In 1966, Larry Smith came to Kaskaskia College as Head Baseball Coach and after coaching nearly 1,900 baseball games retired after the 2002 season. Only the fourth Illinois Junior College coach to surpass 800 victories, Larry's teams garnered seven conference championships; Southern Illinois College Conference in 1968, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1981 and Great Rivers Athletic Conference in1988.

Larry was Conference Coach of the Year in 1988. His team record stands at six NJCAA sectional titles, have been sectional runner-ups 17 times, and at Regional level placed 4th in 1989, 3rd in 1985 and 1994, and took the Region 24 title in 1991. The 1991 team was Great Lake District Tournament runners-up; only two games kept them from playing in the NJCAA National Tournament. Twelve of his players signed with major league organizations and three played in the big leagues.

Larry served as Chairman of the Illinois Junior College Baseball Committee in 1982, 1983, 1991 and 1994 and has been a member of the Region 24 Baseball Committee since 1982. Larry coached the South Junior College All-Stars, hosted at Wrigley Field, in 1982 and 1994 and was named Assistant Coach in 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1984. Larry was chosen to coach the North team in the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston, Texas; they earned the bronze medal.

Larry was the driving force behind the construction of a state-of-the-art baseball facility for Kaskaskia College, utilizing volunteers and donations, resulting in one of the finest college baseball facilities in existence. In 1999, the complex was named Larry Smith Field in honor of Coach Smith and in 2003 his #3 Kaskaskia College baseball jersey was retired. 

In 1968 Larry developed a copyrighted baseball scorebook and continues to teach baseball and sportsmanship to local youth through countless baseball camps and clinics.  Larry is an honoree of the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the Centralia Sports Hall of Fame, the Cerro Gordo Hall of Fame, the Kaskaskia College Athletic Hall of Fame and was inducted into NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009.