CBS Sports' Smith directing the future

WHEN YOU do what you love for a living, 30 years can feel like a moment. After identifying her love for sports and turning it into a career in Philadelphia, Suzanne Smith worked her way up with CBS to become a sports director and the only woman directing NFL games for any of the five networks televising the NFL.

Since joining CBS Sports in 1983 as a broadcast associate, Smith, now 55, served in many capacities before becoming the sports director. Her first promotion earned her the role as an associate producer. She followed that up by becoming an associate director, feature producer and producer before taking over as a director at CBS Sports.

"I've met different people doing different things and it's a little unusual for somebody to be with the same company for 30 years, but CBS is a great company to work for and in the sports division, it's not like going to your job every day," Smith says. "It's more like a family environment and atmosphere where everybody helps everybody out so it's a good environment and, added to that, I love what I do. If you work for a good company and you love what you do, all of a sudden 30 years goes by."

"I love working with Suzanne," says CBS Sports producer Bob Manbach. "She knows how to get the most out of the crew. She motivates them, yet always keeps her cool. She has a great knack of capturing the unique shot, and that's a special talent in our business."

Smith's journey to CBS began during her college years at Temple after growing up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. She earned an athletic scholarship to play volleyball for the Owls and was grateful for the opportunity to study in Temple's School of Communications, majoring in media television and film.

"What happened with me is that I loved doing live television," Smith said. "I went to Temple on an athletic scholarship to play volleyball so I had a sports background and I had a television background, and for me the main thing was to do live television and I thought the best way to do that was through sports."

At Temple, Smith had many opportunities, such as the chance to work in a simulated television station for 8 hours at a time. During her junior semester, she studied abroad in London before getting an internship with WPHL-TV through Temple.

"I think Temple gave me a lot of opportunities to see different things rather than just sitting inside of a classroom," Smith said. "The opportunities that I got from Temple, with great classes and great professors and my senior year to have an internship, they really pointed me in the right direction and allowed me to have a lot of great experiences before I even left college."

Following college, Smith worked with the Phillies, editing footage and writing scripts for the public-address announcer in a small control room. Shortly after, she served as the remote producer for 76ers road games, working with then-broadcasters Doug Collins and Matt Guokas.

"I learned how things worked by working with the 76ers and Phillies, and I believe they helped me prepare for my next step," Smith said.

After 30 years with CBS, Smith credits much of her career success to the opportunities she received in Philadelphia. Now as one of the most well-respected women in the sports industry, Smith says the job is not always as easy as the crew makes it look on game day.

"I'd say the easiest aspect of the job is that I love what I do," she said. "I'm passionate about what I do and I love it so that makes it nice and easy. The stuff that is hard or challenging is being away from your family and friends. Most of the sports that we cover are on the weekends and that's when there are family functions, weddings, parties or reunions and you are away from your family and it's also hard for them, too."

Participating in the coverage of many historic moments such as the "Doug Flutie Hail Mary" game in 1984 and Peyton Manning's first start for the Indianapolis Colts in 1998, Smith - who has been a part of four Super Bowl productions - believes one day the industry will begin to level out in a male-dominated field.

"If you put a woman in a position of power in mostly a man's field, sometimes you do come up against some challenges," Smith said. "However, sometimes there have been people who have been very supportive of me. In general, you will always face people who think they should have your job or people who do not respect you and the best way to overcome that is to do a better job than anybody would think.

"If I do my job and I do it very well, that person has to walk away knowing that you do your job and you do it very well."

Although Smith acknowledges that she is the only woman currently directing NFL games, she does not believe she will be the last.

"It is a little surprising to me," Smith said. "If you look at the culture of our country, the Fortune 500 companies have their CEOs and less than 4 percent are women. With that said, it's not surprising, but I definitely think there will be more in the future."

Before Smith directs her final event for CBS, she wants to share her knowledge with up-and-coming generations, although she says her last day is still far away.

"Yes, I have been at CBS for a long time and I definitely love what I do," she said. "I'm healthy and in good shape and I hope to continue doing what I do for a long time. I'm very happy with what I do and I hope to help the next generation that comes around because I'm not going to be around forever, and there are a lot of very talented people that I welcome the opportunity to train them and teach them so that they one day can take over my role."