Stanley "The Snake" Smith

On Thursday, April 9th, I had the pleasure of meeting Stanley "The Snake" Smith. He needed help updating his bio - he was going to be inducted into the Nebraska Boxing Hall of Fame April 17th-18th. We found several articles in the Omaha World-Herald in our Proquest Database written during his amateur boxing career.

Stanley “The Snake” Smith is what this Omaha native was called during back in the 1980s. His snake-like jab is what earned him the nickname “The Snake” from the press.

He won 5 City Championships and advanced to compete and win 5 Midwest Championships in 3 different weight divisions. He competed in three different weight divisions: the light heavy weight division in 1981 and 1984, the middle weight division in 1985 and 1986, and the heavy weight division in 1988. Stanley “The Snake” Smith won all 10 championships in each one of those years under coach Leonard Hawkins and Bill Cunningham of the 1140 Boxing Club.

Stanley Smith competed all over the country including competition at the National Golden Gloves each year he won a Midwest Championship, advancing to the third and fourth rounds of their single elimination competition. He had well over 100 fights with 15 knock outs or more in his boxing career.

In April 17-18, 2009, during the Midwest Golden Gloves Competition, he was inducted into the Nebraska Boxing Hall of Fame.

He told me one of his coaches was really instrumental in his career. The coach took a personal interest in him and even took him on vacations to Ireland and the Bahamas. Stanley has a daughter who is showing a lot of athletic potential - so be on the look-out for her in the local sporting news!