Stephen Smith is a longtime American sports TV and radio host who is also a prominent sports journalist and an occasional actor.
He works as sports commentator on ESPN series named First Take. Other two colleagues are Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim and they have a good working atmosphere together on ESPN.
He is often invited to be an NBA analyst on SportsCenter, ESPN’s TV programme.
He also hosts the NBA Countdown and all NBA broadcasts due to his interesting way of commenting and a big fanbase he gained.
He was a radio host on ESPN Radio New York 98.7 FM but has transferred to another radio station.
He hosts “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on the Mad Dog Sports Radio Show, Sirius XM.
He works as a columnist for ESPNNY.com and ESPN.com.
He is very popular although he was involved in a lot of controversy during his career and most of them were serious.
His net worth is estimated about $10 million due to the fact that he gets $2 million per year at ESPN, and $1 million from Sirius XM.
Early years
He was born as Stephen Anthony Smith on October 14, 1967 in Queens in New York City, United States.
He has five siblings and was one of the youngest of them. He had only one younger brother and his name is Basil but he has four older sisters.
He has spent his childhood in the suburbs and is in good relationship with his brothers and sisters. After he became wealthy he has shared his money with them and their families and he has newer been a scrooge to them.
He helped their children through education and to enroll college.
Since he was very little he always loved the TV series “General Hospital” because he had watched it with his sisters. After he even acted in it.
The family lived in Hollis in Queens in New York City. It was a middle-classed suburb in the south-east of New York.
A very traumatical thing happened in 1992 and it very affected him: his only brother Basil died in a car crash in 1992.
He also has a half brother on his father’s side but it is not known whether they are in any connection. Probably not, because he is not in good relations with his father.
Stephen’s parents came from Virgin Islands but moved to New York due to their jobs.
He was a student at Thomas Edison High School in Queens suburb in New York.
He enrolled the Fashion Institute of Technology but stayed there for only one year. He was priviliged to get a basketball scholarship for Winston-Salem State University. It was in 1991.
He was very proud to get it since this university is one of the most important and historically significant black university in America, settled in North Carolina.
He played basketball but at the same time he wrote his first column for the university paper titled “The News Argus”.
He was the host of the late-night radio show called “Tender Moments” which was a show devoted to R & B music.
Career development
These are some of his statements which made him popular by fans: he ones stated that Shaquille O’Neal needs to lose weight, that Allen Iverson failed in the Olympics, and in his early college years, while he was writing for the university’s paper he stated that the coach should retire because he it was always important for him to tell the truth.
Smith’s career started in the Winston-Salem Journal until it upgraded to New York Daily News.
In 1994, he wrote for “The Philadelphia Inquirer”, mostly focused on basketball and Philadelphia 76ers, the city’s NBA club.
He first wrote about high school sports, then college sports and after that he gained a very high position of general sports commentators.
In 2008, Stephen left the newspapers due to their misunderstanding connected to his political views and he started writing his own blog named stephena.com.
In 2010, he was hired back to The Philadelphia Inquirer after a judge ruled that he was discharged from his job without proper procedure.
This time he agreed that he would completely leave politics outside his sports column and website which garantueed him a job.
In 2005 Stephen joined WEPN radio show in New York City.
Two years later, in 2007, he replaced The Dan Patrick Show with his own show in a very popular time frame in the afternoon.
In 2008, he decided to leave this position and he was replaced by Scott Van Pelt. He left radio because he wanted to get more engaged in TV.
In 2009, he joined Fox Sports Radio and became the member of their crew. He became widely known after revealing the story of Allen Iverson going to retire from basketball.
In 2010, due to his great work as a contributor for Fox, they decided to give him the position of radio host on their Fox Sports Radio.
In 2011 he returned to his previous job as a columnist, for ESPN. He would write for their website.
At the same time, he would host ESPN radio programme in New York and Los Angeles.
In 2014, he changed radio again and joined Sirius XM Radio and it was just a few days after he made controversy by commenting a known sports situation on First Take. That is why it seems that he transferred to another radio station because he knew he will get fired on ESPN.
