Coach Sam

Coach Sam is a God fearing, father, grandfather, brother, minister and retired youth athletics coach/teacher. He was the head coach of Eastshore Playgrounds in the upper 9th ward of New Orleans, Louisiana for nearly 40 years. His entire life, Coach positioned his gift of being a father and coaching the youth around his strong belief in God. In the late 1970's when there was no funding/support to establish a creepy, wooded playground, Coach Sam answered the call with a lawn mower, a machete and gallons of electrolytes to combat that New Orleans heat. His initial inspirations were for his own kids to be active in sports and he was passionate to solve the issue of boredom amongst neighborhood kids seeking recreation. He had no idea that the calling would stretch nearly 4 decades.

In addition to training countless youth over this timespan, Coach Sam fathered 4 amazing kids of his own: Wendy, Addison, Tim and Sam Jr. Make no mistake about it, Coach Sam's mission is to empower kids in need of a father via the vehicle of sports, and statistically speaking, the strongest need for father-figured role models is our black youth males. His empowering approach of choice, is built on Christ-based principles.

Coach Sam is alive and well today. He is pretty content and there isn't much that gets him moving at this stage in life. However, his ears perk up for any conversations around God, his children and sports....that's it!