Last week, on March 20th, Rowan welcomed a notable celebrity by the name of Stephen A. Smith. It was one of the biggest events on campus since former Eagles safety Brian Dawkins came on Oct. 25th back in 2021. The line to get in was wrapped around Robinson Hall by 4:45 p.m., even though the event started at 6 p.m. No matter if people loved him, hated him, agreed with him or disagreed, or were Cowboys fans, students still wanted to experience Stephen A Smith.
The high-profile ESPN analyst wasn’t always this well-known. Like most of us, he had humble beginnings and started at the bottom and worked his way up. Before Smith became a multimillion-dollar icon, he was just another kid who grew up in the Bronx, where he graduated from Thomas Edison High School. From there, he took his talents to Winston-Salem State University. It was there that he would learn the ins and outs of journalism, and begin his career writing for the university paper called The News Argus. During his time at the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Smith split his free time between the newspaper and being a part of the basketball team. He wasn’t the greatest basketball player at the school, but he sure knew how to shoot.
Smith went on to accept his diploma and graduate but also received news that Sandra Long, an executive at the Philadelphia Inquirer, saw his material and “really really liked me,” as Smith put it. As that was happening the Philadelphia Daily News also wanted to hire Smith, and they were expediting the recruiting process. The Inquirer, in a panic, expedited their process as well, which led him to ultimately choose them.
“I knew that going to the Inquirer would cement my credibility as a journalist,” Smith said.
After getting his foot in the door as a credible journalist, Smith began to build the brand that is himself, beginning his TV and radio career.
The star appears on his hit show First Take, which airs on weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Additionally, he has been in episodes of General Hospital, a soap opera on ABC, along with NBA Countdown, the pregame show before ESPN broadcasted games. He also has his own podcast called the Stephen A. Smith Show, where he talks about not just sports, but also life in general.
With a man as talented and busy as Smith, how would he have time to come to a university to talk to students about success? Well, it was mostly thanks to Sports Communication and Media Director Neil Hartman.
“Neil I’ve known for many many years… but not only that, I go and speak when I have time,” Smith said. “Before my schedule became a bit more hectic, I would give about 30 or 40 speeches a year. It’s just that it had to slow down because I have so many obligations for ESPN and Walt Disney, and now I own my own production company, and my own podcast company and stuff like that. I’ve got so much stuff that I’m doing that I just don’t have the time. But anytime I have time I always wanna come back and speak to the kids and give them a heads up into what kind of things they’re going to need to do to maneuver themselves, to make sure that they’re prepared for it. If I have an opportunity to do that, I’m gonna take advantage of it.”
Smith has always been very open about how much he wants to impact the newer generation. The impact at Rowan alone was so big that they had to cut the line short because of how many people wanted to go, but just couldn’t fit in the biggest auditorium that the campus has to offer.
Even though he is open to helping students be more comfortable and prepared in the real world, Smith has been very quiet when it comes to his personal life. That is until he came out with Straight Shooter: A Memoir about Second Chances and First Takes. It was the first time he had ever published something that was about himself and his personal life. His mom played a big role in when and how this book would come out.
“I didn’t wanna write a book,” Smith said without hesitation. “I still didn’t wanna write a book when I was doing it. I was convinced by my family and loved ones that it was time, ‘rather than people trying to put out narratives about you, did you ever really take time to let folks know your story,’ and that was the only reason I had done it. When ESPN let me go in 2009 and brought me back in 2011, I had been approached in 2010 to write my own book. But I knew that I wasn’t gonna write some tell-all about the bosses and the network. I don’t play that game. When you’re family it’s in-house… the other side to it, however, was writing about yourself and your family and all of that stuff.” Smith took a pause. “My mother made a promise at that time that I would never write my book until she passed away, because she knew that inevitably I would tell a lot of personal truths about myself which primarily involved me and my family upbringing and my relationship with my father. And she never wanted me to do that while she was alive. So, she made me promise that I would never write a book until she passed away, and she passed away in 2017, God rest her soul. It took me a few years before I did it, but I did it because my family and loved ones had said it’s time.”
And time it was. Since Straight Shooter hit shelves, it has been on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction top 15 list for more than two weeks now. Many people are eager to read the media idol’s history. When asked how he became so confident and charismatic, it came out like one of the easiest questions he has ever been asked.
“It comes from knowing that I put in the work and being fearless in my pursuit of the truth,” Smith said. “Also with trust in my own humanity. I know that I’m not the kind of person that goes about the business of trying to intentionally hurt people or do wrong. I know that I’m trying to do right and that I’m trying to serve a greater good, and if that ruffles feathers along the way, again because of those journalistic tendencies that I learned over the years, that comes with it. Sometimes in doing the right thing, you’re gonna ruffle a few feathers, you’re gonna get on people’s nerves, you’re going to bother some folks. That’s the way it goes. Because in the end you are trying to serve the greater good, but I know there’s nothing vile about me, there’s nothing about my soul that wants to hurt other human beings. I want to serve a greater good.”
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