A letter from Harry Kalas and a journey through the minors helped shape Angels announcer Terry Smith’s career

Growing up in Roxborough, Terry Smith admired Phillies announcer Harry Kalas. He even would try to replicate the Hall of Famer’s voice and style when announcing his friends’ Wiffle ball games.

As he got older, Smith wanted to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.

He had an uncle who worked with Delta Air Lines, and he often was on the Phillies’ plane. He told Kalas about Smith progressing in college and starting his minor league broadcasting career. Kalas wanted a cassette of Smith’s work. Smith put together the tape, and Kalas listened to it. He later wrote a letter to Smith, offering plenty of feedback.

Smith still has that letter from Kalas, who died in April 2009. He met his idol in 2008, when he was the radio voice for the Los Angeles Angels.

“I had never physically met him until that day, but he made it his first step to come in to see me,” Smith said. “I shook his hand, and he congratulated me and everything and said, ‘Your Uncle Vince has been telling me about you for a long time, and I’m glad to see you joined the fraternity.’”

» READ MORE: This former Temple football player never received his diploma. Forty-five years later, he’ll walk at this week’s graduation.

Smith, 70, now is in his 25th season in the booth with the Angels, the longest-tenured broadcaster in club history, and his 17th as the lead play-by-play announcer for the team’s flagship radio station, KLAA. But before he moved to the big leagues, Smith spent 24 seasons calling minor league games.

“I’m happy with every single step I took,” Smith said. “I don’t have any regrets with the whole process. It played out just the way, looking back on it, that I think was the best for me. I rode the long bus rides in the minor leagues. I hung in there, continued to follow my dream path, and it all worked out.”

Smith played football at La Salle College High School, but that was the extent of his time on the gridiron. He was interested in broadcasting, and, through a work-study program as a senior, he worked at 94.3 WIBG, which serves the Atlantic City and Cape May area. Smith worked closely with the music director and briefly thought about being a DJ, but his athletic background kept him focused on sports.

Upon enrolling at Temple in 1973 as a broadcast major, Smith looked to get on air at the main radio station, 90.1 WRTI. Smith now understands the process of “earning your stripes,” but back then, he was persistent.

He had to wait his turn to get on air and ended up leaving Temple for a year before returning in 1975. He still was not getting the chances he wanted, so he transferred to Jones College, a community college in Florida. He also got an internship at NBC10, where he worked in the sports department during his final year at Temple before heading south.

“I wanted to be on the air,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to wait. I didn’t want to have to pay my dues. I was kind of getting discouraged freshman year because I didn’t get a sniff as far as doing anything on the radio.”

Smith got on the radio right away. He helped out with the Jacksonville Suns, then the double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. He got his chance to do play-by-play when the regular announcer didn’t feel well in the middle of a game and handed the reins to Smith.

» READ MORE: Penn is back in the Ivy League baseball tournament. Here’s how it got there.

He covered the Memphis Chicks for two seasons (1981-82), then moved on to calling games for the Columbus Clippers, the New York Yankees’ triple-A team at the time, in 1983. Smith’s quick rise in the minor leagues made an MLB job feel inevitable. But it wasn’t.

“I kind of thought at that point I was on the fast track to get to the big leagues because I had gotten to triple A and I was soon out of college and I had gotten, which was, by far at the time, the best triple A job. I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to get a big league job here. Just a matter of time.’ And I spent 19 years in Columbus.”

Smith also served as the radio voice for Ohio State football and basketball, which kept him content with his spot in Columbus, Ohio. He tried for a job to work with Bob Uecker covering the Milwaukee Brewers, but did not get it.

The rejection turned out to be career-changing.

“I said, ‘Why didn’t I get it? And [former Brewers vice president of broadcast operations] Bill Haig said to me, ‘You didn’t get it because I didn’t think you wanted it enough,’” Smith said. “He said that to me, and all I kept thinking was he was right, because my wife didn’t want to move to Milwaukee. We didn’t know anybody in Milwaukee. … In the back of my head, I thought to myself, ‘I’m never going to have anyone tell me this again.’”

Since then, Smith does not believe he’s had a day where he’s not given his full effort. In 2002, he broke out of the minor leagues and got the job with the Angels. They won their lone World Series title in his first season.

When he reflects on his career, Smith said it’s his strong work ethic that allowed him to keep his dream alive.

“During my whole time that I was doing minor league baseball, no one ever said to me, ‘Hey, Terry, you’re wasting your time here. You’re never going to be a major league guy,’” Smith said. “That discussion never came up from anybody. I was just focused on the job I was doing. There’s a lot of inner peace, the way this thing played out for me. … So I fulfilled my dream, and that’s the most satisfying part of this.”