Gary Smith (born October 27, 1953) is an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

. He is best known for his lengthy

human interest stories In journalism, a human-interest story is a feature story that discusses people or pets in an emotional way. It presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest, sympathy or motivation in the reader ...

in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', where he worked from 1983 to 2013.

Career

Smith worked as a sportswriter for the ''

Wilmington News Journal The ''News Journal'' is an American newspaper and multimedia site (wnewsj.com) published in print two days per week (Wednesday and Saturday) in Wilmington, Ohio, covering Clinton County. It is owned by AIM Media, based in McAllen, Texas. The ne ...

'', the ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

'', the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', and ''

Inside Sports ''Inside Sports'' magazine was a major general interest sports magazine in the United States. Launched in 1979 by Newsweek, it was designed as an edgier, monthly alternative to the longer-running ''Sports Illustrated'' and ''SPORT Magazine'' bran ...

'' before joining ''Sports Illustrated''. His writing has also appeared in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

''. For many years, Smith's role as senior writer at ''Sports Illustrated'' has been to write four lengthy feature articles per year, most of which are in-depth personality profiles. His wife, Sally, has described his motivation as follows: "He is not satisfied with putting facts together. He wants to understand what is the core conflict that has driven that person. He hopes to tell a secret that a person might not be aware of." Several of Smith's subjects have attested to his profound insight. Smith has received many awards and honors for his work at ''Sports Illustrated''. He won the

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

for

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, the magazine equivalent of the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

, a record four times and was a finalist for the award a record ten times. His stories have appeared in ''

The Best American Sports Writing ''The Best American Sports Writing'' was a yearly anthology of magazine articles on the subject of sports published in the United States. It started in 1991 as part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin and ceased publicati ...

'' series a record 12 times. Some of his literary peers have called him "the best magazine writer in America" and "America's best sportswriter". He also has been cited as a role model by younger sportswriters.''Baltimore Sun'' sportswriter Kevin Van Valkenburg cites Smith as his primary role model
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Bibliography

Smith has published two books; both are collections of his magazine features: * ''Beyond The Game: The Collected Sports Writing of Gary Smith'', published in 2001. * ''Sports Illustrated: Going Deep: 20 Classic Sports Stories'', published in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Gary 1953 births Living people 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American male journalists La Salle University alumni New York Daily News people Sportswriters from New York (state)