NFL Executive Sam Rapoport Gets Flag Football Into Olympics

In 2003, Sam Rapoport took a shot that most people would never dream of taking. She mailed a football to NFL headquarters with her résumé attached and a message that read, "What other quarterback could accurately deliver a pass 386 miles?"

It worked. The NFL hired her as an intern, and she spent the next 20 years transforming opportunities for women in football.

Growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, Sam used football as an escape. She even skipped her high school prom, drove two hours to pretend she was at a tournament, just to avoid going with a boy. "Football was always my alibi," she says. "It always allowed me to hide who I was."

But the sport also helped her discover her strengths. A coach saw her potential and moved her from wide receiver to quarterback, a position that demands quick decisions and sharp instincts. Sam thrived, eventually captaining the professional tackle team the Montreal Blitz.

After that audacious football delivery to NFL headquarters, Sam worked her way up to launch the NFL Girls' Flag Football Leadership program in 2009. The program is now sanctioned in 17 states, giving thousands of young women the chance to play competitively.

She didn't stop there. In 2017, Sam started the NFL Women's Forum at the Pro Bowl to connect women working in football with top league executives and teams. By 2025, a record 15 women held full-time coaching positions in the NFL.

Coming out as gay while working at the league office felt risky. When she brought her then-girlfriend to NFL Honors in 2009 and held her hand backstage in front of Commissioner Roger Goodell, he gave her "the biggest bear hug," she says. That moment gave her the confidence to show up as her true self at work.

Why This Inspires

Sam's philosophy is simple but powerful: "People always say, 'What if you fail?' And I really resonate with 'What if you don't?'"

Last year, Sam stepped away from her full-time role as senior director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the NFL to consult with other sports organizations. She's working with the United States Tennis Association and the Premier League to fast-track their progress. "I want them to avoid all of our land mines," she says.

Her biggest victory might be her most recent one. Sam helped secure flag football's inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, ensuring that girls and women will compete on the world's biggest sports stage.

Now married to Emmy-winning sports documentary director Rebecca Gitlitz-Rapoport, Sam jokes that much of her work happens from their living room couch, Big Blue, where the couple "ideate like hell together."

For young girls picking up a football today, the path looks completely different than it did when Sam was using the sport to hide who she was.