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, N.C., where he graduated in 1991. Prior to joining the Inquirer, Smith was a reporter with the Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro News and Record and the New York Daily News. Previously, Smith held several positions – most recently as a general sports columnist – during 16 years with the Philadelphia Inquirer (1994-2010). Smith also hosted a morning show on Fox Sports Radio. He regularly appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, ESPN2’s First Take and as guest host of Pardon the Interruption and Jim Rome is Burning. Smith joined ESPN in 2003 as an analyst for the network’s NBA Shootaround (since renamed NBA Countdown) pregame show. Smith, a one-hour show featuring sports news, commentary on sports issues, and interviews, from 2005-07.

He was also the host of ESPN2’s Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith made a variety of contributions to ESPN from 2003-08. For one year, starting in 2011, he also hosted a local show on ESPN LA 710AM in Los Angeles, covering both coasts. From 2011 until 2014, Smith hosted a two-hour (1-3 p.m.), weekday local show on ESPN Radio 98.7FM in New York. The two-hour show is produced and broadcast from ESPN Audio’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn. Smith Show on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio.

In September 2014, Smith began hosting the daily Stephen A. He joined First Take on a permanent basis in 2012. ET, discussing and debating the sports topics of the day. Smith, along with Max Kellerman, is a featured commentator on ESPN’s First Take weekdays from 10 a.m. Smith offers up his unique perspectives on the world of sports and much more.

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