and Todd’s daughter Amy Spencer, who oversees the Center Grove Aquatic Club.
Those friendships should help smooth out a transition process that hasn’t entirely taken shape yet. Todd will be the Trojans’ coach again during this high school season, and Smith says that Spencer will “definitely have a role” with CGAC, but the future of both the high school and club programs is otherwise largely unwritten at this point.
“I will be helping coaching in some aspect,” Smith said. “That just hasn’t been ironed out yet.”
No matter what the particulars in the end, Smith has the same goals for Center Grove swimming that Knapp, Todd and Spencer do — ensuring that the community gets as much as it can out of its new top-shelf facility. That means not only seeing the high school and club teams performing at an elite level, but also adults being able to make use of the main pool for open lap swims and special needs students taking advantage of an upgraded therapy pool.
Decades ago at Indiana University, Brad Smith gave up on a career in hospital administration to focus on a chlorine-scented life that would ideally include all of the above.
Thanks in part to a reminder from Chase, he feels like he’s once again landed where he belongs.
“That’s ultimately what my passion is,” Brad Smith said. “It’s the water and all facets of it, not just coaching.”
