From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Anthony Smith (born October 14, 1967) is a media personality from Hollis, Queens in New York City. He is currently the early morning show host on Fox Sports Radio.

Early years

Smith was raised in the Hollis neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. He lived with his parents and four older sisters.^[1]

He attended Winston-Salem State University, an historically black university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While in college, he played some basketball under Hall of Fame coach Clarence Gaines, however he later wrote an article for the university newspaper suggesting that Gaines retire due to health issues.^[1]

Career

Print media

In 1993, Smith was a sportswriter for the Daily News in New York City.^[1]

Since 1994, Smith has had a position as a writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He was initially a general sportswriter for the Inquirer before he gained positions as their reporter for 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. Prior to his job with the Inquirer, Smith has had positions with the Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro News and Record and the New York Daily News. In 2008, the Inquirer ended its relation with Smith, which coincided with Smith having to start his own blog. 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.^[2]

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, his radio show was shifted to the 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. slot, with the second hour being broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio, replacing The Dan Patrick Show (Mike Tirico took over the first two hours). The show came to an end in April 2008 as Smith sought to expand his career in television, and beginning May 1 Scott Van Pelt began hosting in the 3-4 PM hour that was previously Smith's.

In November 2009, Smith became an on-air contributor to Fox Sports Radio, and was one who 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 re-joined the Philadelphia 76ers on December 2.

It was reported by various sources, including Radio-info.com, and confirmed by the network itself that Smith is set to take over the early morning slot (6 to 9am Eastern time) effective on January 4, 2010, replacing longtime Washington, D.C.-based host Steve Czaban. Since this, many fans of Steve Czaban have written and emailed Fox Sports about the massive talent drop-off from Czaban to Smith.

Smith can be heard from time to time as a caller to Mark Levin where Smith fawns over Levin, calling him "the great one."

Television

Smith started his television career on the now-defunct cable network CNN/SI in 1999.

Smith is frequently seen as a basketball analyst and talk show host on ESPN. In August 2005, he started hosting a daily hour-long show on ESPN called Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith. After the show was cancelled in January 2007, he mainly concentrated on basketball, serving as an NBA analyst.

Smith has appeared on other ESPN shows as well, including the reality series Dream Job, as well as a frequent guest (and guest host) on Pardon the Interruption, Jim Rome is Burning and as a popular participant on 1st and 10. He has appeared as an anchor on the Sunday morning edition of SportsCenter, but on April 17, 2009 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."

Smith appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday July 8 and 9, 2009 as a special commentator on the Michael Jackson memorial funeral service. He provided a unique commentary on the choice of public funding for the celebration contrasted to the victory parade after the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship. Smith has recently become a regular guest on the MSNBC's Morning Joe, Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan and The Ed Show.

Acting career

Smith made his acting debut in a cameo appearance as a television reporter on the February 2, 2007 episode on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Later that year, he appeared in the Chris Rock motion picture I Think I Love My Wife, during a double-date scene. [1]

References

External links

• Official website
• Stephen A. Smith at the Internet Movie Database

From Wikiquote

Stephen Anthony Smith (born October 14, 1967), usually referred to as Stephen A. Smith, is a sportswriter and media personality.

Sourced

• You have haters from all walks of life. I could care less who wants me to fail. They inspire me.
  • Interview with New York Times, 2005 [1]

• I have opinions that are based on the facts that are presented to me. I don't apologize. I stand by it. If I'm hated, so what? If I'm loved, so what?
  • Interview with New York Times, 2005 [2]

• The reality is that you're entitled to believe what you want as long as you're not imposing your beliefs on other people. ...I don't think [atheists] need to shut up. The reason why I don't think they need to shut up is because there's a whole bunch of people in this world that we can look at and say they need to shut up and they certainly don't. You got everybody fighting for their own individual cause. This is their cause. We might not like it. I don't agree with it at all, but they do have a right.
  • Interview on Paula Zahn Now (January 31, 2007)

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Stephen A. Smith