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High Schools ➤
Massachusetts ➤
Bourne High School ➤
Jason Smith, Former Bourne High School Standout Athlete
| Graduation Year | Class of 2003 |
| Date of Passing | May 04, 2018 |
| About | Cape Cod News May 5, 2018 Jason Smith, a former Bourne High School standout athlete, died late on Friday, May 4. 2018. Jason, Class of 2003, starred for the Canalmen on both the hardwood and the diamond. He reached the career milestone of 1,000 points scored for the Canalmen’s basketball program. But he was perhaps best known as a right-handed power pitcher for Bourne and the Post 188 Legion baseball team in Sandwich. Smith, 33, was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 48th round of the MLB amateur draft in 2003. He was offered a full scholarship to attend University of South Florida, but opted to turn pro and join the Red Sox Farm System. Former teammate of Smith’s and current Bourne basketball assistant, Tom Grady, said the following: “He was the best athlete I’ve seen in the purple and white. He was so loving and kind when we were kids. Matt Gilbert remembers playing long toss with Jason Smith when the two were teammates on the Bourne High School baseball team back in 2003. Smith, who was 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds in his senior year, would throw in the outfield from foul line to foul line right into the mitt. Gilbert, then a sophomore, said he would need to get to center field just to get the ball back. They were also soccer teammates, and as a goalie, Smith could throw the length of the field or kick it “as far as he wanted to,” Gilbert said. “It’s crazy how much of an athlete he was,” Gilbert said of Smith, also a 1,000-point scorer for Bourne’s basketball team. “Everybody in the town knew him because of how talented he was.” Smith, who was drafted out of high school by the Boston Red Sox in the 49th round of the 2003 MLB Draft, died at age 33 Saturday at Cape Heritage Rehabilitation & Health Care Center in Sandwich after battling a long illness. “It’s just devastating,” Gilbert said. According to Smith’s family, a celebration of his life will be held at 10 a.m. May 17 at Cape Cod Church in East Falmouth. Smith had a fastball that hit 94 mph by his senior year in high school. He dominated opposing lineups, and in his senior season, he pitched a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts as Bourne knocked off Tri-County, 2-1, in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. “He was a great kid,” said Bourne athletic director Scott Ashworth, who coached Smith in baseball and basketball. “I liked him both for a right arm, and probably today still had one prettiest jays (jump shot) of everybody in the program.” Smith, a top 200 prospect according to Baseball America, received a full scholarship to the University of South Florida in Tampa in 2003. His average velocity had dipped from the previous summer playing American Legion baseball for Post 188, and mixed with the scholarship offer, many teams avoided drafting Smith. Still, his high potential at the time earned him a top-10 round signing bonus, which for the Red Sox ranged between $25,000 and $1.5 million, a Sox scout said back in 2003. The team also offered to pay Smith’s college tuition. |
