Former Butler center Andrew Smith was supposed to turn 26 today. Smith, who was a part of two Bulldog Final Four teams, lost his battle with cancer in January. But his spirit unquestionably lives on.

Smith’s widow, Samantha, is doing everything in her power to make a positive impact despite enduring a personal tragedy. She wrote in a blog post:

"The best way I know how to celebrate Andrew is to love on people. So this coming Friday, I am making the day all about serving others by doing 26 random acts of kindness for Andrew’s 26th birthday. I would LOVE if people all around the world who follow this blog and Andrew’s story would do the same by doing a random act of kindness in to honor Andrew and his lasting impact on people. Let’s still celebrate Andrew and who he was."

By using the hashtag ‘#Smith26’ many followed Samantha’s lead:

There are some amazing people out there. Rest in peace, Andrew Smith.

Joe Boozell has been a college basketball writer for NCAA.com since 2015. His work has also appeared in Bleacher Report, FOXSports.com and NBA.com. Joe’s claim to fame since joining NCAA.com: he’s predicted the correct national championship game twice… and picked the wrong winner both times. Growing up, Joe squared off against both Anthony Davis and Frank Kaminsky in the Chicagoland basketball scene. You can imagine how that went.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.