Sam Smith (born January 24, 1948) is an

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

writer for the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

website bulls.com. He is the author of multiple articles and books, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestseller, ''

The Jordan Rules The Jordan Rules were a successful defensive basketball strategy employed by the Detroit Pistons against Michael Jordan in order to limit his effectiveness in any game. Devised by Isiah Thomas in 1988, the Pistons' strategy was "to play him to ...

''.

Career

Sam was born on January 24, 1948, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Smith attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn and

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

in New York City, graduating with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1970. He worked two years on the auditing staff of Arthur Young & Co. and then earned a master's degree in journalism from

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

. He is in the journalism Hall of Fame at Ball State. He was a staff and investigative reporter for the

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ''The News-Sentinel'' was a daily newspaper based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The afternoon ''News-Sentinel'' was politically independent. The papers suspended publication in November 2020, after the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. Early history '' ...

and congressional reporter and managing editor for States News Service in Washington, D.C. He then became

press secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dut ...

to Connecticut U.S. Senator

Lowell Weicker Lowell Palmer Weicker Jr. (; born May 16, 1931) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the 85th Governor of Connecticut. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president in 1980. He was ...

. He left Weicker's staff to join the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' in November 1979. Smith started at the ''Tribune'' as a political/general assignment writer, writing on the city news and national staffs, the business department, and Sunday magazine, before moving to sports full-time in 1983. He was a sports feature writer and NBA basketball writer until becoming full-time Bulls/NBA writer in 1987. He is the author or co-author of several books, including ''

'' best seller, ''

''. He also has been a columnist for the

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

NBC.com The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

, HoopsHype.com, ''

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'' bra ...

'' magazine and NBA publications in China and Japan. He appears frequently on radio and TV, including ''

The Tony Kornheiser Show ''The Tony Kornheiser Show'' is a sports podcast talk show out of Washington, D.C., hosted by Tony Kornheiser, which was originally a sports radio talk show appeared on WTEM from 1992 to 1997; on ESPN Radio between 1998 and 2004; back on WTEM ...

''. He received the lifetime achievement award from the

Pro Basketball Writers Association The Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA) is a professional nonprofit organization for sportswriters and editors who write about professional basketball—including the National Basketball Association (NBA)—for newspapers, magazines a ...

and the

Curt Gowdy Media Award The Curt Gowdy Media Award is an annual award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to outstanding basketball writers and broadcasters. It is named for American sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who was the Hall of Fame's president for ...

from the

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and prese ...

Books and articles

Smith wrote ''

'' and ''Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan from Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again'' (or simply ''Second Coming''). He also is co-author of the basketball book, ''The Perfect Team'', and the ''Total Basketball Encyclopedia''.

Personal

Smith is married to Kathleen since 1976 and has two children, Connor and Hannah-Li, and lives in

Geneva, Illinois Geneva is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the western side of the Chicago suburbs. Per the 2020 census, the population was 21,393. Geneva is part of a tri-city area, located between S ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sam 1948 births Living people Ball State University alumni Chicago Tribune people Pace University alumni Writers from Chicago People from Elgin, Illinois People from Geneva, Illinois Journalists from Illinois Sportswriters from Illinois