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When the wrestling program began
at Centralia High School under Coach Dick
Carpenter, Ken was there to answer the call
for the inaugural season of 1967-68. He
served as tri-captain along with Loren Garrish
and Rockie Currie the first three years of
the program. Nicknamed “The Bull”, Smudrick
accumulated a three-year career record of
64-14-2 at the 175 pound weight class. His
desire and aggressiveness was an inspiration
to the Orphans. In his Senior year, he was a
state qualifier and had a season record of
32-2. Twenty-nine of those wins were by pin
and 22 of those were in the first
period. He held two national records as cited in the
National Scholastic Wrestling Newsletter.
Those were: One for fastest pin by weight
class (11 seconds), and the most pins in a
season by an individual (29).
Ken played fullback and linebacker on the
undefeated 1969 CHS football team which was
inducted into the Centralia Sports Hall of
Fame in 1989.
After high school, he attended Illinois
State University on a football scholarship
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