Ceremony At CNY School To Honor Slain Former Saints Player

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Dave Lucas

Published April 12, 2016 at 5:02 PM EDT

A ceremony is planned this week at the central New York high school alma mater of Will Smith, the former NFL star slain in New Orleans last weekend.

Officials at Proctor High School in Utica say the ceremony honoring Smith's life will be held Thursday at the school's D'Allessandro Stadium. Smith graduated from Proctor in 2000 before going on play for Ohio State and the New Orleans Saints.

New Orleans police say the 34-year-old Smith and his wife, Racquel, were shot by a man in an act of road rage. Smith died at the scene while his wife suffered a leg wound.

The New York City-born Smith was planning to return to Utica this week for an annual dinner he hosted, followed by a visit to Proctor High on Friday.

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Dave Lucas

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.

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