Stephen A. Smith

Who Is Stephen A. Smith?

Stephen A. Smith is an American TV personality. He is also known as Stephen Smith. Many people see him on TV and hear his voice on radio. He talks about sports and news. He is also an actor. He is friendly and bold. He likes to share his thoughts. He does it with a lot of energy. He is a familiar face for many fans.

He works a lot with ESPN. He appears on shows that talk about basketball. He also hosts his own radio show. He writes columns for newspapers. He is a well known commentator. He makes people smile or think. He is a lively and warm voice on screen and on air.

Early Life and Background

Stephen A. Smith was born on October fourteen 1967.

Career and Claim to Fame

Stephen A. Smith is best known for his work on ESPN. He is a regular NBA analyst. He talks on SportsCenter and NBA Countdown. He also appears on ESPN's NBA broadcasts. He hosts The Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN Radio. He is a regular guest on First Take. He writes columns for ESPN and The Philadelphia Inquirer. His voice and style are easy to spot. He brings excitement to sports talk.

He also works as an actor. He appears in TV shows and movies. He brings his strong personality to the screen. Fans enjoy his acting as much as his sports talk. He mixes humor and serious talk. He makes each appearance feel fresh.

The official website for Stephen A. Smith can be found by typing en dot wikipedia dot org slash wiki slash Stephen A dot Smith. This site has more details about his work and life.

Birthday, Age and Zodiac

Stephen A. Smith was born on October fourteen 1967. He is fifty nine years old. His zodiac sign is Libra. Libra people are known for being fair and balanced. They like harmony and peace. They enjoy talking and sharing ideas. They often try to see both sides of a story. This fits Stephen's style on TV and radio.

Fun Facts and Legacy

Stephen A. Smith is a TV personality, radio host, sports analyst, political commentator and actor. He was born on October fourteen 1967 and is fifty nine years old. He is a Libra who likes balance and fairness. He works a lot with ESPN and writes for big newspapers. He also has an official website that can be found by typing en dot wikipedia dot org slash wiki slash Stephen A dot Smith. Fans love his lively voice and his honest talk.

Stephen A. Smith - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Stephen A. Smith

Stephen Anthony Smith (born October 14, 1967) is an American television personality, radio host, sports analyst, political commentator, and actor. He makes frequent appearances as an NBA analyst for ESPN on SportsCenter, NBA Countdown, and the network's NBA broadcasts. He has also hosted The Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN Radio and is a commentator on ESPN's First Take. Smith is a featured columnist for ESPN and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

This profile of Stephen A. Smith covers Early Life and Family Background, Print media, Radio, Television and Acting.

Early Life and Family Background of Stephen A. Smith

Stephen Anthony Smith was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. He was raised in the Hollis section of Queens. Smith is the youngest of six children. He has four older sisters and had an older brother, Basil, who died in a car accident in 1992. He also has a half-brother on his father's side. Smith's parents were originally from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. His father managed a hardware store. Smith's maternal grandmother was white, the rest of his grandparents black. He graduated in 1986 from Thomas Edison High School in Queens.

After attending the Fashion Institute of Technology for one year, Smith received a basketball scholarship to attend Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He played for the Winston-Salem State Rams men's basketball team under Hall of Fame coach Clarence Gaines. But Smith's basketball career abruptly ended after a severe knee injury. While still on the team, Smith wrote a column for the university newspaper, The News Argus, arguing Gaines should retire due to health issues. He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Smith graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication.

Print media of Stephen A. Smith

Smith began his print media career while still in college working for the Winston-Salem Journal as the beat writer for the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons soccer team. He later worked for the Greensboro News and Record and the New York Daily News. Beginning in 1994, Smith had a position as a writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He began reporting on the Philadelphia 76ers as their NBA columnist, and eventually, as a general sports columnist. On August 23, 2007, the Inquirer announced that Smith would no longer be writing columns and would instead be demoted back to the position of general assignment reporter. In 2008, the Inquirer ended its relationship with Smith, which coincided with Smith starting his own blog, stephena.com. In February 2010, Smith returned to The Philadelphia Inquirer after winning an arbitrator's ruling that he was to be reinstated but having to agree to remove all of his political views from his website and from cable news shows.

Radio

On April 11, 2005, Smith became the host of a weekday noon to 2 p.m. Radio show on WEPN in New York City with his "right-hand man B.T. (Brandon Tierney)". On September 20, 2007, the show was shifted to the 2–4 p.m. Slot, with the second hour being broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio, replacing the third hour of The Dan Patrick Show (Mike Tirico took over the first two hours). Smith's show came to an end in April 2008 as he sought to expand his career in television, and beginning May 1, Scott Van Pelt began hosting in the 3–4 p.m. Hour that was previously Smith's. In November 2009, Smith became an on-air contributor to Fox Sports Radio and broke the story of Allen Iverson's retirement on the Chris Myers–Steve Hartman afternoon show on November 25. Iverson later ended his short retirement and rejoined the Philadelphia 76ers on December 2. Smith became a Fox Sports Radio morning show host on January 4, 2010, replacing Washington, D.C.–based host Steve Czaban. On his radio program, Smith correctly predicted that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh would all sign with the Miami Heat during 2010 free agency.

In early 2011, Smith became a resident FSR NBA insider and ended his morning show. ESPN announced on February 1, 2011 that Smith would return to ESPN as a columnist for ESPN.com and host for weekday local radio shows on 1050 ESPN Radio New York (WEPN-AM) at 7–9 p.m. ET as well as 710 ESPN Radio Los Angeles (KSPN-AM) at 6–8 p.m. PT. He left LA 710 ESPN on April 24, 2012. Beginning in May 2012, as part of the ESPN New York move to 98.7 WRKS, Smith replaced Robin Lundberg alongside Ryan Ruocco and debuted the Stephen A. Smith & Ryan Ruocco Show which ran from 1–3 p.m. ET on the new 98.7 WEPN. Smith started each show with a signature pre-intro cold open "rant" on a topic that would be discussed in the first segment. The show came to an end in the summer of 2013, when Smith left ESPN for Sirius XM Radio, where he joined Chris Russo's Mad Dog Sports Channel. The move was announced just one day after Smith made some controversial comments on ESPN2's First Take program regarding the Ray Rice situation. On January 17, 2017, Smith moved from Sirius XM's Mad Dog Sports channel back to ESPN. His daily two-hour program is heard on WEPN in New York, KSPN in Los Angeles, Sirius XM's ESPN channel, and via syndication.

Television

Smith is one of the hosts of First Take on ESPN. He also appears as an analyst on various ESPN programs. He is known for provocative analysis and dour delivery. Smith started his television career on the now-defunct cable network CNN/SI in 1999. In August 2005, Smith started hosting a daily hour-long show on ESPN called Frankly with Stephen A. Smith. After the show was cancelled in January 2007, he mainly concentrated on basketball, serving as an NBA analyst. He also appeared on other ESPN shows, including the reality series Dream Job, as well as serving as a frequent guest (and guest host) on Pardon the Interruption, Jim Rome Is Burning, and as a participant on 1st and 10. He appeared as an anchor on the Sunday morning edition of SportsCenter. On April 17, 2009, Smith announced on his website that he would be leaving ESPN on May 1, 2009. The Los Angeles Times reported that ESPN commented that, "We decided to move in different directions." Though according to Big Lead Sports, a source says that ESPN and Smith went to the negotiating table and could not reach an agreement.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Smith), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.