I logged into Rivals today and found that Smitty's daughter had started an account just to post this. I know this will mean as much to y'all as it did to the rest of us:
"Hello everyone, I want you all to know that this is Smitty's daughter. My cousin linked me to this thread and I expected to read it and just go back to what I was doing, but everything I was reading just warmed my heart so much that I decided to make an account and thank you all. This may be a long-ish post but I will say that I start back to school in two days, I work and I am trying to get out and distract myself for obvious reasons so I may not reply much here. I just want to get this one message out.
My dad talked about this forum all the time, I can not express how happy it made him to be a part of, how many stories he told and how many times he would just get up and leave one day and when I asked where he was going, he would say he was going to meet someone from the boards. I felt like this was his home away from home, and I completely understand. When I was 10 (I'm 21 now) I made so many friends on a Pokemon forum, just people that I talked to in passing really, but as I've gotten older, I've made friends on other communities online that mean everything to me. And because of my dad's experience with this board, he never questioned the validity of those online relationships. So I understand how much you all are hurting, trust me. I'm actually really glad to see all of this support.
Honestly I've always known that my dad is a great person, but reading some of these comments, I didn't know how absolutely selfless he was. It really inspires me and makes me want to try harder to better myself every day... I want to be able to touch the lives of this many people and be surrounded by this much love. I'm pretty sure I've even met a few of you at some point. I'm not sure who, but my dad definitely introduced me to a handful of you. I could tell how good of friends you all were and I'm so glad for that.
Unfortunately, I'm not much of a fan of football but I do appreciate VT football and one of my biggest regrets now is that I didn't go to one last game with him last fall. That was just a thing we did together sometimes and it meant a lot to me. I will say that the last thing that we did together was go see the new Star Wars movie. He loved it so much and talked about it the whole day home. I just wish he could be here to see the last two in the trilogy, just like I wish he could be here for him to know that you guys are talking about his Outback story again LOL, he loved that story and he told it to me so many times.
Sorry this went on so long, I'm a really wordy person. I also want to say thank you so much for all of the money you've contributed to my college fund, I immediately burst into tears when my aunt told me that it was even being set up. I was just so overwhelmed with happiness and the amount of money that's been raised in two days doesn't even feel real to me. I can't believe all of your kindness and I have no idea how to say thank you. I graduate in two semesters and I just want to work harder than I ever have to make my dad proud, and you are all making it possible."
@KidSmitty