Trib's Smith discovered life beyond 'The Jordan Rules'
Word is getting around that this is the final week on the job for longtime NBA columnist Sam Smith.
Smith accepted the Chicago Tribune's buyout offer but plans to continue writing on a couple of Web sites. He was arguably the highest-profile Tribune sports writer for the past two decades.
Most people probably will remember Smith for authoring "The Jordan Rules" and for suggesting a wide variety of fictional trades in his weekly column.
His best weapon was an engaging personality, which had all sorts of league insiders seeking him for conversations.
Personally, I'll always remember Smith, a Geneva resident, for something that has nothing to do with newspapers. One day several years ago, while returning from a Bulls road trip, I spotted Smith getting into a long check-in line at O'Hare.
He was on his way to China to adopt a young girl.
I know people who are anxiously awaiting the same opportunity, so in many ways, Smith and his wife, Kathleen, were fortunate. But there's no denying that this is a daunting task. After visiting the Chinese orphanage, one of the first things Smith had to do was take a 13-hour flight home with a 3-year-old girl who didn't understand a word he was saying.
As any parent knows, a 3-year-old has a well-developed personality. This wasn't an infant in a car seat he was carrying home.
During the next few years, I heard many stories about Hannah-Li Xiaofang Smith. She had a cleft palate, which was surgically corrected. The back of her head was nearly flat at age 3, which probably means she spent more time lying in a crib at the orphanage than being engaged by an adult.
Smith talked about how she was a high-activity kid and he often took her to a McDonald's playland five days a week to burn off energy. Watching "Dora the Explorer" and "Barney" helped her learn English.
I finally got to meet Hannah-Li in December. She's now a beautiful 7-year-old who was bouncing around the Berto Center that day, waiting to visit Santa Claus with her dad. Their trip was delayed by some unexpected and unimportant news, something about the Bulls firing coach Scott Skiles, but it eventually happened.
I couldn't help thinking about what would have happened to Hannah-Li had she stayed in that orphanage. Was she headed for a lifetime of factory work? Would her mouth have ever been repaired?
Smith was 56 when he embarked on that trip to China. He had a son in high school at the time, which meant he and Kathleen were soon to become empty-nesters.
They had every right to kick back and enjoy retirement, perhaps move to Smith's favorite vacation spot, Arizona. (You think he wrote so much about the Phoenix Suns out of respect for Steve Kerr and the Colangelo family?)
Instead, they decided to open their home, take on a huge workload and give a little girl a better life than the one she had. To me, that's how Sam Smith should best be remembered.