A YMCA stalwart for more than 50 years, this highly respected community leader continues to work tirelessly to help generations of youth, adults and seniors lead better lives.
By Jean Hardiman
HQ 125 | SPRING 2024
Technically, George Smailes retired from the Huntington YMCA in 2017. He spent the final years of his 49-year career at the Y as executive director before passing his leadership responsibilities into other capable hands.
He stepped back, but he never quite stepped away. Today, if you show up at the Y when it opens at 5:30 a.m., you’re likely to see Smailes there. He helps in the office and at the front desk and gets the pools prepared to open. By 7:30 a.m., he’s heading out to the Kennedy Center on Route 2, helping with whatever needs done, whether it’s mowing grass, helping clean up after a ballgame or any number of tasks that help maintenance staffer Bobby Young keep the facilities in top shape.
Even as a part-timer, Smailes is committed. And he’ll tell you why.
“It’s because of all the people I’ve developed relationships with over the years,” he said. “When I think about all the friendships I’ve forged in the last 50 years, and the generosity of so many individuals in the city, it’s humbling.”
Smailes looks at the people who give of their time and talent to help the Y serve the Huntington community, and he’s inspired to keep going, keep being part of solutions.
It’s not the career he foresaw while he was attending Marshall in the 1960s, studying education and English with plans to work for Cabell County Schools and be a high school basketball coach. But a part-time job at the Y turned into a full-time job leading programming at the old Sixth Avenue YMCA building, and he enjoyed it so much that when two other job opportunities came his way — an opening in Cabell County Schools and an offer from his dad to join him in business — he chose to stay at the Y.
“Earl Dillard was president of the Board of Directors when I was working at the Y,” Smailes recalled. “I had an opportunity to go to work for the Cabell County school system and was seriously considering it. But Mr. Dillard was very kind and said I had a great opportunity to move up through the Y and be successful with it. So, I decided to stay at the Y and I have not regretted it for one day.”
Over the years, Smailes has contributed to the Huntington community in a variety of ways, from starting new youth programs to helping increase access to the Y for people of all walks of life and financial circumstances. He has partnered with schools, Marshall University and other entities to leverage resources and help everyone achieve more together.
Back in the 1980s, Smailes helped St. Joseph Catholic Schools by teaching physical education in exchange for their support of scholarships for children who couldn’t afford a Y membership.
Today, Smailes and the Y continue to partner with St. Joe, which utilizes the ballfield that was originally developed for the Huntington Hounds travel baseball program and was recently vacated by the Marshall baseball team with the opening of the university’s new ballpark.
“With volunteers jumping in to help the staff, we got grants from foundations that are helping us put portable mounds on the baseball field and buy portable fences,” Smailes said. “So when the softball team plays, the mound can be taken out and we can put up a 200-foot fence, and we move the bases in — and now they have their own softball field.”
Smailes also was involved in founding youth soccer at the Y before passing it on to Jimmy Keaton. He can tell you all about the volunteer buddy basketball coaches and the hundreds of players he’s worked with over the years. He remembers how Cabell County Schools teamed up with the Y and the Huntington Housing Authority to breathe new life into the old Huntington High building so that it could still be a benefit to the city.
Larry Verbage, a friend and former Y coworker of Smailes, described him as a true leader in Huntington when it comes to youth sports, as well as being a devoted family man.
“I’ve known George for 55 years. I worked with him for 10 years at the YMCA,” said Verbage, who now lives in Florida but still talks to Smailes weekly. “We worked together to get soccer, baseball and softball programs going in Huntington. He’s honestly the most genuine and sincere person I’ve met. If anybody needed help in any way, he’d find a way to help them. He was an integral part of Marshall baseball playing at the Kennedy Center. He went out of his way to make sure that was done first class.”
Smailes said that people make a common mistake in thinking that the Y’s baseball field at the Kennedy Center is named for him. It’s actually named for his father, George T. Smailes Sr., who originally volunteered to put his equipment and skills as a contractor to use to prepare the center’s soccer fields, and then just kept on helping.
“My dad helped us move dirt and level out everything,” Smailes said. “From that, it moved to other parts of this property. When we did the first major renovation of this baseball field, the board wanted to name it after my dad because of his generosity and the guys working for him who gave up their weekends to come up here and help us. That’s somewhat why I’m still here — to try to make sure there are programs utilizing it.”
Smailes said he enjoys collaborating with the volunteer board members and committee members at the Y. One is Scott Archer, a longtime friend of Smailes’ who spent 30 years on the Buddy League board and has helped with the YMCA Golf Scramble fundraiser, which has taken place for 27 years.
“George has been just a great leader for the Y,” Archer said. “I probably have more respect for George Smailes than anybody I know, and I have a lot of respect for a lot of great people.”
Smailes throws credit to the volunteers who give of their time.
“One of the fortunate things that I’ve seen over the years is that when families get involved with the Y, the tradition of service is passed on — you see their sons and daughters and then their sons and daughters giving back.”
Smailes said he owes thanks to Jack Jones, who was executive director back in 1971 when Smailes was hired on fulltime, for demonstrating that model of collaboration and communication.
“He was always there to help advise, and he gave me the reins to go do things, as long as we communicated with each other,” Smailes said.
Although Smailes didn’t join his father in his contracting business, he did take the work ethic that he got from his father, always giving 100% of himself.
“I am a workaholic,” Smailes said. “My father was a workaholic and I have followed in his footsteps. There are days that have been frustrating, but that is so minute compared to the kids and the adults that come back and remind me how rewarding this career has been. It’s those kinds of relationships that have made me want to continue. How long that’s going to last, I don’t know. I’m 74. At some point, I maybe need to scale back. They can replace me at any time with probably better people — but it’s the camaraderie. I’m caught up in that. That’s one of the reasons that I am having trouble walking away. I like to be involved. I like to try to help whenever possible.”
