Hall of Fame welcomes inspirational ‘Field Mouse,’ Sam Mills

By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The story of a 5-foot-9 NFL linebacker nicknamed Field Mouse will be featured in Canton, Ohio, this weekend when the late Sam Mills is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Mills played Division III college football and was not drafted. That made his rise to stardom with the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers all the more remarkable. Jim Mora was Mills’ head coach in the USFL and in New Orleans. Mora says those who saw Mills as an overachiever missed the fact that he “was just that good.” Mills was a Carolina assistant coach when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. That season he coined the Panthers’ motto, “Keep pounding.”