Published: June 30, 2009 12:56 pm      

Smith has unique position with Atlanta Braves

Monticello — Former UK student Rob Smith sure has a unique position with the Atlanta

Braves.

He is not a baseball player. He is not a coach. He is not a general

manager. He is not a trainer.

Actually, the 37-year-old Smith is the team's full-time video

coordinator who is responsible for the editing, logging and charting of

every pitch for all Braves games as well as the opponents. The video is then

reviewed by the coaching staff and players for instructional and scouting

purposes.

Before he joined the Braves in 1995 as a part-timer, Smith‹a native of

Williamsburg, Virginia‹got his foot in the door when he obtained valuable

experience at UK during the early 1990s while majoring in sport management.

He was crazy about sports and wanted to get involved somehow. His favorite

teams growing up were the Chicago teams ‹the Bears, the Cubs and the

Bulls‹as his mother's family is from the Chicago area.

"I did work with the (UK) athletic department my junior year," said

Smith. "My advisor, Steve Parker, put me in touch with (then-associate

athletic director) Larry Ivy and he allowed me to work with his assistant

and their interns doing the random intern jobs but also helping out with

game-day marketing and promotional activities.

"The most memorable things I did included helping with the halftime

event at men's basketball games and playing music at baseball games. I was

not paid; it was strictly on a volunteer basis but it was a foot in the door

to see what the business side of sports was like."

And Smith has a favorite story to tell about his college days.

"While working with the athletic department, there were times after work

we'd play some pick-up games at Memorial Coliseum and every once in a while

a couple of the guys from the (basketball) team would play with us," said

Smith. "My favorite memory from that is having Tony Delk come off a screen,

take an alley-oop pass from Anthony Epps and dunk on me! I had no chance to

defend it; they just took advantage of us!"

Smith added that his most memorable game at Rupp Arena while in school

would probably have to be UK's opening-round game of the 1993 SEC tournament

when the fourth-ranked Wildcats destroyed Tennessee 101-40 in star Allan

Houston's last game as a Vol player.

Smith still follows the Wildcats today as he was asking this columnist

about new coach John Calipari and ex-boss Billy Gillispie before a recent

Atlanta-Pittsburgh matchup at Turner Field.

By the way, he later got to visit the UK campus in mid-June when the

Braves were off that day. Smith was impressed, saying, "We were able to get

a tour of the Craft Center, got to meet their video guy (Tim Asher) and

actually saw Coach Calipari addressing a group of bankers who were there for

a tour as well. The Craft Center is quite an impressive place!"

After Smith graduated from UK in 1994 with a degree in sport management,

he looked for a position on the business side of sports in marketing and

sales.

"I knew I wanted to work in professional sports which is why I moved to

Atlanta," said Smith, whose current office is located next door to Braves

manager Bobby Cox's office at Turner Field. "I did not have a preference and

sent resumes to each team here‹the Braves, the Hawks and the Falcons.

"The Braves were the first to contact me and I was offered a position

with their corporate sponsor hospitality staff which was run through their

marketing department. I took that job as my Œfoot in the door' because a

couple of the people I worked for had gotten their start in the same

capacity and they made it clear that the Braves hired from within. From

there I worked my way in to a full-time position in marketing and ticket

sales in 1997, which was also the same year I started doing video."

In July of 1998, Smith left the organization to accept a position with

Host Communications in Lexington as an advertising sales manager for their

game-day programs of the various NCAA Championship events (Division II and

III football, baseball, wrestling, lacrosse, among others).

"At Host I worked for Eric Barnhart, Mitch Barnhart's brother," Smith

said, "but I grew restless in that position after a short time (eight

months) and wanted to get back to doing video with the Braves. I missed

being a part of the action and felt that video in baseball was a growing

field and it was something I wanted to be a part of and take to the next

level for the Braves."

Fortunately for Smith, the Braves welcomed him back.

Interestingly, with his current job, he hasn't seen a regular season

Braves game in person since 2004. He's busy working in his windowless

office, which is filled with numerous television monitors and related

equipment, at Turner Field or on the road, recording the game action.

"Most people think that I'm a TV camera guy," quipped Smith, who resides

in Suwanee, Georgia, with his wife, Carmen and their son, Tyler. "Even after

I explain it, I still don't think some get it.

"The best part about this job is that I have been fortunate to work with

some of the best players‹(Greg) Maddux, (Tom) Glavine, (John) Smoltz and

Chipper (Jones) ‹to ever play the game, the best manager in the game (Bobby

Cox) and know that I played a small part in their individual success and

team success."

Jamie H. Vaught, whose syndicated sports column currently appears in

Kentucky newspapers, is the author of four books about UK basketball. He is

currently a professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College

in Middlesboro and can be reached by e-mail at CatsUpClose2008@yahoo.com.