James Craig Smith brought glamour to the textile industry by becoming a prominent textile manufacturer, a fearless industry spokesman, an outstanding civic leader, and an unselfish educational benefactor.
Smith attended Gulf Coast Military Academy. In 1925, he graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Arts degree. His first job at Avondale Mills, which his grandfather was president of, was to weigh cotton. Soon after Smith joined Avondale, he married Mary Page Thompson. Smith’s ability, business acumen, and incisive mind led him to become president of Avondale Mills in 1951. As president, Smith was the corporation’s spokesman for modernization. He constantly urged the improvement of mills and argued for the purchase of new machines. Perhaps Smith’s most lasting contribution to Avondale was the Zero Defects Program, which urged employees to take pledges to do their jobs right the first time. Smith became a spokesman for the textile industry. He served as president of the Alabama Textile Manufacturers Association, president of the National Cotton Council, and president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute. Under Smith’s leadership, Avondale became the world’s largest producer of ticking and cotton-carded and combed knitting yarns. Smith was an outstanding civic leader, serving as a director and past president of the Alabama Chamber of Commerce; a trustee and past chairman of the Eye Foundation; a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of Commerce and Business Administration; and a director and past president of the Alabama Safety Council.
