As sports editor of the Pittsburgh Press from 1931 to 1966, Chet Smith hammered out a living on the typewriter that earned him a niche in the annals of sports journalism. Few sportswriters were more versatile, as his talents ran from heading a top sports department to writing his nationally acclaimed column, "The Village Smithy." He wrote with a wit that many readers relished, his peers admired, and his few adversaries envied. He was a wry humorist, razor-sharp toastmaster, and originator of everything from the syndicated sports cartoon "Time Out," which appeared in more than one hundred papers, to an assortment of organizations that brought new meaning to the social milieu of Pittsburgh.

Smith remains one of the greatest and best-known sportswriters. Stanley Woodward identified Smith as one of a handful of "excellent sports columnists" who possess "gifts above and beyond those of the average newspaper writer." He was one...