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I'll Race You. In 1920 C.U. recalled Father Smith as an instructor of philosophy (among his first students: the future Bishop Fulton Sheen). Soon the whole campus became acutely aware of the bluff young priest and his odd habits. At any time he was apt to march up to a student and say, "Come on, I'll race you to Gibbons Hall." Sometimes, just for the exercise, he would take the B. & O. to Rockville, 16 miles away, then return to campus by walking 100 yards, running the next 100, walking the next, and so on. He became a fixture at every pre-game rally, an unofficial talent scout for C.U.'s athletic teams. Meanwhile, he found time to start C.U.'s famed Preachers Institute—"out of sympathy for the laymen who have suffered through poor sermons."
Today, a few months before his mandatory retirement, Iggy still gets up at 4:45 in the morning, still reads pretty well through the works of St. Thomas Aquinas once a year. The door of his study is always open to students, and though he might call them "Butch" or "Babe" or "Toots," thousands have gone to him for advice. "A university," says he, "is not created by textbooks but by atmosphere—the consecrated service to students by teachers. I try to impress on the students that we are just trustees of knowledge for the benefit of others. That those with learning must be generous. Learning for the sake of learning may be the ideal of some, but not here. We want learning for the sake of diffusion."