Mike Smith is a 'Baby Boomer' who learned his hockey from the cradle thanks to his hockey enthusiast father who learned his hockey at school in India. He played his first club match at the age of 12 and continued for over fifty years, also taking on administrative roles at club, county and national levels, taking in outdoor, indoor, umpiring and coaching, becoming one of the first Hockey Assocation (HA) coaches in the early 1970s.

In founding specialist hockey company Mercian in 1974, Mike's involvement in hockey became even greater. Shortly after, by marrying hockey player Judy and producing two hockey-playing sons, a total hockey family was created. The birth of Mercian enabled the collection of hockey material of all kinds – maybe the start of The Hockey Museum (THM)?

Involvement in the Hockey Men's World Cup in London in 1986 saw the first display of hockey memorabilia and planted the seeds of what was to come. In June 1992, with the impending National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes, Mike and David Wareham were asked by Phil Appleyard (then Hockey Association President) to become joint Honorary Curators of The Hockey Museum based at the new stadium. A few ‘ups and downs’ ensued, but in 2011 with Mike retired from Mercian, an offer of a home from Woking Borough Council saw the re-birth of the dream of a dedicated museum for hockey and Mike became one of THM's founder Trustees and the Museum's first Curator.