Father of Georgia coach Kirby Smart dies after Sugar Bowl fall

Field Level Media|published: Sat 4th January, 13:33 2025

Georgia coach Kirby Smart celebrates with his dad Sonny Smart after a NCAA college football game between Tennessee and Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. Georgia won 27-13. Syndication Online Athens

Sonny Smart, the father of Georgia coach Kirby Smart, died early Saturday morning due to complications from hip surgery necessitated after the 76-year-old fell in New Orleans before Thursday's Sugar Bowl, the university announced.

"Sonny fell while walking during the day on New Year's Eve in New Orleans and fractured his hip," the statement said. "He was hospitalized and underwent hip surgery; unfortunately, complications arose. He fought valiantly but was unable to overcome his injuries."

Sonny Smart was a longtime high school coach in Alabama and Georgia, including coaching football at Holtville High School in Alabama while also leading the baseball team to the state title in 1982.

The University of Georgia said the elder Smart passed away surrounded by his wife, Sharon, and their three children, Karl, Kirby and Kendall.

Kirby Smart was able to visit his father in the hospital several times before and after Georgia's 23-10 loss in the Sugar Bowl, which was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday following a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street early New Year's Day that killed 14 people and injured dozens more.

The Smart family thanked the Ochsner Medical Center staff in New Orleans in the school's statement.

"Additionally, they ask for your continued prayers for those affected by the tragic events that occurred in the early hours of New Year's Day," the statement said. "The Smart family treasures everyone's thoughts and prayers and now prays for God's comfort, strength, and guidance."

Sonny Smart played college football at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. He coached while Kirby played safety at Bainbridge High in Georgia and also coached at Rabun County High in north Georgia.

"He's taught me so much just about the way you handle things, the right way, the wrong way," Kirby Smart said of his father in January 2023, per ESPN. "Control the controllables. The moment's never too big if you're prepared. And I always watched the way he prepared our teams and our staff in high school.

"He was a very wise man, a man of few words. I tried to follow his mantra as a coach. I've certainly evolved from going to coach for other people, but a lot of my core beliefs came from the way he ran our programs in high school."

--Field Level Media