Johnny Smith

Johnny Smith is the Julius C. "Bud" Shaw Professor of Sports History and Associate Professor of History.  He is also the Interim Associate School Chair in the School of History and Sociology.

Smith's research focuses on the history of sports and American culture. He has authored four books: War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War (written with Randy Roberts); A Season in the Sun: The Rise of Mickey Mantle (written with Randy Roberts); Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X (written with Randy Roberts); and The Sons of Westwood: John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty That Changed College Basketball.  He is currently writng a book about the emergence of Michael Jordan as "America's favorite athlete," and how the country's racial history shaped his ascendance in popular culture.

He has won multiple book honors: Blood Brothers received the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) Book Award; Choice named The Sons of Westwood an "Outstanding Academic Title"; and the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) recognized War Fever with the Larry Ritter Book Award.

In 2021, Netflix released Blood Brothers: Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, a feature documentary based on Smith's book.

His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Slate, The Undefeated, Smithsonian Magazine, Reviews in American History, and The American Historian, among others. 

In 2017, Professor Smith was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians.  He is also a two-time recipient of the Journal of Sport History's Best Article Award (2009; 2018).