ddShelley Smith, a five-time Emmy-winning reporter for ESPN, recently spoke to the student body at Los Alamitos High School as part of their 2019 Speaker Series as she urged them to seek challenges in the years ahead.
“Don’t hide behind your phones or email,” she said, “do like you did tonight. You made a choice tonight to come out and learn.”
The award-winning ESPN reporter told the students that, despite the daily challenges, she loves every new day of her life. “Sometimes I am overwhelmed,” she said, “but not very often.”
Smith is a very courageous woman. She told the students that she has beat cancer three times. She’s faced breast cancer, melanoma and uterine cancer.
Students flocked into the Los Al Performing Arts Center to hear Smith, whose discussion came on the heels of one of her favorite sports heroes, Jake Olson.
Olson, a legendary blind athlete, has been a friend since before he became blind at age 12, she said. They have remained friends and she has often covered him throughout his career.
In fact, her most recent Emmy Award came as a result of her stories about Olsen.
“Jake Olson is my favorite story,” she said, noting that she had done “a million stories” that have included coverage of every major name in sports today.
Nevertheless, she said Olson was special. After telling a heartfelt story about the day Olsen lost his only good eye to cancer of the retina, she said “he has never felt sorry for himself. No one ever treated him differently. He always knew there was a reason he had to go blind.”
Olson inspired the nation as a deep snapper on the USC Trojan football team.
“Do you feel different,” Smith asked, telling students to be proud of what makes them different, holding out Jake Olson as an example.
A former writer-reporter at Sports Illustrated, Smith has written extensively for ESPN.com and various ESPN in-house entities. She also has written three books – “Just Give Me The Damn Ball,” with former New York Jets and current ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson, “You Play to Win The Game,” with former head coach and current ESPN analyst Herm Edwards and “Games Girls Play: Lessons to Guiding and Understanding Young Female Athletes.”
There is only one way to overcome life’s hurdles, said Smith, encouraging students to “make a plan” then stay on the path, “putting one foot after the other. It’s the only way,” she said.
She has covered just about every sporting event in existence, including the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, college football and basketball.
Smith continues to help spread the importance of early detection in breast and other kinds of cancers and has consulted with numerous charities, including the V Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She teamed with InfiniteLimitsMedia, a production group out of Seattle, to document her first post-treatment mammogram, done on state-of-the art 3D machinery. Entitled, “Triumphant,” for the first time, doctors had proof that the cancer is gone.
She was introduced to the group by Kiva Spiratos, Asst. Principal of Activities for Los Al High School.
Courtesy photo