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Nov-10-2012 01:06printcomments

'The Greatest Running Back Under Four Feet Tall'

This 9 year-old girl is truly amazing...

'Sam' Gordon
'Sam' Gordon

(CLEVELAND) - Here is another insightful tribute from our poet and writer, Luke Easter, about a young lady setting records nobody ever expected. Luke's observations never fail to warm the heart as he indulges real life with poetic verse kindly considerate of innocence.

This look at a young girl playing football and breaking new barriers almost by the day, is refreshing, intriguing, and uplifting. Women have had a long hard road toward equality and that struggle is far from over.

Each time a new star of the female gender steps out and shows the world that she can do it better than her male counterparts, regardless of her age, those age-old, ugly and divisive stereotypes about male dominance in sports of this nature, fall farther into the background, where they belong.

Oregon people know a thing or two about girls and the challenges that they face playing the male dominated sport of football.

In fact many recall a movie about the first girl who ever played football in high school, and the battles she fought to have the right to be on the same level as her peers. The movie is called 'Quarterback Princess'.

From Wikipedia:

    Quarterback Princess is a 1983 fact-based drama film by 20th Century Fox that chronicles ... girl who struggles against sexism and fights to play on her high school football team. It was filmed primarily in McMinnville, Oregon. ... However, because she is a girl, everyone from the coach to her next door neighbor is against her

I think we could call Sam 'Princess Running Back'. Remember that those who really push for their goals will reach them and it is magnificent for this youngster to get the credit and recognition she is receiving.

Samantha “Sam” Gordon

Johnny Cash had a monster hit with, “A Boy Named Sue,”
To come close to that masterpiece just what can you do?
How about a 9 year-old playing football like a young man?
And a girl playing in a boys league with the handle of Sam.

She wanted to keep up with her big brother and so she did,
Running, playing, just plain hanging out like the older kids,
“Gremlins” is Salt Lake City’s version of, “Pee Wee Ball,”
The way Samantha Gordon plays is she headed for the Hall?

232 carries, 1,911 yards, 35 touchdowns, 8.2 yards per carry,
For a boy this is phenomenal but a girl, it is downright scary,
Putting her in practice drills she out ran boys two years older,
Playing in the, “Sharks and Minnows” game proved even bolder.

Staring at her speed and ability to move like a college tailback,
Fearless! She led the charge or should I say she led the attack?
Break a tackle from multiple hits, run through, over & around,
Combination of speed & power ala Gale Sayers & Jim Brown.

As the only girl playing in an all boys league it is tough enough,
However, not for her, for them as the little lady struts her stuff,
Concern has surfaced because that game called football is rough,
But this all around athletic marvel is certainly no powder-puff.

Tags have labeled her the greatest running back under 4 feet tall,
Heck, with these amazing stats it should be greatest of them all,
Starting at quarterback even though plays are run on the ground,
On defense she has recorded 65 tackles chasing opponents down.

Her You Tube videos have gone viral garnering over 2 million hits,
And many have downloaded for wallpaper some of Sam’s still pics,
Like the scripture Jeremiah 51:27, “set ye up a standard in the land,”
Without a doubt, it’s truly been accomplished by a girl named Sam.

By Luke Easter 

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Luke Easter is a poet who writes about things that are very close to the heart of Salem-News.com. Another former U.S. Marine, Luke heals the world with an approach that reaches people on a different level, one known for centuries, yet too often forgotten in the one we live in.

We live in a world of social & economic injustice. The main reason for founding America in the first place was to relieve the oppression of the King of England. Patrick Henry said it best, “give me liberty or give me death.” And yet, all too often death seems to be the only way out. Why is there such a high suicide rate especially among teens, in the land of the free & the home of the brave? What makes headlines? Good news? Ha! More depressing stories than anything else. I feel poetry takes an edge off the hurt of bad news while still delivering it but in a, “glitzy” sort of way. Giving a different perspective. Kind of like slap in the face as opposed to a knife in the back. At least with the slap you’ll live to see another day and you will know whom it’s from. I wasn’t here for the beginning of the world but at 59, I just might be here for the end.

Even though it’s still a knife, rhyme poetry helps to dull the blade. And that’s my job. You can write to Luke Easter at: lyricsfromlucas@aol.com

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