This little town was featured on the front page of the NYTimes website today. It’s a heartwarming story. (Link is here.) Essentially this little town is an absolute football powerhouse, having not lost a game in several seasons, now.
But as I was reading it, I had a blinding flashback… I’ve BEEN to Smith Center, Kansas!!
Back in my Solar Car days, I stayed with people in the town during Sunrayce 97, which went right through town. From what I remember, they were very supportive of the whole event, and the whole town opened their doors to let us stay in their homes. (There certainly weren’t enough hotels for hundreds of college kids to stay in!)
Now I do sometimes get a little confused between Smith Center, Kansas and St. Francis, Kansas, which was another little town we stayed in on the race. (If memory serves, we stayed at the county sheriff’s home in St. Francis, but it’s been a decade so I may have forgotten a few details.)
Anyway, it’s a funny little thing to see a town like that featured in a national paper, and realise that I’ve actually been there. Strange…
Jed Christiansen 