Stephen A. Smith

Sports voice · Verified

Stephen A. Smith gives his loud, opinionated takes on the day's biggest sports headlines.

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About Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith is the loudest voice in sports media, and it's not a debate. The ESPN star's volcanic takes on First Take made him the defining sports television personality of his era — equal parts analyst, entertainer, and force of nature.

The takes are the product. Smith doesn't do lukewarm — every opinion arrives at maximum volume, maximum conviction, maximum entertainment. Love him or hate him, you watch. The ratings prove it.

The journey was the grind. From Philadelphia Inquirer reporter to ESPN radio to the First Take desk — Smith built the persona brick by brick, outworking everyone in the building. The voice was always there; the platform caught up.

The debates are the theater. Skip Bayless, Max Kellerman, Shannon Sharpe — Smith's sparring partners change, but the dynamic doesn't: two hours of controlled explosions, five days a week. It's sports debate as blood sport.

The empire expanded. SiriusXM, acting roles, the bestselling memoir, the podcast — Smith became bigger than any single show. The brand is the take, and the take is everywhere.

He's also the industry's gatekeeper and kingmaker — the analyst players actually worry about, the voice that moves narratives. When Stephen A. speaks, the sports world listens.

Previously covers Stephen A. Smith because the take is the show. Check out Mina Kimes and Pablo Torre for the other voices shaping sports media.

The Stephen A.isms are the folklore. "Blasphemous," the rants, the perfectly timed pauses — a broadcasting style so distinctive it's become its own genre. Imitated everywhere, duplicated nowhere.

Previously covers Stephen A. Smith because the debate never ends. Stay off the weed — the takes are coming.

The acting and cameos revealed the range. From soap operas to blockbusters, Smith's screen presence translated — the same charisma that fills two hours of debate fills a scene. The memoir added the backstory: the Philly roots, the grind, the making of the voice.

The influence on the industry is structural. Every debate show on television is downstream of First Take's success — the format Smith perfected became the template. Love the takes or hate them, the entire genre runs through him.

The full name is Stephen Anthony Smith, born October 14, 1967, in the Bronx and raised in Hollis, Queens — the youngest of six children of parents from Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The basketball scholarship took him to Winston-Salem State, where he graduated in 1991 — and where he found his voice writing a column calling for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines. The take was there from day one.

The newspaper years were the foundation: the Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro News and Record, the New York Daily News, then sixteen years at the Philadelphia Inquirer (1994–2010). During the 1998 NBA lockout he broke story after story — beating veteran reporters to the punch and catching CNN's eye.

The television climb: CNN analyst, then Fox Sports, then ESPN in 2003 as an NBA analyst on NBA Shootaround (now NBA Countdown). The Stephen A. Smith Show hit ESPN Radio in 2005; Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith ran on ESPN2 from 2005 to 2007.

The fall came in 2009, when ESPN let his contract lapse after a dispute. Rock bottom became the setup: he fought his way back, rejoined full-time, and in 2012 became Skip Bayless's permanent debate partner on First Take. The rest is ratings history.

The numbers tell it: First Take jumped 58 percent year-over-year in Q2 2012, and Smith became ESPN's highest-paid talent — a reported $10 million deal in 2019, with only the Monday Night Football booth of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck above him.

The radio empire kept rolling: The Stephen A. Smith Show on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Sports Radio from 2014, moving to ESPN's SiriusXM channel in 2017 with a national ESPN Radio simulcast and an ESPNEWS TV simulcast until 2020.

The acting detour is real: a cameo as a TV reporter on General Hospital in 2007, the Chris Rock film I Think I Love My Wife the same year — then back to Port Charles as Brick, the mob's surveillance expert, from 2016 onward.

The memoir, Straight Shooter (2023), pulled back the curtain: the negligent father, the loving mother, fatherhood himself, a life-threatening bout with COVID-19, and the Knicks and Cowboys rants that became folklore.

The debate partners rotate — Skip Bayless, Max Kellerman, Shannon Sharpe — but the formula holds: two hours of controlled explosions, five days a week, and a style so distinctive it's its own genre. "Blasphemous" is a broadcasting landmark.

The cultural footprint is bigger than sports. Appearances on The View, political commentary that riles up both sides, two kids he keeps out of the spotlight — the loudest voice in media is also one of its most calculated.

Previously covers Stephen A. Smith because the take is the show. For the other voices shaping sports media, check out Mina Kimes and Pablo Torre.