Darrell “Bubba” Smith
Bubba grew up on Lake Gervais in Little Canada and would swim and play in the water every summer day for hours. He started competitive swimming at age 15 in an AAU program and was hooked. In High School, after football season, he had to decide if he wanted to swim or wrestle. He is glad he chose swimming, because he is pretty sure he would not still be wrestling today.
Bubba swam at Frank B. Kellogg High School (now Roseville Area High School) for coach Jim Stanway in 1972 - 1975: 2nd in MN HS state meet in 100 fly (:54.3) in 1975; School and conference records, team captain, team MVP. He also lettered in Football and Track in HS back in the day when you could excel at multiple sports in High School.
After High School he was recruited to join Hamline University by then coach Marty Knight. He competed for four years (1975 – 1979): 5 Time All American (NAIA and NCAA III), MIAC Conference record in 100 Fly (:52.57 in 1977), MIAC Conference Individual Event Champion several times (in 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 IM), MIAC Conference Team Champions (in 1976 & 1979), and set several school records.
A few years after college (1981-ish), a guy he was swimming with invited him to go to a small Masters’ meet in the Twin Cities. He had not even heard of master’s Swimming. He was impressed with some of the elder statesmen swimming at that meet (e.g. Ray Hakomaki), but recalls being the only swimmer in his age group. HIs mistaken take away was that masters’ meets were “something for when I am older”. He continued swimming workouts, but let Triathlons, Rugby, Soccer, Softball, Racquetball, etc. satisfy his yearning for competition. His next masters meet was in 1985. He was surprised at how many young, fast swimmers there were at that meet. He has consistently participated in Masters’ meets ever since.
In the early years of master’s swimming Bubba trained a lot at the Shoreview YMCA 50M outdoor pool in the summers, and in the winter at Fairview Community Center with his good friend George Bowlin. He later hooked up with a group who swam at the Downtown Minneapolis YMCA at lunch time, a very competitive group who later became one of the first MN workout groups, appropriately named the Y’s guys.
To date, his most personally memorable World Masters’ swims were the 100 Meter Fly in 1992 (1:02.38 - 7th Place) and in 2017 (1:12.43 - 5th Place). His most memorable SCY Spring Nationals’ swims were the 100 Yard Fly in 2007 (:56.78 - 3rd Place) and the 400 Yard IM in 2017 (5:15.37 - 3rd Place). His most memorable LCM Nationals’ swim was the 200 Meter Fly in 2017 (2:24.99 0 - 3rd Place). Of the many relays Bubba has participated in, his most memorable was the 55+ 400 Yard Medley Relay at the MN State Meets in 2019 with Scott Daniels, James Kochendorfer and Bruce Paakh (4:03.80), which was the second fasted time in the nation that year.
Bubba broke MN state masters’ records in every age group from the 25-29 age group (when he started) through his current 65-69 age group. He still holds dozens of individual records. He was very active in representing MN master’s at National Meets, competing in a total of 11 National meets. Bubba also competed at 5 FINA World master’s meets, with many medal performances.
Bubba has 355 recorded swims from 2002-2023. These do not include his participation between 1985 – 2002, those swim results were unfortunately lost by the National Office. Since 2002 Bubba recorded, in his age group, 16 swims in the top 10% and 61 times in the top 20%. His best finish was at the young age of 51, recording a time of 25.22(SCY) in the 50 fly, which was 15th out of 329 entries that year, in the upper 5%. In 1989 he placed 8th in the 50 Fly in 28.17(SCM) at the age of 32, a more recent time in that same event was 33.64(SCM) at the age of 66. That’s what you would call maintaining excellence over time.
His long-time commitment, 38 years and counting, and swimming excellence over his entire career make him an ideal inductee into the MN Hall of Fame.
