9 Year Old Sam Gordon Is The First Female Football Player To Grace The Wheaties Box

She may not yet be in high school yet but 9 year old Samantha Gordon from Utah is already causing a stir in the football world. Her story went viral a couple of weeks ago when her dad Brent posted a video on Youtube of her play highlights, getting over 2 million views in a short amount of time. The original video has since been removed but a search of “Sam Gordon Football Highlights” on Youtube will show you how quickly this young girl’s athleticism caused a stir in the media.

Well now she is taking that ball and running the long yard because something very cool just happened. Wheaties have put her on their cereal box! You may think “eh, what’s the biggie?” but in the world of athletics it’s a huge one. Wheaties cereal is synonymous for featuring world class athletes on their boxes such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Not only is the youngest athlete, but the first female football player to grace the cardboard cover. Go Sam!

She has done countless interviews on major TV shows nationally, and it is very impressive to see how she is handling all this attention, including an appearance on Good Morning America which you can see below.

In an interview with ESPN, when asked if she thinks it’s “cool” to be on the Wheaties cereal box, Sam said “yes”, mostly because she is glad for the opportunity to show other young girls that football is not just a boys’ sport, they can play too.

The 9 year old initially got bitten by the bug when she would go with her parents to pick up older brother Max from football training. She would do all the running drills with him out of boredom and started beating all his teammates. After realizing how fast she was, Sam tried out for the team and was successful. Her speed on the field has earned her the nickname ‘Sweet Feet’.

Her friends at school are really thrilled for her new-found fame, but as for the other boys on the team, they don’t hate or bully her, they just sometimes get a little upset at being beaten by a girl!

Fun Fact: Sam’s favorite sport is not football, it’s actually soccer! She caught the attention of US Olympian Abby Wambach who tweeted the pint-sized speed demon calling her a #trendsetter. The soccer star declared she was a fan of Sam’s and didn’t hold back boasting about what a champion the young girl was for dominating in a sport that is mostly played by men and boys.

Watch Sam talk about her Wheaties box and her love of football with the GMA team below, as well as a video of her on-the-field footage that started all the viral attention: