The NFL’s 100-Year Super Bowl commercial featured a lot of famous faces, but there was one that stuck out because it was the only girl among dozens of male players. Samantha Gordon might not be a household name, but she should be once you learn what she’s accomplished in her 15 years.
From Peyton to Montana there were many NFL stars in the ad that played during the Super Bowl last weekend, but none are quite as inspiring as 15-year-old Samantha Gordon. The young athlete made waves in 2012 when she broke the mold in her all-boys tackle football league where she scored 35 touchdowns and rushed for more than 2,000 yards. Her dad, Brent Gordon shared a video of her playing on YouTube and she became an overnight sensation.
“When she was about 3 or 4 years old and we would play soccer out in the yard with my older son . . . and they’d try to be a little bit rough with her and even intentionally try to kick the ball at her and she wouldn’t be fazed and would keep getting up,” Brent told Good Morning America back in 2012. “I kind of had an idea that she’s got an aggressive mentality back then.”
From there Samantha went on to break more barriers and, with her dads help, she established the Utah Girls Tackle Football League, the first all-girls tackle football league in the US, in 2015. She was awarded the first ever NFL Game Changer Award in 2017.
Next season the NFL will celebrate its 100-year anniversary and hopefully Samantha’s appearance in the ad signals a shift for the future of an otherwise male-dominated league. Regardless of what she does next, it’s all but guaranteed to be great.
—Shahrzad Warkentin
Featured photo: The NFL via YouTube
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