Above left: Sam Gordon featured in the NFL’s “100-Year Game” commercial. (NFL) Middle: Receiving the Game Changer Award at the NFL Honors Award Show in 2018. (twitter.com/sam_gordon6)  Right: Sam stands with San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman. (Photo courtesy of Brent Gordon)

Sam Gordon is a 15-year-old local sophomore who was featured in a super bowl commercial and started the first girls tackle football league.

Sam is a fun and entertaining speaker who shares a great message about overcoming obstacles and following her dreams.

Sam will talk about her experience playing football against the boys and starting the first girls tackle football league in the country. In addition, Sam will speak about her work as a member of the Martha Hughes Cannon Statue Legislative Committee and the upcoming 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

About Sam Gordon:

Sam Gordon is a trailblazer who is inspiring girls around the country to follow their dreams no matter the obstacle. Sam was the only girl in her youth football league when she scored 25 touchdowns and made 65 tackles. Her highlight video went viral – it was viewed 5 million times in the just three days. Sam was the first female football player to appear on a Wheaties box, has been interviewed on dozens of television programs, including Good Morning America, SportsCenter, and the Conan Show, was in a Nike commercial, and was the special guest of NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, at the Super Bowl. Sam and her neighbor published a book about her season that is found in thousands of school libraries across the nation: Sweet Feet: Samantha Gordon’s Winning Season.

Sam has spoken at a number of women’s conferences across the country and at other events about breaking barriers as the only girl who played in her youth football league, including the espnW Sports Summit, MAKERS Conference, NFL Women’s Summit, Nike WHQ, and Green Sports Alliance. The highlight of her speaking engagements was when she spoke with legendary feminist, Gloria Steinem.

While speaking at a middle school assembly, she asked the audience whether any girls would like to play football. Nearly every girl raised her hand. The response inspired Sam to form an all-girls tackle football league – the first of its kind in the country. The league started with just 50 girls in 2015 and now hundreds of girls play in the league.

Sam was awarded the Game Changer Award at the NFL Honors Award Show in 2018 and delivered a powerful speech about equality. Following Sam’s speech, Greg Hughes, Speaker of the House for the Utah House of Representatives, appointed Sam to the Martha Hughes Cannon Statue Legislative Committee, which is tasked with the responsibility to find an artist to sculpt a statue that will be placed in the US Capitol. Sam serves on the Communications Subcommittee, which is responsible for educating the public and students about the important accomplishments of Martha Hughes Cannon, who was the first female in the nation elected as a state senator and a leading suffragette. The committee intends to place the Martha Hughes Cannon statue in the nation’s capitol on the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Sam was recently included in a Super Bowl commercial for the NFL that celebrated the legends of the past 100 years. Sam served as a symbol of the inclusion of girls and women in the sport in the next 100 years.