Stephen A. Smith is one of the most famous sports analysts in the world right now and his current job has helped elevate him to celebrity status.
The outspoken 55-year-old is thought to be the biggest draw for ESPN and is getting paid like it. But his career may have taken a very different path had someone not talked him out of what we know now would have been a very silly decision.
According to a recent report from The Athletic, Smith considered quitting journalism for a career in banking several years ago.
The report notes that, while he was still a young reporter, Stephen A. called a fellow journalist to let him know he was quitting media and applying for a job at Wachovia, a financial institution that has since been taken over by Wells Fargo.
“While a cub reporter in North Carolina, he called [Rob] Parker, then a baseball writer in Cincinnati, and told him he was quitting the business and going to apply for a job with Wachovia,” it reads
Parker managed to convince Smith to stick to journalism and asked to hear him ripping up the application over the phone.
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“They had met years earlier at a National Association of Black Journalists convention (“He was Steve Smith back in the day,” Parker says). Parker saw Smith’s natural talent and told him to rip up the Wachovia application so loudly that he could hear it over the phone. Parker understood what others would learn: Smith was young, hungry, and unapologetically himself.”
So it appears Stephen A. Smith fans have Rob Parker to thank. The popular, though controversial, analyst has indicated that he could be among those fired by ESPN amid their clearout process. But everyone’s going to have a hard time believing that.
