Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes by Stephen A. Smith (review)

Reviewed by: Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes by Stephen A. Smith Judson L. Jeffries STEPHEN A. SMITH, Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes. Gallery Books, 2023. vii + 276 pp. ISBN 978198215. ESPN’s dynamic and erudite host of First Take has finally penned his first book, an autobiography as it were. At more than 250 pages and 21 chapters, Straight Shooter is a page-turner. I read it in two sittings but could have done it in one. As expected, the memoir covers the range of Smith’s life, from his childhood to his rise to stardom. Smith’s book is more than the typical rags to riches story. The book is chock full of lessons from which individuals from all walks of life can benefit, especially young Black men. Careful not to go into much detail, for fear of spoiling it for the reader, I offer the following. The book is an easy read and accessible to any audience. Some topics are heavier than others and tug at the reader’s heartstrings, such as Smith’s discussion of his childhood. At times, it caused this writer to cringe. Although both Smith and I are of the same generation, he refers to his inability to advance to the next grade while in elementary school as being “left back.” I remember it quite differently. Any kid whose grades did not allow him or her to proceed to the next grade failed. Folks didn’t say left back, they said “failed,” as harsh as that may sound. Smith failed twice, making him the butt of jokes among some kids in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens. He talks about how some didn’t believe in him, including his father, who tried to convince Smith’s mother that their son just wasn’t smart. Smith, who overheard his father utter these words to his mother, was both crushed and fueled by his Dad’s assessment of him. Smith’s father was not the ideal dad: no Heathcliff Huxtable, James Evans Sr., Carl Winslow, or Philip Banks. Mostly what Smith’s father was, was absent, but even when he was present, his mind was somewhere else. Despite his father’s negligence, Smith’s life turned out just fine. Smith graduated from historically Black Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina and for a time was on its basketball team, where he played for the legendary and hall of fame coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines, a graduate of an [End Page 123] HBCU himself in Morgan State College (now University). Smith’s basketball career was cut short due to injury, but when one door closes another one opens. Were it not for Smith’s knee giving out, who is to say that Smith would have had a career in journalism, let alone become the big name in sports journalism that he is. Smith was thrust into the national spotlight as a result of being paired with Skip Bayless on First Take, but his ascension to that show was a long and arduous one. In other words, Smith was not an overnight sensation. Smith’s career started with newspapers in small town North Carolina, where he cut his teeth on, of all sports, soccer. Smith, who knew nothing about soccer, learned the game quickly from the locals and became a hit among those that followed the sport. After so long, Smith left the slow-moving confines of the Tar Heel state and returned north, both in New York and Philadelphia. On First Take, Smith has mentioned on more than one occasion how, while working for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the city of Brotherly Love became his second home or adopted hometown. While in Philly, Smith covered Temple’s hall of fame basketball coach, John Chaney, as well the 76ers superstar guard and hall of famer Allen Iverson. Iverson and Smith bonded and formed a friendship that lasts to this day. The number of notable people who Smith has met and interviewed are too many to list here, but only a select few are among those he counts as his true friends. Smith’s memories of his dear mother are...