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Article: The No. 1 Draft Pick in the NBA Is in a Golden State Because . . .; Joe Smith Is Guided by a Mother Superior
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Letha Smith's glasses slip farther down her nose and she peers
over the rims like a schoolteacher making a point to her class. She's
working up the passion to match. Letha is talking about her youngest
child, the one with the exceptionally long limbs and the disarming
smile, the one with the taste for her meatloaf and the penchant for
leaving a mess in every room he enters, the one who never ceases to
amaze her with his need for pampering.
Joe Smith is 20 years old, almost a full-grown man, yet nearly
every morning, Letha finds herself at his bedroom door, trying to
wake him up.
"I knock on the door several times," Letha says. "He says, `Mama,
I'm getting up!' "
The things her son puts her ...