Samantha "Sam" Rapoport is a former American football player who currently works for the National Football League (NFL) as senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion. [1] She was formerly the NFL's senior director of football development. She was initially hired by the NFL to bring more women to the operational side of the league and has worked tirelessly to bring more girls into flag football. [2] She is also involved in several other initiatives to get more women into football, including being on the board of the first ever all-girls tackle football league, the Utah Girls Tackle Football League. [3] Rapoport has been named to People Magazine's “25 Women Changing The World”, Fortune's 40-under-40, Sports Business Journal's 2023 "Gamechanger" and one of Sports Illustrated's Most Powerful, Most Influential and Most Outstanding Women in Sports. She was also award NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's annual "Commissioner's Award twice (2009, 2019).
Rapoport began playing flag football at the age of 12. She played quarterback for the Canadian Women's Flag Football Team, and the Montreal Blitz (a women's tackle team). [4] [5] In 2003, she applied for a marketing internship with the NFL. Included in her application was a football on which she had written "What other quarterback could accurately deliver a football 386 miles?". [2] [5] She got the job and worked for the league for many years. She was awarded the NFL Commissioner's Innovation Award (2009) and the NFL Commissioner Award (2019) for her work. [6] She left the NFL to work for USA Football, to try get more women around the world playing football. [7] In 2016 she was hired back by the NFL to work as the director of football development, replacing former Baltimore Ravens player Matt Birk. [4] Since 2020, she has been the NFL's senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion. [8]
Women's gridiron football, more commonly known as women's tackle football, women's American football, women's Canadian football, or simply women's football, is a form of gridiron football played by women. Most leagues play by similar rules to the men's game. Women primarily play on a semi-professional or amateur level in the United States. Very few high schools or colleges offer the sport solely for women and girls. However, on occasion, it is permissible for a female player to join the otherwise male team.
Flag football is a variant of gridiron football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. In flag football, contact is limited between players. The sport has a strong amateur following with several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations but is most popularly played in America where it was invented. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). In 2022, flag football was shortlisted as a proposed discretionary event for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with inclusion being accepted on October 16, 2023.
Troy Darnell Vincent Sr. is an American sports executive and former football cornerback who played for the Miami Dolphins, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Dolphins as the seventh overall pick in the 1992 NFL draft. He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2023. On September 28, 2011, Vincent was named as one of the preliminary nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2012 in his first year of eligibility and each year since.
Stuart Eric Schweigert is a former American football safety. He played college football at Purdue and played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons, from 2004 to 2008. He was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders.
The United States national American football team often referred to as Team USA represents the United States in international men's Flag football and American football competitions. It is currently controlled by USA Football and is recognized by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). The team is currently ranked no.1 in the world in both flag and tackle Football by the IFAF.
High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partly due to risk of injury, particularly concussions. According to The Washington Post, between 2009 and 2019, participation in high school football declined by 9.1%. It is the basic level or step of tackle football.
The Montreal Blitz is a women's gridiron football team, founded in 2001, which plays Canadian football in the Central Canadian Women's Football League. Previously, the team played American football in the Independent Women's Football League (2001–2016) and in the Women's Football Alliance. They are based at Dalbé-Viau High School in the borough of Lachine, in Montreal, Quebec.
Derek Cameron Wake is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end and linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for Penn State Nittany Lions, and was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2005.
Ndamukong Ngwa Suh is an American professional football defensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, where he earned All-American honors, and was selected by the Detroit Lions second overall in the 2010 NFL draft. He also played for the Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Philadelphia Eagles. He has played in three Super Bowls: Super Bowl LIII with the Rams, Super Bowl LV with the Buccaneers, and Super Bowl LVII with the Eagles.
The NFL Top 100 is an annual television series counting down the top one hundred players in the National Football League (NFL), as chosen by fellow NFL players. The rankings are based on an off-season poll organized by the NFL, where players vote on their peers based on their performance for the recent NFL season. Only players that are not retired in the next season are eligible for consideration.
Wade Alan Davis II is an American speaker, activist, writer, educator and former American football player.
Samantha ("Sam") Gordon is an American football and soccer player from the Salt Lake City area. After YouTube videos of her skills were uploaded by her father, they went viral and led to her making several media appearances.
Kawann Arcell Short is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Purdue Boilermakers. He was selected by the Panthers in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft.
Reuben Foster is an American football linebacker for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League. A consensus All-American in high school, Foster was regarded as the best linebacker prospect of his class before committing to Alabama, where he played from 2013 to 2016. In his final season there he was awarded the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's best linebacker.
Saadia Ashraf is an American football coach for Team Canada, Team Quebec, and the Montreal Blitz Football Organizations. She is also a former championship quarterback of Team Canada, Team Quebec and the Montreal Blitz. She has a Bachelor of Education degree in Physical Education from McGill University, and works as a high school teacher in Montreal. She also actively coaches youth girls and boys flag football in the high school GMAA/RSEQ league. In addition she has been the head coach of the John Abbott College Women’s Flag Football team since 1996. (Quebec).
The Utah Girls Tackle Football League (GFL) is the first all-girls youth American football league in the world, founded as a nonprofit in March 2015. The league is currently in its tenth season. The GFL consists of three age divisions: elementary, junior high, and a high school division. There are over 600 players spread across 32 teams; 35% of them are minorities. Everyone in the league apart from the match officials is a volunteer.
The American Flag Football League is a semi-professional flag football league started in 2017. The league was founded by Jeff Lewis in May 2017, and played a tournament-style schedule every summer. League players are not paid during the season and most of them are primarily amateurs, instead cash prizes are awarded to the tournament winners. The AFFL plan to launch a four-team pro league in 2024. However, the AFFL announced in April 2024 that the debut season would be delayed until 2025 with additional teams and a women's division.
Dawn Marie DiFortuna-Aponte is an American football administrator, accountant, and attorney. She is the chief administrator of football operations for the National Football League (NFL), having served in the position since June 2017.
Sara Levinson is a former executive and American entrepreneur in the fields of entertainment, media, sports and technology. She was responsible for MTV's global expansion and orchestrated the NFL's outreach to women and kids. She is co-founder of the tech startup Katapult and serves on the board of Harley Davidson and Macy's.