For Cincinnati Bengals tight end Drew Sample, football is not the only sport he has a passion for.
The NFL veteran is making an appearance at the Blue Jackets Alumni Fantasy Camp and skating with former CBJ players this weekend to rekindle an old love for hockey.
“I grew up playing hockey before I played football, from when I was like 4 or 5 to like 15 or 16,” Sample said. “Then football kind of took over and ended up working out for me.”
Now, going into his seventh NFL season, the Bellevue, Wash., native has found time in his offseason routine to make it to the ice rink more to play the sport he grew up with.
“I was just taking some time off, and I was like, ‘I'm just going to skate a little bit,’ and it's kind of like riding a bike,” Sample said. “After a couple of times, I was like, ‘Oh, that was fun and relaxing,’ and then I had the opportunity to come up here, and I was like, ‘Oh, that's pretty cool.’ So I practiced a little bit more. It was fun.”
Sample has 100 receptions and 730 receiving yards throughout his career that has been spent solely with the Bengals. The 29-year-old tight end started in 15 of the team’s 17 games this past season, making 20 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.
As you might imagine for someone who checks in 6-foot-5, 255 pounds, he was unable to skate in recent years because of his shoe size, but with some help from the Blue Jackets he now can hit the ice whenever he would like.
“I just got skates recently, just because they didn't have my size, so the Blue Jackets hooked it up,” Sample said.
Though he grew up in Washington, Sample spent his early years in the San Jose area. He made it out to Sharks games as a kid, leading to his love for hockey and a desire to play.
“I used to go to Sharks games when I was like a little baby.” he said. “Then we moved to Washington. I was like, 5, I think, and I was like, ‘I want to play hockey.' There’s not a lot of hockey in Washington, so I ended up starting when I was like literally a mini-mite up there and played AAA all the way from like 7 or 8 to like 15.”
When Sample was 16, it was time to pick a path, and he decided to take football more seriously as he was starting to get offers from Division I college football programs. However, the decision was not made without some deliberation as he was also invited to a WHL camp.
“At the time, those first couple of years I played both, I was probably better at hockey,” he said. "I like to believe I could have maybe made it."
His decision ultimately boiled down to his desire to play in college. When the University of Washington offered him a scholarship, he decided football was his future.
“I wanted to go to college, so then that's more of an East Coast thing (for hockey), and I didn't want to move away, and then that just happened,” he said. “It was just really good timing where I was like, I really like football, and I was good at it. Those things kind of just timed up and the rest is kind of history."
Although football is his main focus and his life passion, Sample always finds his way back to the sport he first found in life.
“When I'm done playing, I'll definitely get into some beer league hockey,” he said. “Give me a little bit of purpose. I'm sure when I'm done playing – hopefully not for a long time – that's always kind of been in the back of my mind.”
