The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2021
- Class:
- 1995
An NCAA individual champion, 10-time All-American and three-time Honorable Mention All-American at Texas, Tobie Smith is one of the top distance freestyle swimmers in program history. During her four seasons in Austin, she helped the Longhorns to four-consecutive Southwest Conference titles and four-straight Top-3 NCAA team finishes. As a freshman in 1991-92, Smith won Southwest Conference individual titles in the 500 free and 1,650 free. She then placed second in both the 500 and 1,650 free, swam the third leg on the runner-up 800 free relay and finished 10th in the 200 free while helping the Longhorns to a second-place finish at the 1992 NCAA Championships. In her sophomore season in 1992-93, Smith again swept the 500 free and 1,650 free titles and placed fifth in the 200 free at the Southwest Conference meet. She placed second in the 1,650 free, fifth in the 500 free and 10th on the 800 free relay, as the Longhorns finished third at the 1993 NCAA Championships. As a junior in 1993-94, Smith won the 1,650 free and placed second in the 500 free and third in the 200 free at the Southwest Conference meet. She won the NCAA individual title in the 1,650-yard free with a time of 16:07.26, helped the 800 free relay to a third-place showing and finished 12th in the 500 free, leading Texas to a runner-up finish at the 1994 NCAA Championships. In her senior season, Smith placed third in the 1,650 free, seventh in the 500 free and sixth on the 800 free relay to help the Longhorns to a third-place effort at the 1995 NCAA Championships. A Barbara Jordan Endowed Scholarship Award recipient in 1994, she earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology/pre-med from The University of Texas in 1995. Smith later received her master’s in kinesiology from UT. Smith was a member of the USA Swimming National Team and won national championships in the 400-meter free and 1,500-meter free. She also became a member of the USA Swimming Open Water National Team and won a gold medal in the 25-kilometer open water event at the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia. In 1999 she set a new race-course record in the Manhattan Island Marathon 28-mile swim then completed a solo crossing of the English Channel. Despite encountering a force five gale of 19 to 24 miles per hour and white-capped waves, Smith finished her channel-crossing in eight hours and 50 minutes. Smith went on to receive an MD from Stony Brook School of Medicine in 2005, after taking a break during her studies to compete again with Team USA at the 2003 World Championships in the 25K open water swim. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa in San Antonio, followed by a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Fellowship in Community Leadership Development at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Smith served as a Resident on the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University, where she is Course Director the Family Medicine Clerkship, Director of the vulnerable populations curriculum and Faculty Advisor the HOYA student-run free clinic. Prior to her time at Georgetown, she served as Medical Director of Health Care for the Homeless in Baltimore. Dr Smith is the founder of Street Health DC, Inc, an organization whose mission is to address health inequities in communities experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the Washington, D.C. area.
