In 1897 Fred Smith accepted a faculty position as Chair of the Chemistry Department. Oscar Craig had convinced Smith that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity; Montana would be entering only its 5^th year and Smith was being given the chance to build a chemistry department. Construction was underway on campus for a Science building and Main Hall. He came to Missoula from Cornell, where he was a student, then a professor. His work focused on Mineralogy, Assaying, and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The previous summer he worked for a mining interest in northern Wyoming. During that time, he visited the University and was impressed with its prospects. Collegiate athletics were not yet funded by the State Board of Educators. To this point Montana had organized nothing more than intramural sporting contests. Collegiate athletics were popular for schools in the East, but more controversial for younger schools in the West. Montana’s campus in 1897 consisted of only one building. Many felt that financial resources needed to be focused on academics, faculty, and campus expansion. Others felt athletics promoted stronger minds and stronger bodies that allowed students to maximize their education. Fred Smith, a standout on the Cornell football team, felt strongly that the University needed more than intramural programs. Oscar Craig felt the same as Fred Smith, and part of his calculus in hiring Smith was to help establish a football team. Craig understood another angle to having a strong athletic program – the sports pages in newspapers will be filled with college athletic events. There was a marketing value in having Varsity teams at Montana that would gain attention and promote the university.

Smith organized the first football team at the University of Montana in the spring of 1897. While the first year was historically significant, the members of the team had little to no experience. The first three games were against local men who called themselves The Tigers. Official records indicated a scoreless tie in all three games.  Montana’s first intercollegiate game occurred when the Butte Business College came to Missoula. The Butte and Anaconda teams had strong local athletic clubs. As a result, those towns

[It is important to note that this is a Narrative Bio of Fred Smith. All of the information was sourced through articles from Montana newspapers of the era, University documents such as The Sentential, and the Red Book History written by George Dahlberg. In some instances, there are some gaps that needed to be filled in.]