Smith was born in
Pollokshaws, to the south of
Glasgow and played youth football with Battlefield Juniors, before joining
Albion Rovers. From there he moved on to
Kilmarnock, where he scored seven of their 14 goals on the way to winning the
Scottish Cup in
1920, including scoring the third goal for Kilmarnock in the final when they defeated his former team, Albion Rovers, 3–2. Following a disagreement with Kilmarnock,
Bolton Wanderers signed him three months later. Smith arrived at
Burnden Park in November 1922 as a replacement centre-forward for
Frank Roberts who had joined
Manchester City. He scored an 89th-minute winner on his debut, against Manchester City, but quickly became thought of as a "crock", for he always appeared to be limping. Smith won another winners' medal in
1926 in a 1–0 victory over Manchester City. After the arrival of
Harold Blackmore, Smith found it difficult to hold his place in the first team, and in March 1928,
Bury paid £1,500 for him. "The Shakers" were still in the First Division and Smith netted a hat-trick on his debut against
Sheffield Wednesday. At Bury he scored 107 goals in 157 League games before joining
Rochdale in August 1933. In 1939 he was appointed assistant trainer at
Cardiff City, who were managed by another ex-Wanderer,
Bill Jennings. Smith died at
Whitchurch, Cardiff in September 1946. ==Honours==