Sam McGuffie clears all hurdles in transition from football to bobsled

A decade ago, Sam McGuffie was best known for hurdling ballcarriers in a single bound as a running back for Cy-Fair High School and one of social media's first YouTube/MySpace viral video sensations.

Today, in the equally rough-and-tumble world of bobsled, McGuffie answers to the nickname "Sammy No Fingers," a barbed tribute to a moment that could have been career-ending but for McGuffie is just another click on his continuing transition between summer, fall and winter sports.

"I take on new sports as a challenge pretty well," he said in a recent interview. "I like to learn something new and be the best at it.

"That's what I tried to do with bobsled. It's a speed and power sport, two things I do pretty well at."

These days, McGuffie, 29, is in winter sports mode, preparing to represent the United States in the two- and four-man bobsled at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics that begin with Friday's Opening Ceremony.

He hopes to become the third Texas athlete in the sport to medal, joining 2002 silver medalist Todd Hays of Del Rio, a three-time Olympian who played in the Canadian Football League and was a professional kickboxing champion, and 2010 gold medalist Justin Olsen of San Antonio, a former Air Force tight end who also will compete for the U.S. in South Korea.

After the Winter Olympics, McGuffie may take a crack at rugby sevens, which could lead to a Summer Olympics berth. Or he may transition from brakeman to driver, joining Hays and Olsen in moving from pusher to the front seat in the sled.

Or he may take another crack at pro football. He had brief stints with three NFL teams and a CFL team but has never played in a regular-season game after his college days at Michigan and Rice.

Under any circumstances, he's likely to continue his apparently natural ability for making the improbable seem routine.

A star turn is launched

McGuffie first attracted attention at Cy-Fair, where he ran for 3,121 yards and 44 touchdowns as a junior in 2006 and drew attention for his acrobatic running style.

On one play against Cypress Creek, he planted his left foot at the 15-yard line, launched himself 4 feet into the air over a defender, stepping on his back, landed on his left foot at the 11 and raced into the end zone to complete his seventh of eight touchdowns on the night.

"It was just reaction," he said at the time.

Video of the play racked up hundreds of thousands of views on what was a relatively new group of streaming platforms. A French fan praised him as a "petit prodige," a little prodigy of American football.

"People still bring it up," he said last month. "I guess that's how I'll be remembered, for jumping over people."

McGuffie signed with Michigan but suffered three concussions as a freshman and transferred to Rice, where he became the first Owls player to top a thousand career yards both as a receiver and runner. He also medaled in Conference USA track meets in the long jump (outdoor) and heptathlon (indoor).

After he was unable to catch on with the Raiders, Cardinals and Patriots or the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a coach at Rice suggested he try bobsledding.

His first trip in 2015 down the track at Lake Placid, N.Y., site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, riding behind 2010 Olympic gold medal-winning driver Steven Holcomb, opened his eyes and rattled his bones.

"It's totally different than you think," he said. "You'd think it would be a joy ride, but it's totally full-out violent - like being put in a garbage can and kicked down a flight of stairs for a minute."

He survived the initial run down the track and impressed coaches with his speed and power, setting USA Bobsled records for vertical leap and the 30-yard sprint, and was named to the national team in 2015.

Life as a push athlete, McGuffie said, is not unlike that of a running back.

"It's all explosive movements," he said. "You've got to explode off the block and hit a thousand-pound sled and get it moving down the track.

"Cohesion is important, hitting the sled at the same time. That's one of the most difficult things along with loading into the sled. If you're too late or too early, you're stringing somebody out to dry."

Nonchalant about accident

And there are other hazards associated with 400-pound sleds with razor-sharp metal runners. While unloading a sled in February 2016, he sliced his fingertips, an accident he described in manner-of-fact fashion in an interview recently with CBS Sports Radio host Jim Rome.

"We were loading the sled and I came off too fast while loading it onto the doc and it chopped the middle of my fingers," he said. "They call me 'Sammy No Fingers.' It's kinda funny.

"I didn't lose, like, the whole thing, just the tips of them."

While he continues to feel the impact of the injury, McGuffie recovered sufficiently to win five medals in World Cup events, including two gold medals in races at Lake Placid while pushing for Holcomb, the 2010 gold medalist who died earlier this year.

He will race in South Korea with driver Codie Bascue of Whitehall, N.Y., joining Evan Weinstock of Las Vegas and Steve Langton of Melrose, Mass., on Bascue's four-man sled.

McGuffie said he has tried gymnastics, karate, baseball, basketball, BMX cycling and surfing, among other sports. He said he scored 65 tries, rugby's equivalent of a touchdown, in his first season in the sport with a team in Akron, Ohio.

"It felt sort of natural, like running pitch sweep over and over again," he said. "But I've got a lot to learn with rugby."

After the Olympics, he said he might try to qualify for the USA Rugby sevens national team or focus on bobsled as a driver. Football also is a possibility. He said he weighs 210 pounds, about 20 pounds over his college weight, but still has 4.3-second speed at 40 yards.

"I think I can still play the game," he said. "We'll see after this what my prospects are."

For the moment, he's happy to be a winter athlete from a state that doesn't have much in the way of snow and ice.

"Houston is my home, and I'm excited to get this opportunity," he said. "It's going to be one of the biggest things in my life to represent the United States at the Olympics in Korea."