By: Kalvin Tragethon

  Class of 2015 Masco graduate Sam Gordon is following his dreams in the sports world.

  Gordon loved the media and sports throughout his high school career and after he graduated from Masco, he continued his education at Emerson College where he majored in Communications.

  “[Emerson College] is the biggest journalism school in the country. You’d go up to the journalism department and you have an office with some of the equipment, but you also have the control room, where you would do some editing. There’s a beautiful studio. Gordon filmed different shows including “The Box Score'' and "WEBN." He wrote many different pieces including political pieces, film critic pieces and sports pieces and this is when he decided he wanted to do his own thing.

  While in college, Gordon founded his own company called Prime Time Sports Talk, a sports website that features all sports news in the form of articles, podcasts and YouTube shows, covering the latest sports news from America’s major sports.

  “I started [Prime Time Sports Talk] in a conference room right next to my studio,” he said. “We added podcasts, we added writers, we all saved up for the website. It was a well oiled machine and I was surprised how well it ran - especially for being run by a group of college kids.”

  Gordon and his team at Prime Time Sports Talk did interviews with many famous athletes including National Football League legend Joe Namoth, Patriots wide receiver Dion Branch, and Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, just to name a few.

  Through running Prime Time Sports Talk, Gordon was able to enhance his writing and editing skills. He was also able to become a teacher to his peers around him, teaching them how to edit and broadcast. 

  Eventually, the website that Gordon had built had gained popularity and passed WEBN, the Emerson college student-run news station. Gordon and his team won an EVVY at Emerson for representing some of the students' best work at Emerson College.

  “Winning for the website, which all the writers worked nights to help to create the content for and to make it look up to date, was the best.”

  Throughout his life, Gordon has always enjoyed helping others, and he felt that despite the great success he had with Prime Time Sports Talk, that it was time for a change. Gordon started his second company in G2 Sports, a sports agency, which helps negotiate contracts for athletes in football leagues across the country.

  Through starting the agency, Gordon fell in love with arena football. 

  “I fell in love with how players make their way up from [arena football], and I learned that there was more than just one level of football. It was fun, it was fast, it was great, and I placed over 70 players,” said Gordon.

  Through starting out in the agency field, Gordon also learned a lot.

  “As an agent, you work for the player, and you work with a ton of characters, and different personalities, and you learn not to take things too seriously or too personally, which was very hard for me to do at first.” 

  Gordon also stresses the importance of building relationships in all lines of work, which have allowed him to create connections to players like former Patriots wide-receiver David Patten, whose son Gordon now represents as an agent. 

  “It’s all about building relationships, it’s all about networking, having people look at your work and you build up a good reputation that after a while people know who you are. You learn very quickly that you can’t help and please everyone.”

  Gordon was most recently named the general manager of the Cedar Rapids River Kings, a professional indoor football team based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Gordon has always wanted to be the general manager of a football organization. 

  “I’ve always liked leading, I’ve always liked being able to provide opportunities and I’ve always liked giving chances to guys who I know coaches pass up on. I love building a team of any facet.”

  Gordon also loves being able to provide opportunities for players.

  “It’s a lot of fun to call and say ‘We’re gonna offer you a contract’ and some of [the players] start yelling and screaming and some of them start saying ‘I don’t believe you.’ It’s the best feeling in the world.”

  Gordon also describes the difficult parts of the job.

  “The hardest part of all is having to let go of some of those players. It is the worst part of the business, because you don’t want to tell a player he’s going home.”

   Throughout all of his success, Gordon remembers his Masco roots that helped him become the person he is today, including faculty like former Principal Peter Delani and Media Communications and English teacher Michelle Siden. 

  “I’m the sum total of everyone I’ve ever met, and it all started from Mrs. Siden believing in me ten years ago. [She gave] me the opportunity to produce when we had a show every morning. I wouldn’t have trusted me, but she did. It was the best. I loved it. It is still my favorite time.”

   For Gordon, his advice heading into the workforce is simple.

  “Take criticism, always listen and have fun.”