Gary Smith (sportswriter)

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Gary Smith (born 1953) is an acclaimed American sportswriter. He is best known for his lengthy human interest stories in Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since 1983.^[1]

[edit] Career

Smith worked as a sportswriter for the Wilmington News-Journal, the Philadelphia Daily News, the New York Daily News, and Inside Sports before joining Sports Illustrated.^[2] His writing has also appeared in Time, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.^[3]

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.^[2][3] 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."^[4] Several of Smith's subjects have attested to his profound insight.^[5]

Smith has received many awards and honors for his work at Sports Illustrated. He won the National Magazine Award for non-fiction, the magazine equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, a record four times and was a finalist for the award a record ten times.^[1][5] His stories have appeared in The Best American Sports Writing series a record eight times.^[3] Some of his literary peers have called him "the best magazine writer in America"^[4][6] and "America's best sportswriter".^[6] He also has been cited as a role model by younger sportswriters.^[7][8]

[edit] 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.

Many of his Sports Illustrated articles are available for free online. Notable pieces include:

• "Shadow of a Nation", published in 1991, is about the struggles of Crow Indian basketball players. Smith won his first National Magazine Award (NMA) for this article.^[6]
• "As Time Runs Out", published in 1993, is about basketball coach Jim Valvano's battle with cancer.
• "One Tough Bird", published in 1995, is about boxer Roy Jones Jr.
• "Crime and Punishment", published in 1996, is about a former high school basketball star convicted of sexual assault. Smith received another NMA for this article.^[9]
• "Someone to Lean On", published in 1996, is the inspiration for the 2003 film Radio.^[5]
• "The Chosen One", published in 1996, is about golfer Tiger Woods.
• "Damned Yankee", published in 1997, is about a former baseball player learning to cope with an accidental tragedy he had caused as a young child.
• "Lying in Wait", published in 2002, is about disgraced football coach George O'Leary. Smith won his fourth NMA for this article.^[10]
• "Coming Into Focus", published in 2006, is about tennis player Andre Agassi.
• "Remember His Name", published in 2006, is about football player Pat Tillman, who resigned from the NFL, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire.

[edit] References