To Sam Campbell, getting inducted into the New York State Hall of Fame was a complete shock.
To those that know him, it was long overdue.
“I would say that this is, I feel like it’s a full circle moment. Like, he has absolutely earned it and has earned the recognition that he deserves,” Brette Campbell, Sam’s granddaughter, said.
“He has done so much for (the area). He has started travel softball in this area that has given girls the opportunity … He started that, and I feel like that deserves so much recognition and is a good reason why he is going into the Hall of Fame.
“He has given this area an opportunity for softball to grow.”
Brette not only played for him but, for the past four seasons, has been his assistant coach.
Sam took over the Saranac softball program in 2013 after spending one season as an assistant coach to Ralph Cross. Since then, the program has captured 10 sectional championships with a 181-80 record.
He says it’s not him, it’s the girls that make the difference.
“Absolutely it’s like being a teacher in school,” he said. “You can show them anything … tell them anything, they have to apply it. and fortunately for me, I’ve had a lot of kids who have done that.”
COMING TO SARANAC
Sam began his coaching career at St. John’s in 1982.
In 1990, following the merger of St. John’s and Mount Assumption, he coached JV baseball and softball before returning to varsity softball in 2000 at Seton Catholic.
He coached the program until 2011 when the team folded after one game.
That’s when Cross reached out.
“I was on vacation, and Ralph called me and said, ‘I hear you have nothing to do,’” Sam said. “I had two granddaughters in school at Saranac — one on the varsity and one on the JV — and he asked if I would be interested in coaching.
“I said sure, I was going to be going to the games anyway to watch, so why not? Why not be coaching while you’re doing it?”
On his first day as an assistant coach, Cross informed Sam that he was stepping down after that season and suggested he apply for the head coach role.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“When I got the job after we interviewed, they asked me what I was going to do with the players that I had coming back and all,” Sam said.
“I told them about the spots to fill and they mentioned the catcher. I said, ‘Realistically, I’d like to bring my granddaughter up because the previous year, we had a young lady catcher who was actually an outfielder. She did a great job, but she’s graduated. I’ll bring Brette up and have her catch.’
“In spite of that, they gave me the job anyway.”
Brette joined her older sister Kourtnie on the team and called the experience “difficult but rewarding.”
“I don’t think that there is a person in the area that knows more than he does when it comes to softball,” Brette said.
“He can’t physically show you, but the mental game that he has absorbed and been able to translate to all of us — and I would say especially me — was very special.”
But it’s not just his players that have grown to respect and love him. He has earned mutual respect from his peers, like Plattsburgh co-head softball coach Joe McMahon.
“I will tell you this, as a coach, what he has done for me: shared some wisdom over the years. But when I play him twice a year, he makes me elevate my game,” McMahon said.
“First of all, whatever talent they have on the other side of the field, you also know you’re going to be out coached because that’s just the way it is … because Sam’s over there. So you have to, you have to have your team ready for anything.
“He just makes you cross your T’s … so he made me, as a coach, feel like I needed to be razor sharp, and that’s good. I love that.”
COACHING PHILOSOPHY
Sam said it comes down to the player’s understanding that leads to success.
“It’s trying to get the message across that this is what you need to do as a player, and once you get those players to believe in what they’re doing and have fun with it, then it makes it easier, and they’ll help each other out,” he said.
“When I was younger, I was a lot more intense about it, and I’ve learned to become a lot more relaxed about it and allow the players freedom within what they do.
“A lot of things have changed — the way they’re done over time with coaching philosophy — so you look at everybody’s philosophy, observe all their coaches and what they teach their kids and kind of pick and choose what might be good for us or that wouldn’t work in our situation.
“Just try to balance it all out and make sure that they have a good understanding and a good time playing softball.”
Brette agreed, saying she’s learned more from coaching than she did as a player.
“He’s had to teach me a lot of grace and a lot of patience that I didn’t realize when I went into coaching,” she said.
“I didn’t realize how hard it would be to have to be able to explain the details and the fundamentals and the mental game to other people, some things that I know and physically know myself, and having to figure out what the language is and how to do it in a way where the kids actually can understand what I’m saying.”
McMahon said Sam is such a good coach that if he was coaching soccer and doesn’t know that much about it, he could get his players to play hard because they believe in his message.
“What makes him a good coach is getting the most of the kids without putting too much on them,” McMahon said.
THE CLOSING CHAPTER
Sam is as humble as humble can be, Brette said. and if one was to pick his brain, he’d mention the JV or modified coaches that have helped shape the program.
It began with the Lady Mariner program that Same started with Joe Liberty and Bill Hunt.
“In the summer of 2019, we played. We had a U-12 team, and I think we lost all but one game, but by the time we were done that year, we actually started getting competitive,” Sam said.
“Those kids started what we have now and were CVAC All-Stars from Peru, Northeastern Clinton, Beekmantown and so on. We’ve had kids from everywhere.”
He added that a smile appears on his face when he sees a player on another team with a Mariner helmet, but it disappears quickly when that same batter takes a nice pitch over the fence against Saranac.
“Absolutely, the initial goal was to make players better so that players could go back to their respective team, be it high school, whatever, and kind of be a role model, a leader, helping other kids,” Sam said.
“This is how we’ve been taught to do it, and maybe get some coaches to pick up on some of that. So the ultimate goal is to improve high school softball in the Northeast corner in New York.”
But how long does he see himself coaching? After 44 years, and Sam said he’s nearing the end and wants to coach a couple more years. It just depends on his health and other responsibilities.
He jokes with Saranac Athletic Director Brent Denis about both stepping away in 2029.
“I’ve thought about that, and I think it’s going to depend on what my youngest granddaughter does,” Sam said. “Where she’s at in her school career, grade wise and playing wise. If she continues to play, I might keep an eye on that.
“I’d like to be around the game a little bit. Maybe not be involved in actually coaching or doing anything, but just kind of overseeing and helping out if somebody asks questions.”
There will be no question Saturday when he’s inducted in the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization for Girls’ Sports Hall of Fame.
His induction ceremony is set for 12:15 p.m. at the Mudville Sports Complex in Herkimer.
Admission is free and open to the public.