At the 1968
AAU Championships, Ronnie Ray Smith equaled the 100 m world record in the semifinal, repeating the same time of 9.9 which was run by
Jim Hines in the same race and
Charles Greene in the other semifinal of the same competition.[2] That evening of June 20, 1968, at
Hughes Stadium in
Sacramento, California has been dubbed by track and field historians as the "
Night of Speed."[3][4] Since Smith was still 19 years old at the time, that mark also became the
World Junior Record, which lasted for exactly 8 years.
At the
MexicoOlympics, Smith ran the third leg in the American 4 × 100 m relay team that won the gold medal and set a new world record of 38.24 seconds.[1]
After retiring from competitions Smith worked at the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department. He was inducted into the San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame.[1]
Smith died in a hospice facility in Los Angeles, California, on March 31, 2013. He was 64.[6] His funeral was featured on the
TLC reality TV show
Best Funeral Ever. In honor and memory of his 1968 gold medal performance, his casket "ran" a 100yd race and received a gold medal in a mock Olympic-style funeral.[7]