Stephen Anthony Smith, popularly known as Stephen A. Smith is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is best known as the host of the ESPN Radio show, The Stephen A. Smith Show. He is also a commentator on ESPN’s First Take, NBA analyst for ESPN on NBA Countdown, and NBA broadcasts on ESPN. He also makes frequent appearances as an NBA analyst on SportsCenter. He is also a featured columnist for ESPNNY.com, ESPN.com, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
What is Stephen A. Smith Famous For?
- The host of The Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN.
Where is Stephen A. Smith From?
Stephen A. Smith was born on 14 October 1967. His birth name is Stephen Anthony Smith. His birth place is in New York City, New York in the United States. He holds an American nationality. His mother’s name is Janet. He has four older sisters and a younger brother. He also has a half-brother on his father’s side. He belongs to the African-American ethnicity. His maternal grandmother was white, the rest of his grandparents were black.
Regarding his educational background, he attended Thomas Edison High School in Queens. After graduating from high school, he attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. A year later, he received a basketball scholarship to attended Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
Source: @journalnow
Stephen A. Smith Career
- Smith started his career with Winston-Salem Journal. He also worked for the Greensboro News and Record, and the New York Daily News.
- He became a writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1994. He began reporting on the Philadelphia 76ers as their NBA columnist. He eventually became a general sports columnist.
- He was demoted to general assignment reporter at the Inquirer in 2007.
- He was let go by the Inquirer in 2008.
- Smith started his own blog, stephena.com in 2008.
- He returned to the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2010 after he won 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.
- On the radio, he became the host of a radio show on WEPN in New York City in April 2005.
- He left the show at WEPN in April 2008 to expand his television career.
- He became an on-air contributor to Fox Sports Radio in November 2009.
- He became a Fox Sports Radio morning show host in January 2010.
- He became a resident FSR NBA insider in 2011 and he ended his morning show.
- He returned to ESPN as a columnist for ESPN.com in 2011.
- He also became the host for weekday local radio shows on 1050 ESPN Radio New York (WEPN-AM) as well as 710 ESPN Radio Los Angeles (KSPN-AM).
- He left ESPN for Sirius XM Radio in 2013. He joined Chris Russo’s Mad Dog Sports Channel. He had made some controversial comments on ESPN2’s First Take program regarding the Ray Rice situation.
- He moved from Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports channel back to ESPN in January 2017.
- His daily two-hour program is heard on WEPN in New York, KSPN in Los Angeles, Sirius XM’s ESPN channel, and via syndication.
- On television, he started his television career on the cable network, CNN/SI in 1999.
- He started hosting a daily hour-long show, Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN in 2005.
- His show was canceled in 2007.
- He then started working as an NBA analyst on various ESPN shows.
- He now co-hosts First Take on ESPN. He joined the show back in 2012.
- He also appears as an analyst on several ESPN programs.
- He became a UFC commentator in 2019 as ESPN became the UFC’s television broadcaster.
Source: @bleacherreport
Stephen A. Smith Wife
Stephen A. Smith has never been married to date. It is reported that he was once engaged to a woman whose identity has not been revealed. He has two daughters from his previous relationship. More details about his personal life will be updated soon.
Smith made controversial remarks on First Take on July 25, 2014, that women may provoke domestic abuse, in regards to the domestic violence situation involving Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice and his wife. He was heavily criticized for his remarks. After excessive criticism, including comments on Twitter from ESPN reporter Michelle Beadle, Smith apologized for his words on a taped segment on ESPN. On July 29, 2014, Smith was suspended by ESPN for a week and did not appear on any of their programs again until August 6, 2014.
He was once again criticized for his comments about female soccer players during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. He had joked that the players “might not have wanted to mess up their hair.” when the players turned their heads as the ball went by during a free-kick. He was criticized for being sexist. He later apologized for his comments.
He made his acting debut with a cameo appearance on the ABC soap opera General Hospital in 2007. He later made several appearances on the series as Brick since 2016.
Stephen A. Smith Height
Stephen A. Smith stands at a height of 1.85 m i.e. 6 feet and 1 inch tall. He has a body weight of around 80 kg. He has an average body build. His eye color is dark brown and his hair color is black. His sexual orientation is straight.
Stephen A. Smith Net Worth
Stephen is one of the familiar names in sports journalism. He has been associated with ESPN for a long time, where he appears on several ESPN programs. His major income comes from his journalism career. He has a multi-year deal with ESPN that earns him over $8 million a year. His annual salary at ESPN is $8 million. He has also appeared in a couple of television series and commercials. He has appeared in a series of Oberto all-natural beef jerky commercials as “The Little Voice in Your Stomach” beginning in 2014. His net worth is estimated at $16 million.
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