A Princeton Sports Family: Sam Massick '25

There was always a high emphasis on academics for Sam Massick and his sister, Laine, through childhood.

"I'm really grateful for that," said Massick, the senior placekicker on the Princeton Football team. "It's something that in talking with a lot of my friends who come from different backgrounds weren't exposed to the same sort of academic experience and pushed the same way I was."

It shouldn't be a total surprise that Sam and Laine's parents would do that …

They are Princeton alums, after all.

Dr. Susan Massick '93 is a Clinical Associate of Dermatology at the Ohio State University while Dr. Doug Massick '93 is an ear, nose and throat doctor in Columbus, Ohio. Doug played fullback at Princeton and was a member of the 1992 Ivy League champions.

The Massicks pushed their children to be the best they can be in everything whether it was schoolwork, extracurriculars like violin, soccer, football, chess.

"We encouraged Sam and Lainie from an early age to explore their passions and glean all the life lessons of hard work, grit, resilience, respect, and kindness over wins and losses that they could," Susan and Doug Massick shared. "As they grew older, Sam, in playing for the Columbus Crew MLS Academy soccer team, and Lainie, on the fencing circuit, realized how important self-motivation and commitment were to success."

High school was a little chaotic as Sam would play both soccer and football. Soccer, his first passion, was a priority as he only attended one or two football practices a week because he was playing for the Crew's Academy Team.

Playing both soccer and football came to a head during Massick's sophomore campaign. As the idea of looking at colleges started to grow and after having a successful football season, the future Tiger made the decision to stick with the pigskin.

Massick did the college visit tour and the kicking camp circuit. On his official visit to Princeton, Steve Verbit picked him up from the airport, the same guy who was the recruiting coordinator when his father was doing the same thing.

Massick got some offers from Ivy schools but decided to walk on to Princeton.

"I think one of the reasons I decided to go to Princeton was the special bond I had with this place," said Massick. "My first memory of any college was being at the P-Rade at my parent's 15th year reunion. My parents never pushed me to go to Princeton, but once you're exposed to it, when push came to shove, it was an easy decision."

"I've known Sam for a long time, having been teammates with his father, Doug," said Princeton head coach Bob Surace. "Sam had a late start to football and was a terrific soccer player growing up and still is an exceptional chess player. His field goal accuracy has been tremendous as it is rare for him to not have a kick through the center of the uprights."

Massick's first year at Princeton wasn't easy. He graduated high school in 2020 and took a gap year with the COVID-19 pandemic at its heightened stage. During his gap year, he did semesters with the Pacific Discovery program in Hawaii and Barcelona.

"It was a culture shock," said Massick about his freshman year. "You come in and you're like wow, everyone here is so smart. For our first dorm meeting, I met a few people that were Olympians (one of which was Maia Weintraub, a future gold medal winner)."

When Massick stepped on the field as a freshman, he started as the fourth-string kicker.
"That's the nature of the beast," said Massick. "It was a challenge though because it was the first time in my life I had ever been fourth string."

Massick played once as a freshman in a 63-0 victory over Stetson and once as a sophomore, making three point-after attempts against Cornell. Despite only seeing action in two games in his first two seasons, Massick kept pushing through.

"I have an innate drive to get better," said Massick about his first two seasons. "I wasn't playing, obviously, but I could still try to and improve. The internal struggle to get better helps motivate me."

Massick saw more time as a junior, knocking down 19-of-20 PATs. This season, he's seen even more action, hitting three field goals and 22 PATs.

"It's something that you work for," said Massick about his uptick in playing time. "You only get 10 games because that's nature of Ivy League football. You get 10 chances every season which is why you go to workouts in the winter, you go to lift in spring, and why you take your footballs to wherever you're working in the summer to kick."

Massick has two courses of action set up for life after Princeton. He's done his pre-med course work if he wants to go that route, but he's also considering a career in finance. Regardless of what he chooses, he knows the Princeton network will always be willing to help.

"Just getting to know the alums and reaching out for guidance has been one of the coolest parts about Princeton," said the School of Public and International Affairs major. "The alumni network is one of the biggest advantages that Princeton has over anywhere else. There has never been an alum that I've cold called who hasn't tried to help me. It's been unbelievable."

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