When brothers Shaky and Anthony Smithson leave their East Bench apartment every morning and head to school in Salt Lake City, they don't worry about the things that used to confront them on the wickedly mean streets in their hometown of Baltimore.

No bullets.

No guns.

No dying.

"That place," Shaky Smith says, "teaches you a whole lot, as far as being a man. You grow up fast. It's probably not the right way all the time. But it's the right way at the end of the day, if you understand what I'm saying. ... It helped me be the man I am today."

After a long pause and a deep sigh, Smith continued, "Growing up in Baltimore -- being a young male in Baltimore -- you're pretty much going against the odds. Not many young men make it out."

At 22, Smithson is out and leading a life of responsibility, not one as a happy-go-lucky college student and receiver/running back at the University of Utah.

In June, he became the legal guardian to 15-year-old brother Anthony, a student at Highland High who is getting an improved chance at life because of Shaky Smithson's selflessness.

"I can think of no more responsible act," said Rev. France Davis, the pastor at Salt Lake City's Calvary Baptist Church and a valued member of Smithson's local support group.

"What he's doing is stepping up and saying, 'I'm going to do the right thing. I've given myself a chance. Now I want my brother to have a chance, too.' "

Not always perfect

The oldest in a family that includes four sisters and three brothers, Shaky Smithson hasn't always been a perfect role model for his siblings.

Asked if he ever came close to being trapped by his environment while growing up, he said, "At the age of 13, my grandmother passed. She helped raise us. She helped my mom a lot.

"When she passed, a lot of things went downhill because she was the backbone of our family. That right there was a devastating moment in my life."

During the next year, Smithson was missing school regularly.

Instead of going to class and maintaining an honor roll-worthy grade point average, he stayed home and "helped my mom with my sisters and brothers because my dad, he got incarcerated and wasn't around for awhile."

After failing his first try at ninth grade, Smithson transferred to Frederick Douglass High School for his second attempt.

"If you know the history of that school, you know the percentage of people graduating is very, very low," says Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, who also grew up in Baltimore.

"If he was able to [graduate] and he's out here now playing football, that's a great accomplishment. Most people probably don't know how great."

Douglass High, which has been made infamous by an HBO documentary about its troubled students and unqualified teachers, turned out to be a good fit for Smithson.

Thanks to his mother, father, aunts, uncles, siblings cousins and new basketball coach Roger Coffield, Shaky thrived while many of those around him struggled.

"They got me where I am today," said Smithson, who added, "Baltimore is a real good city -- real good people. It's just we don't have the beaches like California. We don't have the all opportunities that some kids have.

"So our way out is sports and school. Education is No. 1. That's what my high school coach preached. Once I found that out -- that I needed an education to play ball -- it was a no-brainer. I got into my books and said, 'This is going to get me out of Baltimore.' "

Going west

After graduating from high school, Smith went to East Los Angeles Community College, where a cousin was going to school.

Still, Smithson could not escape the street violence that he often witnessed in the past.

He explained: "There was a point in junior college -- three or four months straight -- where there were at least two or three phone calls. In the middle of the night, they'd say, 'Oh, so-and-so got killed. Or so-and-so got killed.'

"It was tough. But I'm glad I was not home to see it because I know I might have been with them -- hanging out or doing whatever. So I made the right decision -- going to school."

Carmelo Anthony has experienced similar phone calls.

"I've been though it multiple times," he said. "You just get numb to the fact that that phone call is coming. You know what to expect because, growing up in a situation like that, it's second nature. Your body is just numb to it."

Smithson prospered in junior college and, when the Utes recruited him, his decision to accept a scholarship was "an easy one. ... Utah was a perfect fit for me."

Last March, Smithson and his mother started making plans for him to become his little brother's guardian.

"My mom had five kids to herself, so the house was overcrowded," Smithson said. "He was going good in high school. He had a 4.0 [grade average]. But he couldn't be a kid. He couldn't go out and do things he really, really wanted to. He'd stay out until 8:30, when the street lights went on, and then have to come in."

Now, Smithson talks to his mother a couple of times a week. His brother talks to her "about every five minutes."

Together, the anything-but-splintered family has made a unique long-distance living arrangement work.

Someday, Smithson hopes his whole family can be together again -- perhaps in Utah, or maybe where a pro football career takes them.

"If I could, I'd have them all out here with me right now," he said.

Earning praise

Smithson's effort on behalf of his brother has earned him the admiration of his coaches and teammates at Utah.

"Shaky is a high-character individual," Kyle Whittingham said. "We have the utmost respect for him as far as how he conducts his life and how he handles himself.

"It's a big responsibility -- to become guardian of your younger brother -- especially when you're trying to be a full-time student and a Division I athlete. It's very admirable that he's doing this."

Senior offensive lineman Zane Beadles said: "I can't imagine taking on everything we have, as far as football and school goes, and then taking that responsibility on your shoulders as well.

"It just shows the kind of character he has and the kind of guy he is -- to want to take that on and to do it successfully. So all the respect in the world to Shaky, for what he's doing."

Asked if there are times he'd rather go out at night with his friends instead of staying home with his little brother, Shaky Smithson shakes his head.

"It is a lot of responsibility," he said, "but I don't take it like that. I take it like my situation is different from the other 119 players on the team. The situation I have is about me being a man now. So I don't look at it like, 'Oh, I'm not going to have any fun today.' I look at it like I can have fun two or three years from now."

That attitude has endeared him to Rev. Davis, who said Smithson is "... a wonderful young man. He is committed -- morally and spiritually -- to being a good person and being a good foundation for his brother."

Not bad for a kid out of Balitmore.

luhm@sltrib.com