He commented the situation about Baltimore Raven’s player called Ray Rice and his wife. He commented that women are the one that provoke domestic abuse. This comment caused a lot of negative reactions and he was forced to apologize about it and was suspended from work for a few weeks.
The same year, he signed a contract worth $3 million with ESPN. This was a very big amount for a sports commentator so he was very proud of the success he made.
In 2015, he was again involved in controversy after his statement that he thinks that one known coach is a little rasist when it comes to players.
In 2017, at the beginning of the year, Stephen again transferred: he moved from Sirius XM back to ESPN.
In 1999, he started his career on TV by working on CNN. This is one of the biggest television networks in United States, which hold series of TV programs all over the state.
In 2005, he became the host of “Quite Frankly” on ESPN. ESPN is shorten for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and is owned by Walt Disney Company. Their main center is in Bristol.
The show was shut down two years later so he focused on NBA, working as the analyst for everything connected to it.
His analysis are often provocative and controversial. But it was the main reason that he became a brand because of it.
People liked his opened character and the fact that he spoke his mind in every situation.
He was a member of the cast in a reality TV series called “Dream Job”. The show was hosted by Stuart Scott.
He was also a guest on other shows.
In 2015, Smith again showed his bad manner while commenting female soccer players at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In one match he pointed out that players turn their heads in order to keep their hairstyle great.
It was considered as a sexist commentary and he had to apologize numerous times, even on Twitter.
He had appeared on TV as an actor a few times. First time he appeared on TV was in ABC soap opera “General Hospital” where he had a role of a TV reporter.
It was in 2007, and the same year he played a role in “I Think I Love My Wife” with Chris Rock.
In 2016, he was again featured in “General Hospital” as Brick. In 2014, he acted in commercials for beef jerky.
Some of the biggest sportsmen were engaged in making this commercials: Clint Dempsey and Louie Vito are just some of them. He has several catchphrases he uses, such as “blasphemous”.
He always calls Aaron Rodgers a “baaaaaaaad man”, deliberately stretching the letter A. This was his way to remain recognized amongst other hosts.
There is one sport he doesn’t know nothing about, and it is hockey. He has no respect for the Dallas Cowboys, to a point of hatred.
When he was asked about it by Cowboy fans he has answered that it is connected with his first heartbreak in youth.
He was in love with a girl who was a big Dallas Cowboy fan and always wore No.33 yersey, so he always think of her when he sees Cowboys playing.
He is often a guest speaker for high schools and colleges in the city area, meaning Philadelphia.
He was inducted into the “Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association” last year.
He is known for his great insight in sports. He became known for his prediction about known NBA stars and that they will together sign contracts with the Miami Heat in 2010.
He had a nickname at the beginning of his career – he got himself the nickname Screamin’ A. A stands for his middle name.
Personal life
He keeps his personal life very secret and he is rarely spotted in woman’s companion at events. It is only known that he had a previous relationship with a Cowboy fan.
This even caused rumours that he is gay but eventually someone stated that he is married and has a son.
In 2011 he made an appearance with a lady at the “Steve Harvey Foundation Gala Event” in New York City.
Although he shares no informations about wether he is married or not, does he have a girlfriend or not, but he always spoke about his mum Janet Smith and her importance in his life. He often spoke about her support and contribution to his success.
She died at the beginning of 2017 after a longtime battle against cancer.
His brother Basil died very closely to Stephen’s birthday so for the first few years Stephen didn’t celebrate it.
His favorite breakfast is oatmeal with brown sugar and milk, followed by a healthy green smoothie.
His father was a manager of a store but before that he was a baseball star and he transferred his love for sports to his son Stephen.
He had an especially good relationship with his mother Janet, who was a nurse.
When he grew up, he lost his good relationship with his father. It seems that he lost respect for his father connected to his father’s behaviour to his mother.
His father still lives in his childhood home with one of his sisters but Stephen doesn’t visit him often.
Quick summary
Full name: Stephen Anthony Smith
Date of birth: October 14, 1967
Birthplace: New York, United States
Age: 51
Profession: journalist, TV host, radio host, actor
Height: 1,85 m
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $10 million
