‘Pink Thing’ inventer C. Russel Smith, Jr. dies at 82
By amusementtoday | August 14, 2014
DALLAS, Texas — C. Russel Smith, Jr. of Dallas, Texas, passed away on Aug. 10, 2014, at Woodridge Nursing Home in Grapevine after a brief battle with colon cancer. He was 82.
Smith was born in Dallas and graduated from Highland Park High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M in 1952 and served as an Army captain during the Korean War.
His grandfather, Charles W. Smith, entered the ice cream business in Dallas in 1989. C.W. Smith started operating the ice cream equipment of one of his milk route customers who went bankrupt. A plaque near the Trammell Crow Center in the Arts District marks the location of the original Smith’s Ice Cream.
Russel Smith Jr. joined the family business as a plant superintendent after completing his military service. He was president of the company when Smith Ice Cream became an original Six Flags Over Texas vendor. It was during this time that Smith invented the Pink Thing, a frozen treat that was popular at the theme park during the 1970s-80s.
“We had the first ice cream stores at Six Flags,” said his son, David Smith. The Pink Thing was introduced as the Pink Buried Treasure for the small plastic character hidden inside the treat. “My brother [Charles] named it, because kids would request ‘that pink thing.’ That’s how it got named,” Smith added. Six Flags management estimated that one out of every four or five visitors bought a Pink Thing during its heyday. The Pink Thing was also popular at Rangers games and the State Fair.
During his career, Smith was a chamber of commerce leader and active in politics and fund raising. He retired in 1965, about the same time the family sold the business. Other vendors later sold the Pink Thing.
Preceded in death by his wife, Barbara, Smith is survived by three sons, Charles, Stuart and David; three grandchildren; and on great-grandchild. Donations may be made in his name to Faith Hospice or the American Cancer Society.
