One of the pioneering female journalists in men’s tennis, Sally Wilson Smith, passed away at 68 years of age on May 13. From becoming the Delaware state champ at the age of 16 to taking interviews with personalities like John McEnroe and then leaving it all behind to become a psychiatrist, it is safe to say that she lived life to the fullest. Fans came together to mourn Smith’s passing after her obituary surfaced.

Prominent tennis journalist Jon Wertheim shared her obituary on social media, and it melted the hearts of many. Smith passed away due to metastatic gallbladder cancer. Despite being a promising tennis player during her teen years and even ranked No. 3 on the University of South Carolina’s women’s tennis team, she gave up the sport in her senior year as her passion for writing took over.

Smith began her career as a sports editor of the Gamecock newspaper and reached new heights almost every year. By the age of 25, she was covering Wimbledon and the US Open for the Dallas Morning News. This was when she reached her peak as a journalist, doing one-on-one interviews with the likes of John McEnroe, Michael Jordan, and Martina Navratilova. It was during this time that she married a guy named Gary Smith.

But Smith’s time as a journalist would be short-lived, as she soon developed other ambitions. After spending a few years as a journalist, she decided to leave that job and become a doctor instead. She didn’t even know what kind of doctor she wanted to become at first, but a 15-minute psychiatry rotation at the Medical University of South Carolina served as the inspiration for her to become a psychiatrist.

Smith first became a psychiatrist at Charleston’s V.A. hospital for three years and then had her own private practice for the next two-and-a-half decades. She often participated in volunteer gigs, and it was during one of these jobs that her life took another turn. She fell in love with a baby girl while working in a hospital in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia and decided to adopt her. It was just weeks later that she found out about her pregnancy. She had three children in total, Gabriela, Saviana, and Noah.

While the job of both a sports journalist and a psychiatrist can be quite stressful at times, Smith always took the time to do things that were out of the box. For context, she climbed the 17,000-foot Mount Kenya for her honeymoon and was even writing wedding thank-you notes while doing so.

While covering the 1984 L.A. Olympics from the press box, she suddenly left for Paris to study philosophy for a year. Additionally, she once took her children to live in a Basque fishing village in Spain for a year without planning anything in advance. Inspired by their mother, two of her children also chose the medical field, with one of them becoming a psychoanalyst and another a psychiatrist.

It was after her children left for college that Smith rediscovered her love for tennis. She started reading about the sport and even participated in numerous tournaments. It wasn’t a surprise that fans got emotional after reading her obituary and shared positive messages for her and her family.

Fans pay heartfelt tributes to Sally Wilson Smith

A fan stated that Smith lived a life she would be proud of. “A life well lived,” the user wrote on X.

Another fan expressed a similar sentiment. “What an incredible person. What a way to live life.”

There was a fan who stated that Smith will be dearly missed. “Amazing human being. She must be dearly missed. Rest in peace.”

A fan felt that Smith lived her life in a way many would want to. “Unbelievable lady. We should all live a life as full,” a post on X read.

Finally, a fan stated that her memory will always be cherished. “May her memory always be for a blessing.”

Smith will be remembered by many for her incredible work as a sports journalist and as a psychiatrist. She is an inspiration for people who aspire to live their lives to the fullest and do things out of the box at the right time.