Sonny Smart, the father of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, passed away early on Saturday morning due to complications from hip surgery.
The older Smart suffered a fall in New Orleans before the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday and would not survive the complications that materialized from the required operation.
According to a statement from the school, Sonny fell while he was walking on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans and sustained a hip fracture.
He was said to have been in the company of his wife Sharon and their three children, Kirby, Karl, and Kendall, when he died.
Sonny was 76.
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“Sonny fell while walking during the day on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans and fractured his hip,” the school said. “He was hospitalized and underwent hip surgery; unfortunately, complications arose. He fought valiantly but was unable to overcome his injuries.”
Kirby Smart Was Coaching With A Heavy Heart
Kirby said many of his “core beliefs” came from his father. They spent part of New Year’s Day at the hospital together after the Sugar Bowl was postponed to Thursday following the terrorist attack on Bourbon Street that saw a pickup driver kill 14 people.
The UGA head coach returned to the hospital shortly after his team’s 23-10 loss to Notre Dame.
Sonny Smart played football at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and went on to coach football at Holtville High School in Alabama. He also coached the baseball team to a state title in 2982.
The deceased Smart later coached at Bainbridge High in Georgia, where Kirby played as a safety for him, before a stint at Rabun County High in north Georgia.
TPS would like to offer sympathies to Kirby Smart and his family as they go through this difficult period.
R.I.P. Sonny Smart.
