One of the well-known faces on ESPN, Shelley Smith, is widely recognized as the Sports correspondent for ESPN Sportscenter. She is also the four-time Emmy-winning reporter for ESPN.
Veteran ESPN reporter Shelley Smith bravely battled against breast cancer and returned to her professional career bald six months after announcing she had breast cancer.
Shelley Smith's Short Bio: Career, Family
Shelley Smith was born on 1 April 1958 in Princeton, New Jersey, the United States to parents Luanne Smith and Ron Smith. Currently, she is of 55 years of age, and her childhood was brought up in a typical American family.
Sports Correspondent attended the University of Nebraska from 1976 to 1981 with a major in journalism and political science.
Shelley, who stands at the tall height, formerly worked as a writer as well as a reporter at Sports Illustrated from 1987 to 1998 with Cindy Preszler.
Before working for Sports Illustrated, Shelley worked at the Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan from 1982 to 1984, and The San Francisco Examiner from 1984 to 1987. While working there, she won a William Randolph Hearst Award in the year 1986 for her series on Title IX in the Bay Area. She has also served for the Associated Press.
Shelley joined ESPN in January 1997 alongside Pedro Gomez. She took a six-month long break from ESPN in 2014 after being diagnosed with breast cancer, however, returned to ESPN in April 2015.
As of now, ESPN has teamed up with the NBA to offer several innovative alternative viewing experiences on ESPN3 and the ESPN App for selected games during its 82-game coverage of 2018 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League from Las Vegas, Nev.
The SportsCenter also provides comprehensive on-site coverage, including live news reports and updates from ESPN reporters, including Chris Haynes, Adrian Wojnarowski, and nonother than Shelley Smith.
Aside from being the ESPN reporter, Shelley has written three books which are “Just Give Me The Damn Ball,” “You Play to Win The Game,” “Games Girls Play: Lessons to Guiding and Understanding Young Female Athletes.” However, all of these books have been written in collaboration with other authors.
Being a Veteran Sports Journalist, Shelley certainly maintains a pretty amount of bank balance from her total salary throughout her career. However, the exact detail of her net worth is not yet confined.
Shelley’s Relationship With Ex Husband
Shelley was married to her partner Mike Tharp and shares a daughter named Dylann Tharp with him. Dylann Tharp who is the student of the University of Oregon is currently ages around 32.
However, the relationship between Shelley and her husband did not last long and got separated when her daughter Dylann was just 6. However, there is no any detailed information about her married life and the reason behind the divorce.
At the time of marriage, she was with a different organization and Mike was working as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. He also worked in U.S. News and World Report and currently in Texas these days.
Her daughter is the one family member she confides on different matters, and both have been seen together occasionally. She and her daughter were photographed together recently joining hands at Shaquille O’Neal’s Charity in Cuba on official work for the organization.
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Shelley Smith and her Daughter Dylann Tharp on charity work (photo: dailynews.com)
As she is a single mother, she sometimes speculated to be a lesbian, however, being a single mother does not mean that she is a lesbian. Lisa has never confirmed such rumors, and until she confronts those rumors, dilemma regarding her sexual preference prevails.
Health Ordeal: Shelley Diagnosed With Cancer
People don’t know how strong they are until life throws you at the scene which demands the very best of you. ESPN reporter, Shelley Smith knew her strength when she came out victorious of breast cancer and returned to her professional career after just six-month in the sidelines.
She announced the news of being diagnosed with breast cancer via Twitter in May 2014. Before diagnosed with breast cancer, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer, but then the doctors removed the uterine and made her cancer free.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer, she took a lengthy six-month leave from ESPN and defeated cancer after vigorous chemotherapy.
Her victory over breast cancer is probably the most significant win in her life as her recent mammogram shows no evidence of disease and she was cancer free.
She was devastated about losing her hair and but said that she was proud of coming out victorious. Her ordeal with the illness had made her look back at the meaning of life and got her into cancer awareness programs and other charity work.
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However, on 14 May 2017, she had to undergone tests at an Oakland-area hospital after suffering from the stroke in the Golden State Warriors’ locker room after Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. She subsequently reported on her progress via her Twitter account.
