JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Sekou Smith Journalism Award has been established at Jackson State University. Smith, a JSU alum and award-winning NBA reporter and analyst, passed away last week from COVID-19. He was 48 years old.
Smith spent over two decades covering the NBA. His affable demeanor and voracity for basketball resonated when delivering game insights to sports fans and among his peers.
He was also the creator and host of the Hang Time blog and podcast for NBA.com, where he analyzed the latest NBA news and interviewed some of the biggest names in basketball. Smith also traveled the globe covering major sporting events like the Olympics and World Cup.
The scholarship came to fruition after Smith’s family was inundated with calls and texts from people wanting to lend their support. Like Smith, the youngest boy of his four siblings, Ayanna shares that her brother (Eric) and two sisters (Charmel and Misty) are equally amazing. Among some of the first to reach out, she says, were her siblings’ co-workers and employers.
In 1993, Smith enrolled at JSU as a mass communications major. A year later, he became a beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. It was a position that his professor-turned-mentor, Eric Stringfellow, helped him secure. Stringfellow also had a thriving media career and served as a columnist for the Clarion Ledger before passing away in 2020.
The Sekou Smith Journalism Award serves to honor Smith’s life of service.
