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Braden Smith grew up in a basketball family. His parents both played in college and went on to coach the sport. Now, he’s the star of Purdue’s men’s basketball team, and is in the spotlight during the March Madness tournament—especially since he’s a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year award.
“I was trying to explain a little bit further about the atmosphere he grew up in with [parents] Ginny and Dustin [Smith] and their basketball backgrounds, and the kind of people that they were,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. “Such a high-quality family. Now people are seeing the dedication he has to the game.” Here, get to know Braden Smith’s family:
Braden Smith’s mom, Ginny Moore
Ginny grew up in Caddo Gap, Arkansas. As a fifth grader, she started playing basketball, and took quickly to the sport. “My grandpa would say all the time, ‘Why are you wasting your time playing this game?’” Ginny recalled. “But my elementary school coach was my best friend’s dad. And he would say, ‘Ginny, you might be pretty good at this — you might want to keep playing.’ I was fortunate because our school was small, but it had a rich basketball history in boys and girls basketball. There were people there who were good examples for me to watch and I had an incredible high school experience.”
In 1997, Ginny was named Miss Basketball in Arkansas, but was unsure if she’d keep playing post-high school. “My aunt and grandma on my dad’s side were huge influences in my life,” she said. “They would say, ‘You are going to college.’ Praise Jesus, I went to college.”
She decided to play at Arkansas Tech, a Division II program near-ish to home. “You don’t really leave the farm,” Ginny said. “I’m the anomaly. You kind of stay and work on the farm. My siblings are there, my cousins are there. But I was getting the chance to go to college and have it paid for.”
During her senior year, she met Braden’s father, Dustin Smith, a junior who transferred after playing at Joliet Junior College. “I’m getting my ankle taped,” Dustin said of their first meeting, “and she came over to me and said, ‘I had a dream about you last night.’ I’m like, ‘What? I don’t even know your name.’ We ended up going to the same party that night and chatted the whole night.”
Ginny graduated in 2002 with a degree in speech and communications, then started teaching high school girls’ basketball. In 2011, she earned a master’s degree from American College of Education. She most recently worked as head coach of the girls’ team at Westfield High, where Braden went to high school.
Braden Smith’s dad, Dustin Smith
Dustin also grew up playing basketball. He and Ginny lived in Arkansas after they graduated, but in 2004, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and they moved to Illinois to be closer to his family. In 2009, he was declared cancer free.
“It worked out,” Dustin said. “I didn’t enjoy Arkansas. It was so hot and we couldn’t afford a boat. Arkansas wasn’t a big basketball state (Ginny disputes this opinion) so it was good to come back here.”
Dustin still coaches; per the Athletic, he runs a local AAU program.
Braden Smith’s brother, Maddox Smith
According to the Indy Star in 2021, Maddox “is following in his brother’s footsteps as the next Smith in the system, though both Dustin and Ginny are careful not to compare the two. Dustin does offer the opinion that Maddox’s basketball IQ is well ahead of Braden at the same age.”
Maddox is eight years younger than Braden, and is currently a seventh grader.
Senior News Editor
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
