Ex-Rebels guard Smith starts career on radio after pal Gondo dies

After an exceptional career at UNLV and a seven-year stint in the NBA that ended in 1984, Robert Smith never left basketball.

The former point guard played in the Continental Basketball Association and in France, coached at all levels from youth to college and spent a lot of time in local rec centers teaching fundamentals.

A broadcasting career never really crossed Smith's mind, not with close friend and ex-UNLV teammate Glen "Gondo" Gondrezick firmly entrenched as the Rebels' radio color analyst.

That changed after Gondrezick, who held the job for 17 years, died in April, leaving an opening Smith was asked to fill.

He did so with reluctance.

"I really didn't want to take his place. I wanted to work with him, as well,'' Smith said. ''Even if we could have had a (three-man booth) with Jon (Sandler), Glen and myself, I would have enjoyed that," Smith said. "But things happen in life. I only hope I can be half as good as Glen."

Sandler, in his sixth season as the Rebels' play-by-play voice, thinks his former radio partner would have given Smith a ringing endorsement.

"If you believe in those types of things, Robert would have been the guy Gondo wanted," Sandler said. "Because he was so fond of Robert and he had so much respect for him."

Replacing his friend was not Smith's only concern. He would be entering a new field at age 54, with his only prior radio experience coming as a listener.

Smith, who grew up in Los Angeles tuning into Lakers games called by the legendary Chick Hearn, said he realized how difficult broadcasting on the radio could be when he listened to New Mexico games on the Internet when his son Jamaal played there.

Smith's first 20 games on the job haven't always been smooth, but Sandler said his partner has adjusted. He said newcomers often have trouble adapting to live reads, an engineer talking in their headset and all the external things going on during a broadcast.

"I think it was a little bit, I won't say overwhelming, but I think eye-opening for Robert," he said. "He handled it with poise and with grace and learned."

Smith says the biggest adjustment has been relaying what he is watching to an audience that can't see the action.

"I've always analyzed basketball," he said. "Now I've got to analyze and tell you about it on the radio."

Sandler says Smith's knowledge of the game is a crucial asset.

"This is a guy who not only played at the highest level for a number of years in the NBA but also has coached at various levels,'' Sandler said. ''His ability to watch a play and know what was right and what was wrong, both individually and as part of a team concept, is his strength."

In addition to teaching kids basketball locally, Smith coached the College of Southern Nevada women's team during its brief run as a program.

Smith was the point guard on UNLV's first Final Four team in 1977 and was inducted to the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. He remains the Rebels' career leader and season record holder in free-throw percentage and ranks seventh all time in assists.

He has remained close to the program throughout the three decades since he left the school. Smith says he has offered to help out individual players for just about every coach who has come through UNLV during that span.

Smith's loyalty to the program made him a logical choice to broadcast Rebels games, coach Lon Kruger said.

"I think Robert is a huge player in the Rebel tradition, and to have him filling in after Gondo is only natural," Kruger said. "He's got the perspective of a player. He played at UNLV and understands the significance of that, and he's got the passion. When our players talk to him about that, they can sense his pride."

Smith said his longtime ties to the program don't prevent him from being critical of the team when necessary. But he said he has his own way of doing so.

"What I try to do is make something positive out of the negative," he said. "If the team is not playing well, then I try to say this is what they need to do or I think they should be doing this about now."

Despite the rigors of preparing for games and travel, Smith remains a teacher of the game.

"Right now I (am helping) out at Doolittle (Recreation Center) a little bit. I do a lot of one-on-one basketball work," Smith said. "As I watch the game around the city and around the globe, I still find that a lot of kids fundamentally don't understand the game."

If Smith teaches them well enough, one day he might be calling their college games over the radio.