The inspiring story of an extraordinary man who was told all his life he was too small to play linebacker. But his indomitable desire and undeniable talents would make him among the best to ever play, transforming three pro football franchises and taking him all the way to the Hall of Fame
Sam Mills was an underdog his whole life, but would not let anything stop him. All he asked for was “a chance to fail.”
Born into a large working-class family in the projects of North Jersey, Mills fell in love with football on the hardscrabble empty lots where he played tackle games with his friends. He was almost always the shortest player, but as he began to play the game competitively, it became clear he could move faster than any other linebacker—and hit harder than anyone else on the field.
Despite his on-field success and chiseled physique, Mills faced hurdles at every level because of his stature: his first high school coach initially wouldn’t play him, no major college would recruit him, and the NFL wouldn’t draft him—or even take him on as an undrafted free agent. But his irrepressible passion for the game would not be denied, driving him to blaze a unique career path.
Veteran journalist and Hall of Fame Selector Paul Domowitch brings Mills’ extraordinary life and the fast-evolving era he played into vivid focus. From his humble origins to his emergence as an all-star champion in the startup USFL, to becoming the centerpiece of the legendary Dome Patrol defense that transformed the NFL’s laughingstock New Orleans Saints into a contender, to his pinnacle as the All Pro leader of the expansion Carolina Panthers, where his foundational contributions are commemorated today in a retired jersey and a statue outside the stadium. Along the way Domowitch brings to life the details of the players, coaches, and teams on whom Mills left his mark before his tragic death from cancer—and his role in radically transforming the linebacker position in the pro game’s fast-evolving era of the 1980s and -90s that led to today’s pass-focused NFL.
Gripping, insightful, and uplifting, Just Give Me a Chance to Fail is a book for every fan of pro football—and anyone who believes success begins with just getting a chance.
Accompanied by a section photographs illustrating this extraordinary life
