Sam Champion Stories

I graduated in 1999 but i almost did not. Mr champion is a big reason i did. I was a senior and i gues i thought no one can touch me and thought i am a senior now so i thought i would make my last year in high school a memorable one. I had been hanging out with a certain click of friends for a while and lets just say at the time these were not the most ambitious. We ditched school, got in trouble in school and i cant tell you how many times i had to go to saturday school for excessive tardies. I was just on the wrong track. I didnt seem to care about my future but mr champion gave me chance after chance because i guess he saw something in me and he knew i had ambition. he just knew i was hanging around the wrong crowd. I really didnt see them as the wrong crowd at the time but now i see. I owe alot to mr champion but this story has stood out to me becuase he didnt have to give me so many chances but he was a compassionate man who knew people make mistakes, its just what you learn from them that makes you who you are. These days I dont talk to that bad crowd anymore and i am married and work as an academic advisor at TAMUK.

We got to know Coach Champion when he was pretty young as he coached our Hobbs Eagles. He was inspiring in the classroom as well as on the field with athletes. He always had us thinking about science and life subjects in different ways and always had a door open if we needed a little help. It's been quite a few years, but here is a funny story to the best of my memory.

i remember at the end of the year mr. champion put sand by the office and set up a beach scene. he layed in his little chair and had white sun block on his nose. he would just wave at everyone as they walked by. sam champion was always joyous. he loved what he did and loved people. he was an inspiration to me and i wish i would have paid more attention to those tiny moments of his life i seemed to let pass by as i was in school. boerne will never be the same without him.

joe.

I was in 5th grade when I met Sam. He was the first adult that I met in Boerne and I knew from the first moment that if I had any problems that I could go to see him. Sam had such a zest for life, a pure love for what he did, it was contagious. Being new to the town was not easy and Sam was there to keep my spirits up. I remember he would stand at the corner of the gym of the new Middle school when I was in 6th and 7th grades and he would ask how our day was going, and because he really wanted to know, he would wait for us to answer, not just move to the next person. He would keep our energies up to get us through the next class if we were having a bad day and make a pep rally anything but boring. It was difficult when he moved to the high school and my family ended up moving back to San Antonio. I never did have an administrator that could even get close to the understanding and caring that I got from Sam Champion. I think that Sam's energy and love for students and their trials and tribulations has been my reason for being the kind of teacher that I am today.

Sam Champion was a teacher and assistant football coach at Hobbs (New Mexico) Senior High school from 1980 - 1982. I played for him for two years, and took biology with him.

He was an exceptional teacher, a great coach, and (above all) a GREAT human being.

Today, I am a professor and educator. I think of him and his example frequently. He was demanding, compassionate, and fun. His classes were exciting, and he made us feel like we were exploring new territory with him every day.

He would always joke with us that he wanted a son named "Chip." That way, when his name was on a list in alphabetical order, it would read "Champion Chip!" HE thought it was a funny line, and the fact that he thought it was funny made US think it was funny.

I frequently send out mass emails to family and friends updating them of our family's big events. I have 4 children, one with special needs, so the updates go out pretty often. I always included Coach Champion in the family emails over the years because I truly felt he was part of our family.

When I left Texas so many years ago, I stayed in touch with as many people at BHS as I could. I got to visit Coach a few times and even made sure I introduced him to my future husband on my last visit to Boerne a couple of years ago. As I started to have children, I sent Coach the birth announcemnts and fun stories of me running after little people. Coach always responded to my emails. He always made a point of supporting our family across the miles. Coach offered prayers as my son deteriorated after his vaccine injury. I am so thankful that someone I knew for just those four short high school years was truly happy to be a part of my little family.

Hey everyone,

Any of you who attended the memorial got to hear the story about how Mr. Champion chased me and my buddies down the street with a fire extinguisher after doorbell ditching him. You got to hear about what an impact he made in my life. How I went from a troubled student, to now the youngest school board member in Boerne ISD at age 21.

But the reason that I want to contact many of you that have written on this website is because along with Stan Leech, Susan Allen, and hopefully in the very near future the cibolo arts council, I am trying to sell bricks for the Sam Champion monument that will be placed in the courtyard of the new campus. Bricks are $100 dollars, and we would greatly appreciate your consideration.

If you would like to contact me and be a part of building this 14 foot high 13 foot wide monument in memorial of our beloved teacher, coach, and principal feel free to call me on my cell phone or send me an e-mail. I really need the help of the former students in financially supporting this project. Please contact me!

Thanks,

Erik Thormaehlen
210-279-7921
erikforbisd@yahoo.com

Man do I remember Coach Champion. He judged my insane 8th grade science project one year and told me my project proofs were lacking but the idea was incredible. At first I was upset, but later I realized he was motivating me to make the idea better by putting my best efforts forward. He left me with a big smile,a firm handshake and a more determined heart. I haven't lived in Boerne in 20 years and yet his impact on me and others is obviously is far reaching. I traveled back to Boerne yesterday and saw HIS high schools, both of them! Rest easy in Christ Coach and love be your family.
mikej1212@gmail.com

As I read everybody's comment on this website, it really makes me convinced that he has been a home of everybody's heart. Highscool time is a crucial part of adolescence, everybody needs a consulting and guidence from a wise and heart warming person like him. I was not an exception. As an exchange student from Japan, in the land where I was a stranger, he made me feel very secure and home about the new high school life I was encountering in a foreign land.

