Charles Smith is, without any exaggeration, one of the best basketball players ever in Pitt history. His professional career was not what was expected as injuries and playing for the Clippers took its toll. Still, Smith was smart in how he planned his life, and he listened:

In 1987 Smith listened to his mother, Dorothy, who advised him not to leave Pittsburgh University in his junior year to take a tempting NBA contract. A year later Smith became Pitt’s first basketball or football All-American to graduate. He kept a B average, majoring in business and communications. And he got that lucrative NBA contract anyway.

Smith listened to John Thompson, his coach on the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team, when he advised him to spend his newly acquired wealth very carefully.

…

Seeing a market for a system that would digitize and store videotape, he formed a company called New Media Technology. The system he devised earned a patent from the U.S. government. NBC and ABC ranked among its clients. In 2000 NJBiz magazine named Smith among its “Top 40 under-40 New Jersey Entrepreneurs.”

Smith reportedly sold his patent a few years ago for $7 million. More recently, Smith joined the NBA Players Association as northeast region director, a job that has him advising players as they make the transition in and out of the league. He also represents some former NBA stars.

That’s all very good, but the reason for a story like this is that his Bridgeport, Connecticut foundation (his hometown) that bears his name is not making positive news.

Years of fiscal mismanagement have left the Charles D. Smith Foundation at least $1.2 million in debt and struggling to fulfill its mission to help disadvantaged children, a series of internal foundation documents show.The previously secret documents, provided to the Connecticut Post by the agency’s former interim director, allege that the charity, founded in 1989 by former NBA star Charles D. Smith Jr., is behind on federal taxes, misused federal funds and operated for two years without required liability insurance.

“They are essentially insolvent,” said Anthony Ball, the former interim director who suddenly resigned last week, claiming the organization is not doing enough to right its ship.

Smith disputed any contention that the charity is on the brink of collapse. He acknowledged serious problems have been discovered during the last few months, and stressed all of the issues are being addressed.

Unfortunately, foundations such as Smith’s, over time, are ripe for abuse and misuse if the principal does not have trustworthy and competent people operating it. Smith does not live in his old hometown any longer, so the direct oversight and controls necessary for personal foundations is just not there. Sadly, such abuses appear to be the primary reason for the problems.

The Post previously reported that city police are investigating allegations that former foundation executive director Deborah Sims and program manager Maria Valentin used foundation credit cards to fund lavish personal expenses, such as Caribbean cruises, spa treatments and personal cell phones. Both were fired in September after they walked off their jobs.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is also investigating the organization. He said last week that he has “found some very problematic practices and omissions.”

“It’s really nothing short of a tragedy for a very worthwhile organization,” he said.

Hopefully this will be cleaned up and fixed. There are no allegations that Charles Smith did anything wrong other then not paying close enough attention to the doings of the people running his foundation.

I do have to look into the claims in the article that Smith was “Pitt’s first basketball or football All-American to graduate.” I have re-read that part a few times and I have to believe that was an error. Just on the football side, players like Ernie Borghetti, Mike Ditka, Marshall Goldberg and a host of others never actually graduated? If they meant to say African-Americans, that would still mean Dorsett, May, Green never graduated. I’m not sure about that. On the basketball side, there was Don Hennon and Billy Knight that come to mind.

UPDATE (10:15am): I just got an e-mail response from Michael Daly, the Managing Editor for the Connecticut Post. He agrees that the passage is an error. They will correct and will look into from where that bad info came.