On January 17, Billy Owens Smith made pancakes with his youngest daughter Layla in their home on Mandan Road. Layla and her sister then left for school. Their mom, Kristina, went to work. That meant that only Smith, 41, and their teenage son Kadin, a 2018 graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS), were home when intruders tried to break in around 10:30 a.m. By the time Kadin reached his father, Smith had been stabbed. The intruders fled.
Police administered first aid and transported Smith to University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital. Smith died at the hospital and Greenbelt lost a husband, father of three and coach.
“He died a hero,” said his wife Kristina, a teacher in Prince George’s Schools and longtime Greenbelter. “It is a great loss, not only for our family, but the whole community.”
Kristina Smith is the daughter of Robert and Dea Zugby, also of Greenbelt. The couple’s middle daughter, Sameera, is on the ERHS basketball team and was in school during the attack.
Kristina Smith, sounding steady even as she was crying, said her husband often told her and their children that he would do anything for them. “And he died protecting his family.”
Smith’s loss quickly rippled through Greenbelt. Over the last decade and a half, Smith has coached hundreds of children in Greenbelt, working in both football and basketball.
By Sunday evening dozens of people from Greenbelt Boys and Girls Club, past and present, coaches from ERHS and members of the Greenbelt Police Department crowded into Springhill Lake Recreation Center to recognize Smith’s big spirit and to start dealing with their grief.
Smith’s parents, Bill and Terry Smith of Berlin, Maryland, told Channel WUSA9 that the healing started when they walked in the door and saw all those who were willing to drop everything and get to the impromptu gathering to show they cared about Smith.
The Zugbys told the same news crew that they lost a son. In their minds, son-in-law was too distant a term; he was their son.
Greenbelt Mayor Colin Byrd said that he was deeply saddened by Smith’s unexpected death. Byrd said that Smith “was a beloved member of the Greenbelt community and a very impactful coach. Kids’ lives are better because he was in their lives.”
Herbert Allen, the coach of Greenbelt’s Lady Angels and a center manager for Springhill Lake Recreation Center, said he had known Smith for many years. Allen was not surprised by the large number of people who showed up on Sunday. “I will really miss him,” he said.
Smith and his wife met at Salisbury University where they formed a tight bond not only between themselves, but also with two other couples. The members of this group sent notes promising to help take care of the Smith family.
Kristina Smith said she wanted everyone to know how much the outpouring of support means to her and her family. “I can’t respond to every text, call, email, note,” she said, though she is trying. “But it means a lot to us knowing how much he meant to other people.”
Friends of the family have set up a gofundme project for a Billy Owens Smith memorial at gofundme.com/f/billy-smith-memorial-fund. The outpouring has been stupendous. In the first day, the fund raised more than $9,000.
