People of Alabama: Clarence Smith of Birmingham
What have you tried to instill in your children?
“I instilled in them education. All of them graduated from college and my youngest is working on her master’s. My youngest (son) has his master’s. My oldest son has a four-year degree too. We tried to send them to some of the best schools. That was one of our goals. It’s a big sacrifice. I wouldn’t have it any other way because you get to a point in your life where it’s all about the kids. You want to leave them with tools they can move forward with.” – Clarence Smith of Birmingham.
Smith enjoys playing tennis in his retirement.
“I have been playing for about 20-plus years. I’m not a pro or anything. I was taught by James Lewis a long time ago. He took a lot of young people in and taught us how to play tennis for free. He did it for us because of the love of the game and it wasn’t that many black people to look up to back in my day. We had Arthur Ashe and that was our guy that we looked up to as far as tennis, one of the role models to see on television. This is my form of exercising and stress relief,” he said.
The James Lewis Tennis Center in Ensley is named in Lewis’ honor.
These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.