George W. Smith, Jr.; Quarterback
On Bursey’s 1947 Undefeated Team
COOPERSTOWN – George W. Smith, Jr., 85, quarterback on legendary coach “Red” Bursey’s 1947 undefeated football team, died peacefully Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Okla., after a brief illness.
George was born March 10, 1930, in Delhi, to George W. Smith and Viola Freidenstine Smith. He spent his early years in Delaware County, and began his education in the Rock Valley and Goulds schools where both of his parents were teachers.
He moved to Cooperstown in 1945, when his family relocated here to establish cauliflower farms in the Pierstown area.