Samuel Nesley HALL

While at Ohio State, Sam Hall won the NCAA 3 m springboard championship in 1959 and 1960 and silver in the 1959 Pan American Games 3 m springboard. He also won two AAU outdoor titles and one indoors. Hall actually lettered in four sports at Ohio State – diving, track, gymnastics, and soccer (football). He competed in athletics in the pole vault and javelin and considered trying for the 1960 Olympic team in those events but his diving success made him realize his best chances were in that sport. After the Olympics he enlisted in the Air Force and competed in track & field for them, until a knee injury ended his sports career.

Hall later entered politics and served a term in the Ohio State House of Representatives. He also made some headlines when he fought as a mercenary for the Nicaraguan Contras. He was captured as a “spy” by the Sandanistas but was released within two months. Hall wrote two books of his exploits, not all of which are believed by experts, entitled Danger’s Disciple and Counter-Terrorist. He later entered the real estate business in Florida, where he helped develop condominiums. Hall was known for his wild streak, chasing hurricanes in Florida and tsunamis in Asia, but was also known as a philanthropist and animal lover, he himself claiming to have rescued animals on four continents.