"David Smith is unique. Of all the superb athletes I've met, none has combined fitness with imagination in quite so impressive a manner." Cover Story May 11, 1970 – Robert F. Jones, Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Athlete, adventurer, author, explorer, teacher, and speaker. It was a sign of things to come when David Miln Smith became the youngest Eagle Scout in history at the age of twelve and a half. He’d already won his first race at age eight. He was undefeated in the 50-yard freestyle at Washington High School, and was Most Valuable Player on the swim team. At Menlo Junior College he was an All-American 4x100 yard relay member. Yet he stopped swimming for seven years and became a young entrepreneur, owned a bar in San Francisco, sold and owned real-estate, day-traded in the stock market, drove fast cars, played golf at the Olympic Club, drank and smoked. Finally, he threw away the Camels, traded it all away, and went into training. On his 26th birthday, he swam the Golden Gate, beginning a journey of personal transformation that would lead him down undreamed-of paths. He began to swim long distances, 30 miles down the Russian River, 63 miles down the Sacramento River. In Turkey, he crossed the Hellespont and the Bosporus, and he represented the USA in races at Capri, at Lake Ohrid in Yugoslavia, and The Suez Canal. In 1966, he was the first person to swim from Africa to Europe (Morocco to Spain). Life Magazine called this crossing “the Everest of marathon swimming.” David Smith challenged bulls in the rings of Spain, and rhinos in the bush of Kenya, he jumped 60 feet into the Mayan Well of Sacrifice at Chichen Itza, ran marathons across the sands of the Sahara Desert, over mountains in Haiti, through the infamous Khyber Pass and down the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. He ran with Masai and Samburu warriors on the plateaus of Kenya, climbed the Matterhorn, kayaked the Nile River from Khartoum to Cairo, and traveled to Hunza, the real-life Shangri-La in the Himalayan- Karakorum Mountain Range. From paddling a dugout canoe in the Amazon to bicycling over a 16,000 foot mountain in Peru, to walking blindfolded through the labyrinthine alleys in Tangiers, David Smith is an American original. The Today Show called him “the King of the Risk Takers.” Davis Smith is the creator of events for NBC SportsWorld ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and designed and director Le Tour de sanFRANCEcisco Bicycle Event for 10,000 bicyclists through the streets of San Francisco. He’s been a guest on many talk shows, including the ‘Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Leaping at the Matterhorn David graduated summa cum laude from the University of West Florida. He holds a Ph.D. in Health and Human Services dealing specifically with risk-taking and its affects on human behavior. David Smith has authored numerous articles and three books: "Hug The Monster: How to Embrace Your Fears and Live Your Dreams;" "Healing Journey: The Odyssey of an Uncommon Athlete;" "The East/West Exercise Book." Titles Challenge the Limits (Manage Change ~ Inspire Success ~ Overcome Fear) Catch A Second Wind - Gain Momentum Master The Tools Of Change Break Personal And Professional Barriers Adventure Challenge (Team building Program) The Spirit Of Education For Continuing Education Topics Adventure, Sports, Decision Making, Entrepreneur, Goal-setting, Health Click topic above to see more speakers on that topic Speaker's Asking Fee Range $5,000 - $7,499 Click on fee range to see more speakers. This is the starting keynote fee range - other programs may be higher. State CA Click on state above to see more speakers from that state. Fees The fee range quoted means the speaker's fee starts somewhere within that range. Note that speaker's fees are subject to change and some speakers may have special fee quotes.