Chris Smith, the acclaimed sports photographer for the Observer and the Sunday Times, has died aged 88. He was renowned for capturing human drama and emotion, from Muhammad Ali's training sessions to the raw disappointment of Seve Ballesteros.
Iconic Moments
In 1964, when the Beatles walked unannounced into the 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, Smith was there to photograph Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) training for his fight with Sonny Liston. He seized the moment as the Fab Four hammed it up with the Greatest, capturing the five most famous faces on the planet in one memorable shot.
Ali provided Smith with many unforgettable images over the years. Smith seemed always to be in the right place at the right time to document larger-than-life sporting characters of the late 20th century, including George Best, Seve Ballesteros, Frank Bruno, Martina Navratilova, and Lester Piggott.
A Master of Composition
Smith sought to portray the moment when dreams are broken as well as when they are realised. As sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney wrote in Smith's 1987 book Sport in Focus: "He is a master of composition, but the flow of feeling through his pictures is almost invariably more important than the deployment of shapes, human or inanimate."
In 1986, at the world featherweight title fight between Barry McGuigan and Steve Cruz in Las Vegas, the ring temperature was 43C (around 110F). McGuigan was struggling, and towards the end of the fight Smith caught a glimpse of him in his corner. At the end of the 13th round, Smith switched to a longer lens and captured what McGuigan later called "the picture of me with the dead eyes". The boxer ended up in hospital with heat exhaustion and dehydration.
Award-Winning Career
Smith won Sports Photographer of the Year four times and individual Sports Picture of the Year twice. He also won a special award in the SSF World Sports Photo Contest in 1995. In 2012, his Ali photographs were exhibited at Alon Zaikam Fine Art gallery in London, and in 2017 there was a major retrospective, Gods of Sport, at the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art in Newmarket. A collection of his Ali pictures, The Greatest, was published in 2024.
Early Life and Career
Smith was born in Hartlepool, County Durham, to Jennie (nee Vale) and Thomas Smith, a dock worker. After leaving school at 16, he joined the Hartlepool Mail as a trainee, learning photography from the ground up. He covered sports events because, he recalled, "nobody else wanted to be out in all weathers on a Saturday".
At 19, he served two years of national service in the Grenadier Guards. After leaving the army, he joined the Daily Herald in 1959, where he won his first award, News Picture of the Year, for a shot taken at the dress rehearsal of Princess Margaret's wedding in 1960.
In 1968, he was offered a contract at the Observer, and in 1976 he became chief sports photographer for the Sunday Times, where he remained for 24 years. His favourite photograph was taken at the European Cup final between Roma and Liverpool in Rome in 1984, when he jumped into the crowd to capture Italian football's "ultras" with their flares and fireworks.
In 1964, he married Sylvia Phillipson. After Sylvia suffered a stroke 20 years ago, Chris put down his camera to care for her at home. He is survived by Sylvia, their sons Dan and Josh, four grandchildren, and his sisters Barbara and Kathleen.
