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Editor in Chief
IG: @jolie.rebecca
Most people may never get a chance to meet their favorite professional athlete.
For Becky Rogers, Administrative Assistant to the President at Hutchinson Community College, her favorite professional athlete happens to be her son.
Her son, Sam Rogers, is a defensive center back for the Chicago Fire, a Major League Soccer team.
“He started out wanting to play football but he didn’t have a lot of meat on his bones. So his dad said ‘no way’,” Becky said.
Thus began a years long career in soccer, ending up with Sam playing in Norway and now in Chicago.
Right behind him, the entire way, was his mom.
“She was always there and always a huge supporter,” Sam said. “She would always make sure I was at training, at practices, always went to my games. I can’t even count the number of hours we spent driving to games and everything
Sam credits his mom with being a huge reason he’s gotten to where he is as a professional athlete.
“She’s a huge reason why I’ve gotten to where I’m at today,” Sam said. “Just knowing that she was always gonna make it work for me made me appreciate playing so much more.”
Even working full time, Becky managed to always show up for Sam.
“She always found a way to be there, even when she was working non-stop, she was there picking me up or dropping me off,” he said.
Becky always saw the importance of showing up for Sam, through every aspect of his life.
“I think involved parents, the more consistent your kid is growing up and the longer they stay in the sport or whatever, theater, whatever it is, whatever your child is passionate about, I think you appreciate that passion. But you also deeply feel when things don’t go right,” Becky said.
“It has been a great, great joy … to watch him succeed and triumph over the failures and injuries and never losing sight of that goal. He had a full ride to Villanova but his mind wasn’t there. He wanted to focus on soccer.”
Becky’s support during that time in his life meant a lot to Sam.
“She was all on board, very supportive. She could’ve easily been completely against it and made me feel like there would be no way I could do this but she was quite the opposite,” he said. “She always told me, you can go to school anytime, after you’re done playing, during, but you only have a short time to play professionally.”
After Sam decided to forgo playing soccer and studying engineering at Villanova, he signed his first professional contract with the Seattle Sounders.
In 2021 Sam signed with HamKam, a second-tier team in Hamar, Norway, on loan. In 2022 he was transferred to Rosenberg Ballklub.
While with Rosenberg, he accomplished a relatively rare feat for a soccer player, especially a defenseman.
“There was a time in Norway when she came to visit me, in the summer of 2022. I went to Norway the year before, which was COVID, so she hadn’t actually seen me play for a couple years,” he said. “So it was the first time she got to come see a game in at least maybe two years and I scored a hat trick. It was super cool to have her there while that happened because it’s probably the only time I’ll ever do that in my career.”
That memory is one of both Sam and Becky’s fondest memories.
“It was unbelievable. The first goal was, you know, like, oh, God, you scored. The hat trick was in disbelief,” Becky said “I was just so proud.”
In Aug. 2023, Sam signed with the Lillestrøm Sportsklubb, a Norwegian club, based out of Lillestrom.
He continued with his career in Norway before coming back to the United States and signing with the Chicago Fire in January of this year. This season, Sam has started seven times and played in eight games. Sam leads the Fire with a 92% pass rate. He’s coached by Gregg Berhalter, who led the United States men’s team to the 2022 World Cup and a place in second round.
While Sam’s professional career is impressive, Becky isn’t just proud of him as an athlete but as a person.
“I have to say that as a parent I am happy to have watched him grow into a really good person and that I truly, truly like him as a person, even if he wasn’t my kid,” she said.
All photos of Sam Rogers with the Chicago Fire FC were provided via Instagram.
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