Coach Dean Smith with Curtis and Polly Montgomery. Submitted. Catawba College formerly recognized the many contributions of Dean Smith by awarding him an honorary doctorate during its graduation exercises in May of 1985. Smith received a doctor of humane letters from Catawba during that ceremony. Longtime Catawba employee Curtis Montgomery remembers the occasion and shared his memory after Smith’s death on Feb. 7. Montgomery, who served for many years as Catawba’s registrar b