Marty Smith is an American sports reporter who has long been a part of ESPN and will work on the inaugural season of TGL in 2025. Get to know him a little better here via these facts regarding his life and journalism career so far...
MARTY SMITH FACTS
1. Smith was born in Pearisburg, Virginia on April 15, 1976.
2. He attended Giles High School, where he was a member of their 1993 state champion football team.
3. Smith spent one year at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee before transferring to Radford University in Virginia to complete his college life, graduating in 1998.
4. At Radford, Smith tried out for the college's baseball team as a walk-on but was cut.
5. It was not all bad news at college, though, as Smith met his wife Lainie while attending Radford University. The pair now have three children, with the first born in 2005.
6. Starting his career as a reporter while still at college, his first job was covering high-school sports and the New River Valley Speedway for The Roanoke Times (Virginia). As a college senior, Smith became the beat writer for Virginia Tech football by The Washington Post. He also began covering basketball for the Lynchburg-based News & Advance.
7. Smith's first position after college was senior writer for NASCAR in 1999. He later went on to be an analyst and host on the former SPEED Channel and a NASCAR analyst on Fox Sports Net.
8. Smith was hired by ESPN in 2006 as their primary NASCAR reporter. It was a role he fulfilled until 2014 for both SportsCenter and the former NASCAR NOW program.
9. The Virginia-born reporter currently covers a variety of sports including college football, basketball, golf, and motorsports for SportsCenter and ESPN.com.
10. Smith and Ryan McGee host the Marty & McGee podcast. In 2015, it was promoted to a regular weekend time slot on ESPN Radio before a TV version was launched in 2018 on the SEC Network.
11. He covered the European Football Championship for ESPN in 2016, adding soccer to his extensive list of sports reported on.
12. In August 2017, he launched his own show, titled: 'Marty Smith’s America'. He interviewed some of the world's biggest sports starts, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Rory McIlroy, Cam Newton, and Paul George.
13. Smith has featured on ESPN’s coverage of the Masters and PGA Championship since 2017, having conducted live and feature interviews.
14. In 2024, it was announced that he would become a part of ESPN's broadcast team for TGL's inaugural season in 2025. Smith is set to be a reporter, speaking to teams on the ground and gaining insight on their analysis and tactics.
