Sonny Smart, father of Georgia coach Kirby Smart, dead at 76 after fall in New Orleans

Sonny Smart, the father of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, died Saturday after complications from hip surgery after falling before the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the school announced.He was 76.“Sonny fell while walking during the day on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans and fractured his hip,” the school said in a statement.

“He was hospitalized and underwent hip surgery; unfortunately, complications arose.“He fought valiantly but was unable to overcome his injuries.”Sonny Smart played college football at Samford University and was a longtime high school coach in football and baseball in both Alabama and Georgia, including coaching his son Kirby at Bainbridge High in Georgia.Kirby Smart has posted a record of 105-19 as the head coach at Georgia since 2016, winning back-to-back NCAA championships in 2021-22.“He’s taught me so much just about the way you handle things, the right way, the wrong way,” Kirby Smart said about his father in 2023. “Control the controllables.

The moment’s never too big if you’re prepared.“And I always watched the way he prepared our teams and our staff in high school.“He was a very wise man, a man of few words.I tried to follow his mantra as a coach.

I’ve certainly evolved from going to coach for other people, but a lot of my core beliefs came from the way he ran our programs in high school.”According to the university’s statement, Sonny Smart died at 12:15 a.m.on Saturday while surrounded by his wife, Sharon, and their three children: Karl, Kirby and Kendall.The Sugar Bowl was postponed by one day to Jan.

2 after a fatal attack killed 14 and injured dozens more along Bourbon Street.The Georgia coach spent part of New Year’s Day at the hospital with his family and returned after the Bulldogs’ 23-10 loss to Notre Dame.“The Smart family expresses their heartfelt gratitude to the Ochsner hospital and medical staff for the exceptional care provided to Sonny,” the university’s statement continued....