Even many years passed since my graduation, he has provided me often "hilarious" emails with a lots of Texan humore and made me feel I was still a part of the Boerne High community.

I visited Boerne and met him again in the summer of 2001, in order to get an "approval" to marry to my fiancee. He was very very pleased with seeing my fiancee and said "O No, Yoichi! She is too pretty for you!" I cannot forget that smile in his face, and made me feel so sad that it was the last smile I could have ever seen.

Coach, you have been the home of everybody's heart and you forever will be.

Sitting in class every morning with announcements over the P.A. going in one ear and out the other, one thing was repeated daily as Mr. Champion signed off, "Do the right thing." This phrase runs through my head constantly after being imprinted there by a great man who always lived up to those words. Mr. Champion will be missed, his ability to balance authority and friendship is rare and can never be matched. He was special and his example touched the lives of so many people passing through Boerne and BHS. I can only be thankful such a man has been an example of friendliness, positivity and perserverance in my life. Comfort and prayers for his family and friends.

I just remember that he took the time to send me a message that said "You make a difference at Boerne High School." He didn't have to do that, but he sincerely believed that every student at that school was important, and each of us made that school what it was. When I read that message it put a smile on my face. It made me feel important. He will definitely be missed.

I met Sam Champion in the spring of 2002 when we were both on the Extra Curricular Council Committee together. I was searching for a way to help the students at our school and had come up with a club day idea that I thought might work. I explained it but I needed help with the funding. He came up to me right after the meeting and offered to help in any way he could. I wasn't sure if he was serious so a few weeks later I called him to see if he could help me buy some chess boards and/or basketballs to help with the clubs. Not but a few days later he shows up with chess boards, basketballs and wanted to know if there was anything else we needed to make this work. Once Club Day really got going he would come over and join in on a game of chess with a few of my studetns. He was so much fun and a great role model for my students and for me. I will be forever left with the memory of his smiling face and enduring care and concern for others. He would even order special pins for our 5th graders to give out to the Veterans at the Veteran's Day Celebrations on Veteran's Day.

Empowering.

He empowered everyone he touched. I will carry you in my heart by trying to do the same.

God Bless, my friend.

Ryan

My Sam was a 5th grader when we arrived in Boerne. I remember when he became a freshman and we sat in the auditorium listening to Mr. Champion tell about how much he cared for each and every student. I had never heard a principal so openly express his love for his students. I was impressed. As my three children went through Boerne Mr. Champion's influence was noticed. Few teachers or principals take the time to get to know each and every student as he did.

I appreciate having known him and he will be missed for his great contributions he made to the community. Not only did I admire him as a person, principal, but also as a fellow member of our wonderful BISD staff.

I don't have a specific story to tell, but would like to say how Mr. Champion guided me through high school. Many know of my personal struggles and Mr. Champion was one of the only people who always unconditionally gave me support and was always my friend. Sam somehow found a way to touch so many lives and help us find our dreams or at least point us in the right direction. I know for a fact without this man in my life I could have ended up dead or a total failure. His warmth and compassion showed me there were souls that care and working to help others realize their dreams or guide them in one of the most turbulent times of our lives. I am so sad that this great man is gone, but I know he has touched me and countless others, his time on this earth made an enormous differnce in the lives of so many that he will always live on in all of us.

When I was a senior in high school, I was on the girls basketball team and we went to state for the first time I think ever, coached by Richard Herbst (who is still there now, in 2000,that was his first year to coach in Boerne). But when we enterd the Playoffs, Mr. Champion was so supportive of us, he would bring his whole family to every game. (In every sport I think he attended every single game there ever was!)He cheered us to the top, all the way to state that year, and had pep rallies for us and he even did back flips on the gym floor!He was very active in the athletic programs and it was awesome to have a principal put such emphasis on sports and not just academics. But he encouraged us all to be all around students. I will never forget his positive attitude and the way he made every one feel special. He was always there anytime you needed someone to talk to and gave great advice if you needed it. He encouraged me to fulfill my dreams whatever they may be. He was one of a kind, he had so much impact on everyone he came into contact with, he is truely unforgettable. I think that it is awesome they named a school after him, and am proud to have known him.

I remember my first day at Boerne, my Sophomore year! He pulled me into his office and told me that if there was anything that I needed to come to him, and he meant it! I had NEVER seen a principle do that before! He was always so glad to see you and could remember everyone's names that was in school. How he did that I will never know, it was amazing.

He was always dressed up for Spirit Week! I remember one year he camped outside all day in shorts under an umbrella with sand...in case you weren't there that year or forgot...It was REALLY, REALLY cold! He was such a trooper and made an appearance at EVERY sporting event at Boerne. It didn't matter if it was a freshman game or a varsity game or an all day track or swim meet, he made it!

The Boerne school district will not be the same without him and I feel for the kids that will never get to know Coach Champion.

God Bless You, Coach!