Devoureaux Wolf told the
Chicago Sun0Times. “Some of them needed a way to express themselves and Verndell would get that out of them.”
Sheila Neal, a mother whose son danced at Smith’s dance studio, called the instructor a “sweetheart” who “cared about those kids beyond recognition.” Smith founded
The Ultimate Threat dance organization ten years ago and created the
Greater Grand Crossing dance studio for youth in the community. He also leaves behind his own ten-year-old son.
With a complete loss of hearing in one ear and only partial hearing the other, Smith had an extraordinary talent. His family told reporters that he came up with dance moves by feeling vibrations in the ground. Some of Smith’s favorite artists were Usher, B2K, Chris Brown, and Michael Jackson and he once wrote a song about his disability called, “Speak up, I can’t hear you,” Neal told the news publication. “You always had to look in his face for him to hear you. He made jokes out