Sylacauga High School head football coach Chris Smelley, a former South Carolina quarterback, was found safe hours after disappearing Thursday morning while in a kayak off the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Smelley, 37, went fishing in his blue and black kayak off Grayton Beach, Florida around 8:30 a.m. Thursday and had not returned by 2:30 p.m., the Walton County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office said.
Sylacauga City Schools Superintendent Michele Eller told the Sylacauga News that the system’s thoughts and prayers were with “Coach Smelley and his beautiful family along with all rescue personnel.”
A Coast Guard helicopter out of New Orleans spotted Smelley on the kayak in the water.
The Coast Guard radioed a friend who was on a boat searching for Smelley and led the friend to Smelley’s location.
Smelley was spotted at 7:12 p.m. local time, nearly 11 hours after he disappeared, a little less than 12 miles off of Grayton Beach.
The Sylacauga coach was not showing any signs of distress when he was rescued and he was not transferred to EMS, the Coast Guard said. The agency was also not worried about Smelley having any medical conditions related to his ordeal.
Walton County sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr. detailed the extensive search for Smelley early Thursday evening in an online Q&A session.
“We have a lot of people who are trying and working. It remains to be seen. We are just out there trying to locate Mr. Smelley,” Adkinson said. “The good thing is he has a flotation device with him. We know that. We are hoping to make contact with him. They have something called a flir, which is an infrared device that can see warmth or heat in the water, so that is something that is being used in the water as well.
“We are going to stay at it.”
Smelley was an all-state baseball catcher and quarterback during his playing days at American Christian in Tuscaloosa. His name is still etched in the Alabama High School Athletic Association football record books.
He holds the state record for TD passes in a season with 59 in 2005. He’s also second in career touchdown passes (134) and passing yards in a season (4,120 in 2005), third in passing yards in a single game (565 vs. Brantley in 2005) and fourth in career passing yards (10,385, 2002-2005).
He signed to play football at South Carolina where he was quarterback for coach Steve Spurrier from 2006-2008. Smelley went 9-6 in 15 career starts for the Gamecocks. He passed for 3,210 yards and 23 touchdowns with 22 interceptions. He was 270-of-479 overall.
He transferred home to Alabama in 2009 and finished his college career as a baseball player. Smelley sat out the 2009 season and played a limited role for the Crimson Tide in 2010. According to a Tuscaloosa News story, he played in 16 games with 10 starts and hit .152. He opted to forego his senior season.
His coaching career started as an assistant at Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa before moving on to an offensive coordinator spot at his alma mater, ACA.
He was promoted to head coach there in 2014 following the departure of John Causey.
He went 65-21 in seven years (2014-2020) as the American Christian head coach, leading the team to the playoffs in each of his final six seasons.
Smelley stepped down at ACA in August of 2021.
He spent the 2022 season as quarterbacks coach at Hoover before being hired in Jan. 2023 as the new head coach at Sylacauga. The Aggies went 2-8 in his first year there.
“We are super excited,” he told AL.com after being named the Sylacauga coach.
“My wife and kids are excited. We’ve been down to Sylacauga. It’s a neat place. One thing that jumped out at me was the pride the people have there and the community involvement. You can see the pieces there for it to be a very successful program.”
The sheriff’s office and the South Walton Fire District had jet skis in the water off of Grayton Beach searching for Smelley on Thursday afternoon, and the U.S. Coast Guard in Mobile has been notified about Smelley’s disappearance. Adkinson also said there was a helicopter in the air helping in the search.
Florida Fish and Wildlife also heading to the scene, the sheriff’s office said.