Samantha Rapoport

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).

Football career

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] 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] 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.^[5] She left the NFL to work for USA Football, to try get more women around the world playing football.^[6] 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.^[7]

References

1. ROB MAADDI (2022-11-18). "Analysis: NFL's appeal to women isn't about pink jerseys". ABC 6 News - kaaltv.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
2. "NFL to train women for coaching, scouting roles". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
3. Smith, Cam (2017-03-31). "Girls Sports Month: NFL Director of Football Development Samantha Rapaport on growing the game and following passion in your profession". USA Today. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
4. Rose, Sydney Page & Aaron (2016-09-27). "In conversation with NFL Director of Football Development Samantha Rapoport | The McGill Tribune". The McGill Tribune. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
5. Frank, Vincent. "NFL Names Sam Rapoport Director Of Football Development". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
6. "Aiming for a touchdown for gender equality". Retrieved 2017-02-27.
7. Dillman, Lisa; Vardon, Joe; Jones, Lindsay (2020-11-04). "Who will be the next female GM in pro sports?". The Athletic. Retrieved 2022-12-02.