Sami Grisafe

The most decorated player in the history of women's American football — multiple Women's Football Alliance championships, a quarterback of exceptional ability and a pioneer who has helped build the infrastructure of the professional women's game in the United States.

Samantha Linda "Sami" Grisafe was born on 26 March 1985 in Redlands, California, and began playing football at ten, later becoming the first girl in her community named to a boys' baseball All-Star team during a nine-year youth baseball career. Grisafe made national news in 2001 when she became the first female quarterback in the history of California Interscholastic Federation Division I athletics to compete in a varsity football game, while at Redlands High School. Grisafe joined the Chicago Force of women's tackle football in 2007 while studying dramatic arts at Roosevelt University, developing into one of the finest quarterbacks in the sport's history with a career passer rating of 131.3, and led the Force to the 2013 Women's Football Alliance championship, throwing for a combined 4,301 yards and 57 touchdowns across her final season with Team USA and the Force. Grisafe won gold medals with the U.S. national team at the 2010 and 2013 IFAF Women's World Championships, and has continued a parallel career as a singer-songwriter, recording a song in support of The Trevor Project as an openly gay advocate for LGBTQ+ youth, remaining one of the most accomplished pioneers in the history of women's tackle football.

• Women's Football Alliance Champion multiple times
• Pro Women's Football League All-Star
• Pioneer of women's professional football