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Gaylon Wesley Smith ( – ) was an American professional football player who was a back and defensive end for five seasons with the Cleveland Rams of the National Football League (NFL) and one season for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Before entering professional football, Smith starred as a halfback playing college football for the Southwestern Lynx (now Rhodes Lynx) and led the country in scoring in 1938. He was selected by the Rams in the second round of the 1939 NFL draft and played for the Cleveland team until deciding to retire from the sport in 1943. After taking a job as a personnel director and playing on a regional basketball and baseball teams based in the Cleveland area, Smith joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 during World War II. He was discharged two years later and signed with the Browns, then a new team in the AAFC. Smith was a second-string player with the Browns but substituted for an injured Marion Motley late in the season as the team won the AAFC championship game. Smith retired after the 1946 season but stayed in Ohio to raise his family and work as a manufacturer's representative. He died in 1958 at the age of 41.
Smith retired from football after the 1942 season and took a job as personnel director of Thompson Products, Inc., an aerospace, automotive and financial conglomerate based in Ohio. Smith played amateur baseball as a catcher and regional professional basketball in 1943. He also boxed in an amateur tournament organized by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The following year, Smith joined the U.S. Navy during World War II. He reported in May for training at the Great Lakes Naval Station outside of Chicago. At Great Lakes, he played for a military football team coached by Paul Brown.
Following his discharge from the service in early 1946, Smith was signed by Brown to play for the Cleveland Browns, a team under formation in the new All-America Football Conference. The Rams had moved to Los Angeles after the 1945 season, and Smith was one of five former Rams players to stay in Cleveland with the Browns, alongside Tommy Colella, Mike Scarry, Don Greenwood and Chet Adams. He joined the Browns despite a lawsuit filed by the Rams against Adams in which the Rams contended he was still under contract with the team. Smith said he had signed with the "Cleveland Rams" and that the contract said nothing about a move to Los Angeles. "After the Rams moved to the coast, they sent me another agreement specifying a raise in pay, but I didn't sign it," he said. "I decided that if I couldn't play football in Cleveland, I wouldn't play at all." A federal judge eventually ruled in favor of Adams, clearing the way for former Rams players to join the Browns.
Smith was not a regular starter for the Browns when the team started play in 1946, but he got additional playing time toward the end of the season after fullback Marion Motley suffered injuries to his feet. Smith ran for 240 yards and scored five touchdowns as the Browns won the first AAFC championship that year. He retired from professional football for good after the season.
Two years after his death, Rhodes College dedicated the Gaylon Smith Memorial Gateway in his honor. He is considered one of the best football players Rhodes has produced. He was inducted into the Rhodes College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
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