Football
Favorite athlete: Jim Thome
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning my first trench award after winning the District One title last year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My coaches always make fun of the way I walk/run, so I’m going to say every day at practice right before we go ‘O’ on the bags.
Music on iPod: Country, mostly Zac Brown Band
Future plans: Head off to college and continue my football career while being successful in my major
Words to live by: ‘The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.’ –Joe Paterno
One goal before turning 30: Settle down with a family with a good paying job
One thing people don’t know about me: I help physically challenge kids play football every Sunday.
TJ Smink was born with a baseball bat in one hand, a football in the other, and for good measure, a soccer ball at his feet.
Well, not quite, but the North Penn senior certainly came by his love of sports honestly.
“When I was in the cradle, my dad gave me a baseball, my uncle gave me a football, and my mom was into soccer,” Smink said. “I didn’t have a teddy bear, I had sports.”
Smink still has sports, but for now, he has narrowed it down to just one – football. He is a senior captain and anchors the offensive line of a Continental Conference champion Knight squad.
“He’s a very good drive blocker, and he’s athletic for his size,” coach Dick Beck said of his 275-pound lineman. “But I like his leadership qualities.”
The Knights’ head coach went on to recount how Smink has taken his backup – junior Connor Lawn – under his wing.
“When TJ is not taking reps and Connor is, TJ will be coaching Connor through the entire practice,” Beck said. “He’s not only a good leader, but he’s a good kid. He has a great disposition, and he’s a hard worker.”
Football was actually a late entry on the scene for Smink, who grew up playing baseball, soccer and basketball. He admits basketball was something to simply fill the winter months, and soccer fell by the wayside when he was in seventh grade. Baseball, it seems, was Smink’s passion, and he lived with the dream of one day playing at the collegiate level.
“Baseball was the sport my dad introduced me to when I was a little kid,” he said. “I fell in love with that.
“As I got older, my uncle started getting me into football because he noticed I was getting a bigger structure, and with a bigger structure, it’s not the best to be a baseball player. Football is the only sport where there’s a position for us bigger guys.”
In seventh grade, Smink went out for his middle school team and earned a starting spot on the eighth grade team, thanks at least in part to his size and athleticism.
“I was never small,” he said. “I always tell people I came out of the womb just like this.”
Although seventh grade was his first introduction to organized football, Smink had plenty of experience playing tackle football with his neighborhood friends.
“We called ourselves the ‘Nash Men’ because we all went to Nash Elementary School,” he said. “I was the big guy that no one wanted to get in the way of. That’s where I got my knack for football.”
Smink went through the football ranks at North Penn, starting on the offensive line as a junior for a squad that captured the district championship. He continued to play baseball until a shoulder injury sidelined him the spring of his junior season.
“My shoulder started bothering me during the St. Joe’s Prep (football) game last year,” Smink recalled. “I pretty much played during the entire season with it.
“I realized the team needed me more than I needed my shoulder, so I just decided to go out every play and work hard. It limited me a little bit, but I pretty much put the pain aside and told myself it was all in my head and just went out and played.”
He went into the offseason believing it was nothing more than an AC sprain.
“I pretty much iced it every night and kept lifting,” Smink said.
Smink knew his injury was much more than a sprain when he threw his first pitch during an offseason workout for baseball.
“I threw one pitch, and my arm gave out,” he said.
An MRI confirmed that he had a torn labrum. In February, he underwent shoulder surgery, and last spring he was relegated to keeping the scorebook and cheering for his teammates.
“I did get an at-bat at the end of the season, so I was happy about that,” he said.
While he was sidelined, Smink began thinking about his future.
“When my arm gave out during pitching, it gave me a real scare and made me take a real good look at what was happening,” he said. “That was pretty much when I decided I was going to stick with football.”
After rigorous rehab, Smink was cleared to return to action at the beginning of August – two weeks before preseason camp.
“They told me I actually healed faster than what the timetable was for it,” he said.
Smink was not a captain entering training camp, but in a tribute to his leadership ability, he was elected a captain by his teammates.
It was Smink – along with his fellow captains – who addressed the Knights after they dropped two of their first three games of the season.
“We were seniors, and we didn’t want to lose, and we knew no one else in the locker room wanted to lose either,” Smink said. “We tried to motivate the guys, and we ended up going out and winning games.”
The Knights have won nine straight since their loss to St. Joe’s Prep, and although they are the 11th seed, they find themselves one win away from the district championship game.
“We don’t look at the seed,” said Smink. “We just go out and play football.”
The Knights didn’t expect to see their home field after their regular season finale against Hatboro-Horsham, but a series of upsets have given North Penn a pair of home playoff games.
“We all thought the Hatboro game was our last game,” Smink said. “All the seniors went out to midfield on the NP logo - we all had a prayer, and we all kissed the ground thinking it was our last home game.
“To have two home playoff games – that’s just a dream come true. God answered our prayers, giving us another game at Crawford. It’s amazing.”
Smink plans to continue his football career at the collegiate level and is looking at several of the PSAC schools. As for a major, Smink isn’t sure.
“I’m thinking of physical therapy, athletic training, but I’m also thinking of sports marketing,” he said. “I just want to do something in the athletic field. I love sports.”
Smink is actively involved in the school’s Key Club, and every Sunday he volunteers his time to work with the Variety Club's Challenger Football program. Not surprisingly, he also places a high value on academics – he boasts a 3.2 unweighted GPA and is ranked in the top 25 percent of his class of 1,001.
“Academics comes first, sports second,” he said. “That’s what my parents have very strictly enforced.”
Smink hopes that coaching is part of his future but isn’t sure if he has the demeanor for it.
“I’m a teddy bear outside of sports,” he said with a laugh. “When I’m in sports, you don’t want to get in my way because I’ll get in game mode, and I’ll try and run anything over that’s in my way.
“When the play is over, I’ll help the kid up. Once everything is done, I would love to go out and be a lineman coach because I have so much to share.”
This fall during a rare off day, Smink went to his brother’s middle school game and was asked by the coach to whip the linemen in shape. It turns out Smink has set the bar high for aspiring Knight lineman – an award at his former middle school has been set up in his name honoring the best offensive lineman.
“I was astounded when I heard about it,” Smink said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Those who know him best could. Smink earned first team all-league honors this season as an offensive lineman, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“He’s just a really good kid,” Beck said. “He’s one of those guys you love having on your team.”
