Mills’ ‘Keep Pounding’ Motto Opens Door to Hall

Sam Mills joined the expansion Carolina Panthers as a free agent in 1995 and didn’t miss a game in three seasons. He was beloved by then-Panthers owner Jerry Richardson for a reason unknown to his wife, Melanie, who joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

“I don’t know how they got together and why they bonded, but it was immediate,” she recalled in a recent conversation with Hall of Fame Productions. “When they were building the new stadium in 1995, Mr. Richardson took us around and said to Sam, ‘This is the spot where, someday, we will build your statue.’” 

Sam and Melanie met in middle school in Long Branch, N.J. He was a wrestler and football player in high school, but no college offered a scholarship. He went locally to nearby Montclair State and made the team as a walk-on. 

It was Mills’ older brother Wallace who loved and was passionate about football. He saw the potential in Sam, who loved wrestling more. By attending every game that Sam played, Wallace turned around Sam’s outlook on becoming a football player. 

No NFL club’s paid attention to Montclair State, but Sam caught a break with the new USFL’s Philadelphia Stars. Head coach Jim Mora loved the hard-hitting Mills, who later led the defense for two USFL championship teams. 

When Mora became the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, the Mills family – never living more than 60 miles from Long Branch – faced a major decision. Melanie Mills said they agree it “was time to move on.

“New Orleans was wonderful – the people, the team and the food,” she said. “It was our first exposure to the NFL, and it couldn’t have been better.”

The Saints went from the “Aints,” with fans wearing grocery bags over their heads, to a team making the playoff. Mills anchored the “Dome Patrol” defense and was known for his fierce, fighting spirit and hard-hitting force. 

Mora later called Mills “the best player I ever coached.”

With Carolina, Mills provided veteran leadership for the team and ended his 12 NFL seasons starting 92% of all games with over 1,300 tackles, 11 interceptions, 22 forced fumbles and 23 fumble recoveries. Following his playing career, he entered coaching with the Panthers.
 

🎥 Watch Sam Mills' Knock:

In August 2003, at age 43, Mills was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. 

“Sam told us never to lose faith, including that if he didn’t make it to the Hall of Fame, he had accomplished so much in his life he could leave us satisfied,” Melanie said in her sit-down interview at the Super Bowl. 

Sam was told he would live only a few months, but he rallied through the Panthers’ 2003 season run to the Super Bowl. The slogan “Keep Pounding” became their motto and also was used by Sam to inspire cancer patients.

He coached the team for a remarkable 18 months before passing away.

The family described the call from the Hall informing them about Sam’s election as bittersweet.

“I felt that his legacy wasn’t complete, but I could sense it was going to happen when they erected the statute to Sam,” Melanie said. “He got into the Saints’ Ring of Honor, and both of our sons were now on the East Coast close to me.”

And what would Sam have felt, she was asked.

“If he was standing here, he would be crying. But he would have quickly thanked everyone of behalf of all of us, for letting us be part of the fraternity.”