Tennessee's William Smith honored as 2024 Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow
April 10, 2024
ARLINGTON, Texas – William Smith of Smyrna, Tennessee, has been selected by the International Bowling Campus Youth Committee as the 2024 Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow.
The award recognizes the star qualities in a United States Bowling Congress Youth member, including distinguished bowling performances on the local, state and national levels, academic achievement and community involvement. Applicants must be a male high school senior or college student.
Smith is no stranger to winning scholarship awards, as he was last year’s Annual Zeb Scholarship recipient, and to add another award is something for which he expressed gratitude.
“It’s helped validate a lot of the progress that I’ve been making; just being able to be recognized by other people, it’s very validating and humbling,” Smith said. “Sometimes you don’t really know how the hard work you’ve been doing is being perceived, so to be able to stand out is gratifying.”
In the year since earning the Zeb Scholarship, he continues to excel in the classroom, on the lanes and in his local community.
He has continued to make the school’s Principal’s List or Honor Roll during each quarter of his senior year while taking a number of dual-enrollment and honors classes and carrying a 3.879 GPA in the Mechatronics Engineering program. Recently, Smith was announced as a Bowl4Life John Alan Glasgow Ambassador, as well as being a part of his local All-Area Team for the fourth consecutive year.
On the lanes, Smith has won numerous local and state tournaments and will compete in his fifth straight Junior Gold Championships in July in Detroit after earning his spot through the Georgia Youth Bowler’s Tour. He also has five certified 300 games, two of them on Sport conditions, and he bowled his first 800 series in September 2023.
Even when not competing, Smith continues to put time into bowling as he’s helped with organization for a USA Bowling tournament and coached his middle school team for a few years.
For his high school team, he has been team captain and Most Valuable Player each year and placed ninth in this year’s state tournament for individuals, improving from his last state tournament appearance in 2021 when he placed 28th.
Heading into the 2023-2024 season, he was named one of the players to watch in the October 2023 edition of Bowlers Journal International. Smith recently announced he plans to attend Trine University to further his education in engineering and his bowling career.
“Committing to Trine is a large step in my bowling career,” Smith said. “Being able to find a team stuck with me, and it’s something I’m excited about and looking forward to.”
He was a 2024 finalist of the Mr. Bowler Award presented by the Tennessee State Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America and Tennessee USBC, an award Smith previously won in 2021. Smith also has been a USBC Heart of Tennessee Youth Representative since 2021 and is a Bronze-level coach.
His community has greatly benefited from his service work as Smith has put in over 500 hours of community service since 2017, including efforts such as a conservation project where he helped clean up at the marina, built raised flower beds, mulched and planted at a local assisted living facility, and mulched and weeded at the Smyrna Police Department.
Smith also is a member of the Boy Scouts of America, earning the rank of Eagle Scout in March 2023 after completing a project in November 2022 that required building a platform, podium and benches for an outdoor worship/announcement area for New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
He is active in his church community, playing the drums during mass and caroling during the holidays, filling and distributing Thanksgiving food baskets and helping prepare and serve food for the Safe Haven Shelter in Nashville.
It’s been a year of hard work for Smith with everything that he has accomplished on and off the lanes.
“I’d say this year has been a year about grinding, focusing on myself,” Smith said. “I’ve won a few Road to the Gold tournaments, bowled a couple 300s this year. I’ve been trying my best to help support my area and give back to the community that raised me. I’m thankful for the community, my coaches and my parents. They’re fully supportive of everything I’ve done, which is way more than anything I could have asked for.”
Smith will be recognized in April during the 2024 USBC Convention at South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
For a list of past Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow winners, click here.
Learn more about awards for adult youth leaders and scholarship opportunities for youth bowlers at BOWL.com/ScholarshipAwards.
The award recognizes the star qualities in a United States Bowling Congress Youth member, including distinguished bowling performances on the local, state and national levels, academic achievement and community involvement. Applicants must be a male high school senior or college student.
Smith is no stranger to winning scholarship awards, as he was last year’s Annual Zeb Scholarship recipient, and to add another award is something for which he expressed gratitude.
“It’s helped validate a lot of the progress that I’ve been making; just being able to be recognized by other people, it’s very validating and humbling,” Smith said. “Sometimes you don’t really know how the hard work you’ve been doing is being perceived, so to be able to stand out is gratifying.”
In the year since earning the Zeb Scholarship, he continues to excel in the classroom, on the lanes and in his local community.
He has continued to make the school’s Principal’s List or Honor Roll during each quarter of his senior year while taking a number of dual-enrollment and honors classes and carrying a 3.879 GPA in the Mechatronics Engineering program. Recently, Smith was announced as a Bowl4Life John Alan Glasgow Ambassador, as well as being a part of his local All-Area Team for the fourth consecutive year.
On the lanes, Smith has won numerous local and state tournaments and will compete in his fifth straight Junior Gold Championships in July in Detroit after earning his spot through the Georgia Youth Bowler’s Tour. He also has five certified 300 games, two of them on Sport conditions, and he bowled his first 800 series in September 2023.
Even when not competing, Smith continues to put time into bowling as he’s helped with organization for a USA Bowling tournament and coached his middle school team for a few years.
For his high school team, he has been team captain and Most Valuable Player each year and placed ninth in this year’s state tournament for individuals, improving from his last state tournament appearance in 2021 when he placed 28th.
Heading into the 2023-2024 season, he was named one of the players to watch in the October 2023 edition of Bowlers Journal International. Smith recently announced he plans to attend Trine University to further his education in engineering and his bowling career.
“Committing to Trine is a large step in my bowling career,” Smith said. “Being able to find a team stuck with me, and it’s something I’m excited about and looking forward to.”
He was a 2024 finalist of the Mr. Bowler Award presented by the Tennessee State Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America and Tennessee USBC, an award Smith previously won in 2021. Smith also has been a USBC Heart of Tennessee Youth Representative since 2021 and is a Bronze-level coach.
His community has greatly benefited from his service work as Smith has put in over 500 hours of community service since 2017, including efforts such as a conservation project where he helped clean up at the marina, built raised flower beds, mulched and planted at a local assisted living facility, and mulched and weeded at the Smyrna Police Department.
Smith also is a member of the Boy Scouts of America, earning the rank of Eagle Scout in March 2023 after completing a project in November 2022 that required building a platform, podium and benches for an outdoor worship/announcement area for New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
He is active in his church community, playing the drums during mass and caroling during the holidays, filling and distributing Thanksgiving food baskets and helping prepare and serve food for the Safe Haven Shelter in Nashville.
It’s been a year of hard work for Smith with everything that he has accomplished on and off the lanes.
“I’d say this year has been a year about grinding, focusing on myself,” Smith said. “I’ve won a few Road to the Gold tournaments, bowled a couple 300s this year. I’ve been trying my best to help support my area and give back to the community that raised me. I’m thankful for the community, my coaches and my parents. They’re fully supportive of everything I’ve done, which is way more than anything I could have asked for.”
Smith will be recognized in April during the 2024 USBC Convention at South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
For a list of past Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow winners, click here.
Learn more about awards for adult youth leaders and scholarship opportunities for youth bowlers at BOWL.com/ScholarshipAwards.