William G. Smith III, of Scituate, formerly of Roxbury, track & field coach, at age 84

Longtime Boston University men’s track and Scituate High School girls track coach William G. “Bill” Smith III, died Friday. He was 84.

A graduate of Boston Trade High School, Smith was an accomplished track and field athlete, later inducted into the Massachusetts Schoolboy Athletes Hall of Fame. Smith was a scholarship runner at BU (1951-55), running everything from the 400-meter to the mile. Bill was the 1953 New England 880 champion and competed at the Millrose Games, the Penn Relays and Boston’s K of C meets. When he was inducted into BU’s Hall of Fame in 1978, Smith held the Boston Garden record for winning the Bingham 880. Smith, who served two years in the Army, twice represented the United States on the national team.

His biggest fame came as a coach, guiding BU 400-intermediate hurdler David Hemery of Great Britain to the gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics in world record time. Smith later coached Hemery to silver and bronze medals at the 1972 Games in Munich.

“His ability to draw out and develop talent was astonishing,” said Hemery yesterday. “Taking my own experience, my personal best over 400-meters at age 16 was 53.8. After two years of work and doing almost no training, I entered BU as a walk-on. Within two years, I had run a European record for 600-yards (1:09.8) and two years later I won gold in the 400-meters hurdles in a world record of 48.12. He taught me to see that there is a long way between what we think we can achieve and the multiple layers of improvement that are possible.’’

Smith, who was inducted into the Massachusetts State Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame (1993), coached Scituate High School cross country, indoor and outdoor track for over 20 years.

“As a coach, he was utterly dedicated. He had remarkable support from his wife, Jean, and his lovely, tolerant family of Billy, Suzie and Gigi, enabling him to give himself to his track obsession. His preparation was meticulous, reading every book ever published on the sport, spending hours generating workouts, which he would write on 3-by-5 cards. His energy matched the dedication he expected from his athletes,” Hemery said. “An illustration of this was when a blizzard began at noon and he still drove to BU from Scituate at 2 p.m. to stand with his back to the snow and wind while I did several 800’s on the small wooden track at Nickerson Field.’’

Smith, of Scituate and formerly of Roxbury, was the loving husband of 55 years to Jean (Curran) Smith. He was the son to the late William and Regina Smith, and late brother, Thomas. Beloved father to Susan Marx of Plymouth; Jean English, and her husband, Richard of Scituate; and William, and his wife, Christine of Norwell. Cherished grandfather to Jaime, Taylor, Katherine, Isabella, Augustine, Monica and Jude. Bill is also survived by many cousins, nieces and nephews. He will be lovingly remembered by all his friends, relatives, former athletes, and especially family friends Hemery, Bobby Kelley, and Alan Carr-Locke.

A wake will be held tomorrow from 4-8 p.m. at Richardson-Gaffey Funeral Home at 381 First Parish Road, Scituate.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Scituate.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Smith’s memory may be made to the Special Olympics Massachusetts, 512 Forest St., Marlboro, 01752.