John B. Sample Jr. (June 15, 1936 – April 26, 2005) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

(1958–1960),

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

(1961–1962), and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

(1963–1965), and in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) for the New York Jets (1966–1968), winning three league championships. Sample had the distinction of beginning and ending his career with championship wins in two of the most famous games in

professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

history, and winning an NFL championship, an

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

championship, and a

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. In his rookie season, he won an NFL championship ring with the Colts in their victory over the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

in the

1958 NFL Championship Game The 1958 NFL Championship Game was the 26th NFL championship game, played on December 28 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It was the first NFL playoff game to be decided in sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore Colts 23, New Y ...

, which became known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played". In his final season, he helped the Jets win the AFL Championship against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

, and then to defeat the Colts in the third AFL-NFL World Championship (

Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name " ...

) in January 1969, recording an interception in the Jets' 16–7 win. He is the only professional football player to have won all three: an NFL, AFL, and Super Bowl championship. In between, Sample won another championship in the

1959 NFL Championship Game The 1959 NFL Championship Game was the 27th NFL championship game, played on December 27 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a rematch of the 1958 championship game that went into overtime. The defending champion Baltimore Col ...

, scoring a touchdown on a 42-yard interception return in the Colts' 31–16 victory over the Giants.

Early life

Sample grew up in

Cape Charles, Virginia Cape Charles is a town / municipal corporation in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,009 as of the 2010 Census. History Cape Charles, located close to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on Virginia's Eastern Shore, ...

, the son of John B. 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 University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is a public historically black land-grant research university in Princess Anne, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High re ...

, 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

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. CIAA institutions mostly consist of historically black col ...

(CIAA) 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 in 1958 was said to be the first player from a historically black university to participate in the

College All-Star Game The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League (NFL) champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. It was also known as the ...

, an annual exhibition held between professional rookies and the reigning NFL champion.

Professional career

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.

After football

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 No. 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 U.S. Open, Wimbledon, the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

, and the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US 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 Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Sample died April 26, 2005 at Misericordia Hospital in Philadelphia. He was survived by a son and two daughters. He was preceded in death by one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sample, Johnny 1936 births 2005 deaths American football defensive backs American Football League players Baltimore Colts players Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks football players New York Jets players Pittsburgh Steelers players Washington Redskins players People from Northampton County, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia Tennis people from Virginia African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people

Early life

Professional career

After football

See also

References