{"id":68297,"date":"2023-05-26T09:51:48","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T15:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=68297"},"modified":"2023-05-26T11:24:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T17:24:48","slug":"celebrating-black-history-month-denver-nuggets-honor-hattie-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/celebrating-black-history-month-denver-nuggets-honor-hattie-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Loyal Denver Nugget’s fan and civil rights activist cheers for a NBA National Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Miss
Miss Hattie Smith, 96, reaches to kiss Denver Nuggets player Vlotko Cancar as fellow Nuggets player Jeff Green looks on. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Feb. 6, 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n

The 96-year-old basketball fan stands tall when it comes to fighting racial barriers in Denver, but still had to reach up to plant kisses on the cheeks of two 6\u20198\u201d Denver Nuggets players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to kiss two young men,\u201d Hattie Smith said with a grin and a giggle after meeting and cozying up with Nuggets, Jeff Green<\/a> and Vlatko Cancar<\/a> at Ball Arena on Feb. 3.<\/p>\n

Denver Nuggets celebrate Black History Month<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To help celebrate Black History Month, the Denver Nuggets<\/a> honored Hattie, a sports super fan whose loved ones fondly call Miss Hattie. A descendant of enslaved people, she grew up one of 10 children picking cotton on a Mississippi farm that her parents were forced to sharecrop. Hattie\u2019s husband served in the Army during World War II. He and his all-Black unit were transferred from Germany to Denver after the war, and Hattie delivered the first Black baby born at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora<\/a>. She then spent decades fighting for housing equality and other rights for Black people in Denver.<\/p>\n

Fitzsimons evolved into the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>, where Hattie now receives medical care at the UCHealth Seniors Clinic<\/a> at University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hattie\u2019s beloved medical provider, UCHealth geriatric nurse practitioner Maria Vejar<\/a>, entered Hattie in AARP\u2019s Wish of a Lifetime<\/a>. Hattie won and received an all-expense-paid trip to visit her parents\u2019 graves in Mississippi one last time. (Read more about Miss Hattie and her trip to Mississippi.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Hattie enjoyed another special experience last week when she spent time with Green and Cancar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad to meet you. I\u2019ve been watching you,\u201d Hattie said.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff
Jeff Green, left, shared some laughs with Hattie Smith at Ball Arena on Feb. 3. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The players had a surprise for Hattie. They presented her with tickets to come see the hottest sports team in town. The Nuggets lead their division and hope to clinch the team\u2019s first-ever NBA Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I have a birthday pretty soon,\u201d Hattie coyly told the basketball players.<\/p>\n

Green laughed and told her he most certainly knew about her upcoming 97th<\/sup> birthday on Feb. 15. That\u2019s the night when Hattie and family members will see the Nuggets face off against the Dallas Mavericks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to come see us up close and personal,\u201d said Green, who, along with his charm with elders, is known for his dunks and Green and Cancar both scored half-court shots in recent games.<\/p>\n

Equality for Blacks in Denver: Miss Hattie helped fight housing discrimination<\/h2>\n

Hattie and the young men also bonded over favorite foods. Hattie and Green, whose folks came from North Carolina and Maryland, particularly love southern food like fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread. Hattie\u2019s a big fan of black-eyed peas, while Green loves cornbread.<\/p>\n

Cancar, who comes from Estonia, hadn\u2019t heard of Hattie\u2019s southern favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope I can get some,\u201d Cancar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs some greens,\u201d Hattie said, eliciting a laugh from the young men. \u201cI\u2019ll make you some before you win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Green asked Hattie an important question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we win a championship, are you going to come party with us?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hattie didn\u2019t miss a beat: \u201cYes, if you come get me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hattie, of course, no longer drives.<\/p>\n

But she keeps up with sports and watches every single game the Nuggets play. Even though she was hanging out with Green and Cancar, she didn\u2019t hesitate to say that her favorite player is Nikola Jokic, also known as \u201cThe Joker.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nuggets are really playing good now,\u201d Hattie told Vic Lombardi, Altitude TV\u2019s reporter and host and a longtime Denver broadcaster, who moderated a meet-and-greet with Hattie and the players.<\/p>\n

Lombardi agreed with Hattie, and said he thinks this year\u2019s team is the best in Nuggets\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

Hattie provided a little analysis of the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes they come out and they be playing kind of slow or something, but in the end, they get the job done,\u201d said Hattie, who herself played some basketball back in school and topped out at about 5\u20197.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green joked with her that Denver\u2019s high altitude sometimes slows the players down.<\/p>\n

After giving her take on the Nuggets, Hattie filled the young men in on what it was like to pick cotton as a girl.<\/p>\n

She confided that cotton is \u201cthe worst plant God ever put out,\u201d but said the work was \u201call right because that was all you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also talked about the era when Black people were confined to particular Denver neighborhoods like Five Points.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t live past Downing,\u201d Hattie said.<\/p>\n

When she received care at Fitzsimons, she rode a cable car then a bus east of Denver past old farm houses to get to the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"Hattie
Hattie Smight enjoyed the spotlight during a meet-and-greet with Denver Nuggets players who honored her during their celebration of Black History Month. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to celebrate Black History Month? Volunteer. And root for a Nuggets NBA championship.<\/h2>\n

Hattie encouraged young people to volunteer and support their communities. Among those she supported were Denver\u2019s first Black mayor, Wellington Webb. He famously wore out athletic shoes walking the streets of Denver to get elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have one of his shoes in my garage,\u201d Hattie said.<\/p>\n

Her secret to living a long life? She shrugged at that. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to talk to the almighty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hattie is the last of her siblings to be alive. She also outlived her husband and their three children.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s incredibly proud of her relatives including her niece, Janice Turner, who accompanied her to Mississippi, her grandson, Mandingo Cooper, a teacher, writer and producer in Atlanta, Georgia, and her granddaughter, Caryl Smith Gilbert, who flew into town to accompany Hattie to the Nuggets meet-and-greet.<\/p>\n

Smith Gilbert, a standout athlete herself, said she got her strength from Hattie. Smith Gilbert is the director of the track & field program for the University of Georgia bulldog<\/a>s and led her former teams at the University of Southern California to national championships. She was a star runner at Denver\u2019s George Washington High School back in the day and went on to run for the University of California Los Angeles in college.<\/p>\n

\"Hattie
Hattie Smith, right, poses with her granddaughter, Caryl Smith Gilbert, a standout athlete who grew up in Denver and now is director of the University of Georgia Track & Field program. Smith Gilbert flew to Denver to see the Denver Nuggets honor her grandmother during Black History Month. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hattie remains very active with her church \u2014 Denver\u2019s Central Baptist Church, founded by African Americans in 1891. She sometimes prays for Nuggets players during games saying things like: \u201cOh Lord, please let him make that shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s pulling hard for the team to win a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would sure be a blessed thing,\u201d Hattie said.<\/p>\n

Then she made a prediction: \u201cDenver\u2019s going to go wild.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Feb. 6, 2023. The 96-year-old basketball fan stands tall when it comes to fighting racial barriers in Denver, but still had to reach up to plant kisses on the cheeks of two 6\u20198\u201d Denver Nuggets players. \u201cI got to kiss two young men,\u201d Hattie Smith said with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":68300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1323],"class_list":["post-68297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-denver-nuggets"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDenver Nuggets players honor loyal fan Hattie Smith as part of Black History Month - 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