Nicholas Smith loved the Dallas Cowboys, especially running back Ezekiel Elliot.
On Facebook he liked Donald Glover, Aaron Fontwell and Wiz Khalifa, too. His page also showed he liked “Harry Potter,” “Tosh.0” and the Dallas Mavericks.
Despite being a “loud and boisterous kid from Texas,” he loved to listen, his friend, sophomore Nicholas Fattore, said.
“He made it a point to care about people when it was really easy not to,” Fattore said.
Smith, an IU sophomore, died Tuesday night. He is remembered by friends as caring. Fattore is president of the Sigma Pi fraternity and went through rush with Smith last year when they were freshmen.
Smith was Fattore’s first friend in the fraternity. He said the one year he knew Smith was incredible.
He said Smith genuinely cared about people. His major was environmental science and, aside from the Cowboys, he was most passionate about people.
“I have a feeling they’re going to take it all the way this year for Nic,” his friend, Johnathan Panos, said.
Panos, a senior in Sigma Pi, met Smith during his first night of rush last year. He said Smith had a smile and was friendly from the start.
When Panos passed most people in the fraternity house, he said they would just nod or walk past, but with Nic there was always a handshake and a “How’s it goin’?”
“He always put a smile on my face, and I took it for granted because now he’s gone,” Panos said.
He said he remembers a boxing tournament he worked on, organized by the Sigma Pi chapter at IU last April, titled “Last Man Standing,” to raise money for the American Cancer Society. After a successful night, he said Smith was the first to congratulate him.
“It touched me,” Panos said. “He made me feel special that night, but not just me — everyone.”
Panos and Fattore knew Smith for roughly a year. They said they will always remember his kindness and ability to listen.
In the spring, a relative of Fattore’s was having medical complications, and Smith noticed a change in his friend’s behavior.
“Nic saw me down and asked if I was all right,” Fattore said. “I just spilled it all out. He was very good at listening.”
After the summer break, when Fattore returned to school, Smith asked him how his family member was doing. Fattore said he will always miss how Smith made him feel — either annoyed at his sarcasm, he said while laughing, or so lucky to have him by his side.
“I think I’m going to miss knowing that no matter what happened to me or someone I know, I always had Nic to fall back on,” Fattore said.
The Dallas Cowboys have their first playoff game of the season against the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 15.
