sports Center Anchor Amina Smith mostly immersed herself in watching obscure NBA games during her downtime, but was forgotten about by her husband, Kansas City Chiefs safety Deon Bush.
“My husband got to a point where he was like, 'Oh my God, please, I can't watch it,'” Smith, 31, exclusively tells PEOPLE. “And I thought, 'Oh my God, I can't believe I'm at that point right now.' Literally, if there's a Hornets game in the middle of the season, even if it's a game that obviously no one cares about, It's like, “Okay, let's see what's going on.” ”
But for Smith, it's her dedication and hard work that no doubt helped the Brooklyn, New York, native recently land her “dream” job as an ESPN anchor.
“ESPN has always been the pinnacle of sports,” Smith, a former track and field athlete, tells PEOPLE. “I remember being so excited when ESPN Worldwide Sports had this track meet in the summer, so I used to run it every year as an AAU championship. It was a huge undertaking because I was supposed to film everything. So it's definitely something I've always had in mind throughout my career.”
Smith ran the 3,000-meter and 2,000-meter steeplechase at the University of South Carolina — “all the long events that no one likes,” she said.
But when she transferred to the University of Miami, she said she realized she didn't want to wake up at 5 a.m. and run, so she stopped wearing cleats.
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Instead, Smith ran toward his degree and worked for affiliates of ESPNU, NBC, and FOX, as well as campus station UMTV.
After applying for hundreds of jobs, the former athlete landed a position as a reporter and substitute anchor at 6News in Lawrence, Kansas, in 2014.
Going from a football school to working in a town known for college basketball was an adjustment process, Smith said.
“When I arrived in Lawrence, Kansas, [University of Kansas] “Kids are lining up just for the lottery to get into a game at Allen Fieldhouse,” Smith said. “And I was lucky enough to experience this and went to a few games through work, and I thought, well, I understand why people line up at 4 a.m. to get in. I did.”
Fast forward three years, and Smith arrived in Boston. Later, her basketball background was put to use, and she appeared on NBC as a host for Boston, covering the Celtics and New England Patriots. And Boston fans are “very opinionated,” she says.
“They'll be very in-person and let you know how they feel,” Smith says of his time covering the New England team. “They don't put it on the surface, but one thing I would say about that fan base is that they're very loyal and once you're with them, you become that fan. is.”
She further added, “And luckily, just with my knowledge of the game and the way I work in broadcasting, I was able to gain a certain amount of trust from the audience. Since then, we've kind of stuck. ” he added.
In fact, since moving to Bristol, Conn., Smith's schedule has been packed lately.
Provided by Amina Smith
Her transition to the domestic market was supported by her husband of three years – who she said just signed a one-year contract extension with the Chiefs. SB Nation And it seems like they have the approval of their 14-month-old son, Deon “Deuce” Jr., whom Smith calls their “chunky little boss.”
Last year, Smith was unable to attend the Super Bowl in Arizona, where the Chiefs played the Philadelphia Eagles, with her husband and family because she was expecting a baby.
When the Chiefs won the title again in February, she was lucky enough to celebrate in person and appreciated the moment as a proud wife and working journalist.
“I mean, back to back is crazy,” she tells PEOPLE. “I never thought that would happen. So I got that experience and ended up going out to Las Vegas. There were about 20 or 30 families coming and bringing their babies and everything. So it was really cool.”
Furthermore, she added: “Just being able to have that perspective is always great for me and something to keep in the back of my mind when I'm interviewing or doing work. Then I'm like, 'Oh, they're still human.' . These are people who still enjoy their jobs and work hard at what they want to do. So this is a very interesting dynamic. ”
