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 S ...

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''.

Career

Sam was born on January 24, 1948, in Brooklyn,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. 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. Pac ...

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 research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball Co ...

. He is in the journalism Hall of Fame at Ball State. He was a staff and investigative reporter for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel 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. Duti ...

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'' 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, '' The Jordan Rules''. 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, NBC.com, HoopsHype.com, '' Inside Sports'' 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 ...

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 ...

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 '' The Jordan Rules'' 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