Seattle Seahawks signal-caller Sam Darnold is one of four quarterbacks who are one win away from Super Bowl LX. The others are Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix [now backup Jarrett Stidham], New England Patriots’ Drake Maye, and Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford.
Darnold is one step away from his ultimate goal. Seahawks star’s maternal grandfather, Richard Bernard Hammer, popularly known as Dick Hammer, would have been beyond proud of his grandson’s achievement. He was also part of the athletic community. Hammer played basketball at the University of Southern California [USC] and participated in the 1964 Summer Olympics in volleyball.
Sam Darnold’s family has been playing volleyball for generations together
According to the USC Trojans Athletics website, Darnold is a communication major with a “B average” [3.14 GPA]. His father, Michael, played football as a guard at Redlands. [Jeff Pearlman of Bleacher Report said in 2017 that Sam’s father played offensive lineman for the University of Redlands].
Sam’s mother, Chris, played volleyball at Long Beach City College. His older sister, Franki, played volleyball at the University of Rhode Island from 2012 to 2015. His maternal grandmother, Betty Hammer, played softball and volleyball and trained with the U.S. National Team.
His great-grandmother, Juanita, was a noted tennis player in Southern California. His uncle, Dan Hammer, played volleyball at Long Beach State from 1980 to 1981. His cousin, Allie Hammer, played volleyball at Irvine Valley College from 2009 to 2010 and American from 2010 to 2011.
Basketball, volleyball, fire department, television actor, and Marlboro Man cover
Sam’s late grandfather, Dick Hammer, played basketball at USC in 1952 and for the Trojans’ NCAA Final Four team in 1954.
He was a member of the USA’s 1964 Olympic volleyball team that competed in Tokyo, Japan, where 34-year-old Dick Hammer finished ninth with two wins and seven losses. He scored 11 points, had 10 sets for and 23 sets against, with 360 points for and 450 points against in the Round-Robin phase of Men’s Volleyball.
Richard Hammer’s biography according to the Olympics at Sports-Reference:Full name: Richard Bernard “Dick” Hammer
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 176
Born: July 17, 1930, in Long Beach, California, United States
Died: October 18, 1999, in Long Beach, California, United States [age: 69]
Affiliations: Long Beach Century Club
Country: United States
Sport: Volleyball
Sam’s grandfather was a captain in the L.A. County Fire Department and played Captain Dick Hammer in the first season of the 1970s television drama “Emergency!” He also appeared as the cowboy hat-wearing Marlboro Man in the cigarette company’s advertising campaigns. He was not a regular smoker.
Dick Hammer was 69 when he passed away in October 1999, just four months after Seahawks signal-caller’s second birthday.
Sam Darnold is a lot like his grandfather
“My mom always tells me how much I remind her of him,” Sam Darnold said in a 2018 introductory news conference as the No. 3 overall pick of the NFL Draft at the New York Jets’ training facility.
“When Sam was little, we used to tease him because we would say he got all the DNA because he could do anything,” Sam’s mother, Chris, said in Darnold’s introductory speech. “He was big like his dad, got his dad’s girth. He got my dad’s agility and athletic ability. My dad was the type of person that could pick up a game by just watching someone play. Sam’s a lot like that.
An example was when [Sam] played in a volleyball tournament with my daughter [Franki], who was playing in college [in Rhode Island] at the time, and she was missing out on a partner for co-ed doubles.
He was all like, ‘Uh, sure, okay, I’ll go play some volleyball.’ We’re watching them play, and they got to the playoffs, and he’s doing all the dinking serves and playing like he’s been playing his whole life. This is a lot of what my Dad was like.”
Anything short of Super Bowl is a failure
Richard Hammer would feel that his grandson is just like him. In 2018, Sam had a chance to create his own legacy. The Jets had not won a Super Bowl in 50 years, since the golden days of Joe Namath [Super Bowl III champion].
Speaking about the importance of winning a Super Bowl, Darnold said in 2018, “Winning a Super Bowl is everyone’s goal entering a season, whether I’m a backup or whether I’m starting quarterback, everyone on the team wants to win a Super Bowl.
That’s the goal for everyone. Anything short of that is a failure, and we’re aware of that. Everyone’s aware of that. And whatever my role is, I’m going to star in that role to work us toward that Super Bowl.”
Eight years later, Darnold is at the same position again. He still has not won a Super Bowl, but now he has a golden opportunity after a thrilling season with Seattle. He would be the first USC Trojans quarterback to compete for a Super Bowl.
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