'He looked like he belonged..How Sam Mills became a Hall of Famer

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'He looked like he belonged -- and he did' - How underdog Sam Mills became a Hall of Famer​

Silence.

That was Sam Mills III's initial reaction when asked if his dad, the late Sam Mills, would have chosen the [b[New Orleans Saint[/b] or Carolina Panthers if the Pro Football Hall of Fame required him to be enshrined with one team in August. "Man, that's tough,'' said Mills III, the defensive line coach for the Washington Commanders. "You can make an argument for the Saints because ... you're part of the wave that was changing the history and tradition of New Orleans, which had been traditionally bad. "Then you go to Carolina and say you helped build this."
Similar debates have raged across sports. But Mills' case is unique, even among legends.The dominant inside linebacker overcame long odds to make it to the NFL, then reached iconic status by helping shape the legacies of rival franchises before his death in 2005 at age 45 due to intestinal cancer. Mills is one of six players in the Saints' Ring of Honor after quarterbacking their defense from 1986 to 1994.......

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'He looked like he belonged -- and he did' - How underdog Sam Mills became a Hall of Famer​

Silence.

That was Sam Mills III's initial reaction when asked if his dad, the late Sam Mills, would have chosen the [b[New Orleans Saint[/b] or Carolina Panthers if the Pro Football Hall of Fame required him to be enshrined with one team in August. "Man, that's tough,'' said Mills III, the defensive line coach for the Washington Commanders. "You can make an argument for the Saints because ... you're part of the wave that was changing the history and tradition of New Orleans, which had been traditionally bad. "Then you go to Carolina and say you helped build this."
Similar debates have raged across sports. But Mills' case is unique, even among legends.The dominant inside linebacker overcame long odds to make it to the NFL, then reached iconic status by helping shape the legacies of rival franchises before his death in 2005 at age 45 due to intestinal cancer. Mills is one of six players in the Saints' Ring of Honor after quarterbacking their defense from 1986 to 1994.......

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PART 2

The Panthers erected a statue of Mills outside Bank of America Stadium after he spent three seasons there as a player in the franchise's early days. That life-sized statue stands 5 feet, 9 inches -- which only furthers Mills' legacy as one of the NFL's all-time great underdogs. His epic "Keep Pounding" speech during their run to Super Bowl XXXVIII remains the team's mantra. Mills, who coached with the Panthers for seven seasons also, remained in New Jersey and went to Montclair State when major colleges didn't recruit him. Then he went undrafted in 1981 and was eventually cut by both the Cleveland Browns and the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. Mills spent a year teaching high school photography back in his home state before getting a chance with the USFL's Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars and establishing himself as one of the league's best players. Former running backs coach Jim Skipper, who joined Mills with the Stars, Saints and Panthers, suggested his rags-to-riches path is even more remarkable than Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner's story, which recently inspired a Hollywood movie.

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