 Smith was posthumously diagnosed with CTE, a neurological condition generally related to concussion and sub-concussive head trauma.Smith was born on February 28, 1945, in Orange, Texas, to Willie Ray Smith Sr. and Georgia Oreatha Curl Smith, and raised in nearby Beaumont.His father, Willie Ray Smith, Sr., was a football coach who earned 235 victories at three high schools in the Beaumont area.