‘Twinkle Toes’ Fr Nick Smith inspired the game of soccer in small American town
A wonderful story about a great man, Fr Nicholas (Nick) Smith from the North Road.
More than 50 years ago, he brought the game of soccer to the small Rhode Island town of Warren and in particular, the parish of St Mary of the Bay.
Fr Smith arrived in Warren in 1966 when soccer was an unknown sport there. A recreational board was set up and Nicholas became the chairman.
He helped form an indoor soccer league - believed to be the first of its kind in that country. He even became a coach.
Frequently, after the youngsters had been put through their paces, Fr. Smith and some of the other coaches would have a game themselves. His quick actions and strong kicking earned him the nickname of “Twinkle Toes “--not without a good deal of justification.
The local high school athletic programme had not included soccer until Fr. Smith introduced it and then it also became part of the junior high school sports schedule.
He is part of the Warren Athletic Hall of Fame and it states,’In the winter of 1967, three Warren men were looking to provide something for the kids to do indoors during the long winter months between the end of football season and the start of baseball season.
‘Basketball was out because they wanted this to be an activity for kids from six to twelve-years-old. Soccer, as a sport, was gaining in popularity during this time frame, so Jay Barry, Joe Jamiel, and Father Nick Smith, assistant pastor of Warren’s St. Mary’s Church, formed the Schoolboy Indoor Soccer League.
‘ They procured the use of the high school gym on Sunday afternoons. Games were thirty minutes long and ran throughout the afternoon.
‘Father Nick served as the league president in 1968 and 1969. He also coached the Champion Hotspurs from 1968-1970. In the early 1970s he put on another hat, serving as a member of the Warren Recreation Board-including a stint as Recreation Board Chairman in 1971.
‘ The Indoor Schoolboy Soccer League was organized as a way for kids to have fun on a Sunday afternoon in winter, but it also became a feeder program for some very successful Warren High School Soccer teams. It would lead to State Championships, plus All State and All Class berths for many of the players-most having learned the soccer basics in the winter program.
Warren would build a soccer legacy that would rival baseball, football, and wrestling-all because of three men, including a kindly Irish priest, Father Nick Smith.