Northwestern University Athletics
Football Game Program Story For Michigan State
10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 29, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - As he walks toward the locker room following practice, Sam Simmons strikes a pose that would hardly be considered classic by football standards.
With his wife Trina flanking him, Simmons pushes a stroller containing his daughter Jada with one hand. The other hand is clasped by Talia, Sam and Trina's older daughter, who is the picture of joy as she wriggles in and out of the grips of her parents.
Watching the scene unfold, one is hard-pressed to see the senior as a receiver who strikes fear into opponents' hearts and electrifies the 'Cat faithful on Saturday afternoons.
In fact, if you take away the football uniform, Sam Simmons looks like a loving husband and a doting father of two.
Which he is.
This story begins not at Northwestern, but at Schlagle High School. Sam Simmons was a star athlete and Trina Anderson-one class ahead of him-was a cheerleader. Anderson graduated in 1997 and moved on to Missouri Western State College, but came back to the Kansas City area after a little while.
Sam, meanwhile, enjoyed a stellar senior football season and signed with Northwestern that February. Things were really looking up.
Then Anderson became pregnant.
"I was so scared," she recalled. "My mother was in total denial at first, she didn't believe it."
After the initial shock, everyone sat down and started considering all of the options.
Well, almost all of the options.
"We knew we were having the baby," said Simmons. "And my parents knew from the start that I had to go to school, regardless of what happened."
"Sam's father and stepmother stepped right up to the plate," said Anderson. "They basically said, 'listen, we know we can't be the child's father, but we will be there in place of Talia's father.' It wasn't like Sam was going away for something minor-this was a chance to make something out of his life and prepare him best for his future.
"For our future."
So Simmons came to Evanston, while Anderson stayed behind. In late October, she gave birth to Talia-with Sam by her bedside. Gary Barnett, the NU coach at the time, allowed Simmons to go home for the birth of his daughter, in the process missing a game against Michigan State.
By that time, the decision had been made to move the family to Evanston.
"It was very important to me to have them up here," said Simmons. "I want to be a great father, the best father in the world, to my wife and my children. It eases a lot of tension I might have if they were back in Kansas City, worrying about them all the time.
"It's the difference between seeing them and not seeing them. To only see them when I'm home on breaks, and not have my kids know me-that would be too hard for me."
At first, the trio lived with Teddy Johnson, who was living with his girlfriend, Jana Ledbetter, and their son, Isiah. Although quarters were tight for the six of them, Anderson acknowledges that it was the best thing for her at the time.
"It helped me out a lot in terms of parenting, because Jana had just been through the stuff I was going through," she said. "But it also kept me from being homesick. I was terribly homesick at first-I have a very close family, and it was the first time I had been away from them. When I moved up here, I didn't know anybody except Sam. Jana was the first friend I had up here."
As with any couple, Simmons and Anderson learned about the ups and downs of raising a child one day at a time-as Anderson says now, "it's like my mom always says: you need to crawl before you learn how to walk."
For Simmons, the balance of being a father with everything else took its toll.
"Going into my sophomore year, I was really struggling academically and on the field," he said. "Talia was about 10 months old, and we had just moved into our own place. That summer, I didn't put her into day care, and I ended up watching her a lot and missing workouts with the team. I didn't prepare myself at all for the season, and I came into camp out of shape. I didn't adjust very well."
The numbers reflect the dropoff. After making his mark as a freshman, Simmons fell into the doghouse with new head coach Randy Walker and struggled to get out of it. He lost his job as the team's kickoff return specialist, and caught just 12 passes before his season ended with a fractured clavicle against Iowa.
The tribulations of 1999 were mere memories last year, though. Simmons re-asserted himself as a game-breaker, catching a team-high 38 passes and averaging 13.1 yards per reception. Wildcat fans remember his heroics, as he caught the last-gasp touchdowns to defeat Minnesota and Michigan on consecutive weekends.
Not all the fantastic news happened on the field, though. He and Trina married on October 21, the team's bye weekend. And Jada, the second daughter for Sam and Trina Simmons, was born in December.
And after crawling with Talia, the family is walking the second time around.
Though they still live in Rogers Park, a lot of their life happens in and around Ryan Field. Trina works as a human resources assistant at Evanston-Northwestern Hospital, practically in the shadows of the football stadium. "Tay-Tay" and "Jada-Boo" are in day care there.
"It's as perfect a situation as you can get," said Trina.
Lately, when Trina gets off work, she brings the kids to the practice fields behind McGaw Hall to pick up daddy. While there, she also gets essentially an extended day care-several of the assistant coaches have young children, as well. Show up at the end of a practice session, and the place is teeming with kids.
"We might lead the Big Ten in terms of little kids running around," says Walker.
While Trina compares notes with the coaches' wives, Talia is the social butterfly. She swings a bat over her head, completely missing a toss from one of the kids' grandfathers, who is in town for the week. When practice ends, she is out by the blocking dummies, working on her form with offensive line coach James Patton. Jada, who is still too young to walk, remains in her carriage, looking pouty until she sees Simmons as he approaches.
"Talia is a handful, she is so social," says Trina. "Jada's just a little mama's girl."
Soon Chasda Martin and Kevin Bentley arrive on the scene. Bentley sees Talia and yells out, "where's my girlfriend?" until Talia sees him and runs over. She is also clearly delighted to see Martin.
"Talia and Jada have about 120 uncles in this program," said Simmons. "But I lived with Chasda for a year, and Talia has a real special bond with him. And she always loves playing with Kevin."
So the big question remains: star player in a Big Ten football program, student at one of the finest academic institutions in the country, father of two, husband-just how does Simmons do it?
"First of all, I have a very understanding and supportive wife," he said. "She understands everything I do and everything I'm trying to do. She's not putting her life on hold, but she has come here because she understands this has been a great opportunity I've been given."
"We are learning as we go along," said Trina. "It was hard before, because I felt a lot of time wasn't always spent with us. But I had to realize, what is the main purpose of us being here in the first place? We would still be in Kansas City if he wasn't here, and I know the outcome all this is going to be good.
"We have gotten through some tough times, and I feel that if we can get through this we'll be able to get through anything."
Having a family to worry about has also given Simmons a mature perspective on life after college.
"I will graduate on time and I will get my degree," said Simmons firmly. "At the same time, I will do my best to try and get into the NFL. But I know how cutthroat the league is, and if it doesn't work out I'll be ready for the real world."
"I pray he gets the opportunity," said Trina. "He has played football all these years, and he deserves to have that opportunity. I don't care if it lasts two days or a week, at least he'll be able to say he experienced it. He played football all his life for this. He deserves it, as a player and as a person."
There is at least one other person who agrees with that sentiment. After starting in Walker's doghouse, Simmons can be assured that he now has his coach's utmost respect.
"I was a married football player in college, but I didn't have to juggle kids and some of the other things that he does," said Walker. "I admire him for his ability to manage it all-it makes a statement about his commitment to his family.
"It's good to be a good football player, and it'll be nice for him to graduate from Northwestern, but I think the most important thing you do in your life is raise a family and be the right thing to your kids," he continued.
"That all starts with character, and Sam has tons of it."
