Samstrong Founder Sam Featherstone Has Passed Away – Eric’s Game With Sam

His amazing dedication to help others in his time of suffering was an inspiration to many.  Sam Featherstone, the teenage founder of Samstrong.org has passed away at the age of 19, on the heels of a fundraising event that raised over $183,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The Samstong Facebook page posted the following on Wednesday morning:

God received another Angel this morning.... Sam Featherstone, you have given so many gifts to the world. Your selflessness and love for all will forever live on in our hearts.

His death comes less than a week after the Samstrong benefit held at St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh, where supporters helped Sam raise $183,381, not for his own suffering, but for the kids of St. Jude.

I don't know Sam well, but I think his passion for helping others shines through whether you know him or not.  My one encounter I can share happened in June at our annual Putt Fore Life event.  Sam and his family came to play mini-golf and to support St. Jude.  I was acting as one of the celebrity putters all evening, while taking donations to go head-to-head on a certain hole.  The best I had done all day was tie my challengers, until Sam walked up.  I asked him if he'd like me to go first, or if he'd like to start.  He let me go, and with one swing of the club, I nailed my first hole-in-one of the day.  Red-faced, I told him to try, and he was unsuccessful.  That's right, the only person I beat all day was the one person that was a St. Jude patient.  We both laughed it off and talked about his plans for college, but little did either of us know that those plans would never materialize.  I didn't hear anymore about Sam until it was too late for a re-match, but I'm sure he'd have won the next round.

Thanks Sam, keep watch on us and those precious angels gone too soon from St. Jude.