Career
Sample had the distinction of beginning and ending his career with championship wins in two of the most famous games in professional football history, and winning an NFL championship, an American Federation of Labor-Congress championship, and a world championship. Sample grew up in Cape Charles, Virginia, the son of Sample, a barber, and Evlyn Sample, a stenographer. He went to Northampton County High School.
He attended Maryland State College, now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, where he was a four-sport athlete in football, baseball, basketball and gymnastics.
In football, he was named a Little All-American and in three seasons led the Hawks to a record of 28-1-1 and two league championships. In three years as a halfback and kicker, he totaled 2,381 rushing yards, 37 touchdowns, 42 conversions, and four field goals.
He graduated in 1958 with a degree in physical education. Sample finished his 11 professional football seasons with 41 interceptions, which he returned for 460 yards and four touchdowns.
He also recovered 13 fumbles, returning them for 61 yards.
On special teams he returned 68 punts for 559 yards and a touchdown, along with 60 kickoffs for 1,560 yards and a touchdown. His most outstanding year was 1961 for the Steelers, when he intercepted a career-high eight passes for 141 return yards and one touchdown and led the NFL in punt return yards. Besides the famed 1958 and 1968 After his playing career ended, in 1970 Sample released a very outspoken autobiography, Confessions of a Dirty Ballplayer.
He later became known in tennis -- he was the Number.
1-ranked men"s player by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in the age 45 and over category for several years. During the 1980s and 1990s, he became a tennis official, a linesman, and even a chair umpire at bigger and bigger men"s and women"s events including the United States. Open, Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Australian Open.
In 1977, he was inducted into the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawk Hall of Fame. He also hosted a talk-radio show in Philadelphia.
Sample died April 26, 2005 at Misericordia Hospital in Philadelphia.
He was preceded in death by one son.