Sam Dickey '20 leaned back in his chair and smiled at the question after being asked, "When did you fall in love with the sport of football?"

"I can't really remember a time when football hasn't been the thing I've loved most," he responded.

Dickey's passion for football is undeniable. When he was in second grade, he didn't want to be dragged along to his older brother's football games – he wanted to be playing in them.

"We weren't able to start playing until third grade and my brother is two years older than me," Dickey said. "I remember waking up and going to the side of my parents' bed and begging them to let me sign up early, because I wanted to play so badly."

These days, Dickey no longer needs to beg his parents for the opportunity to play, as he recently signed a contract with the Wassa Royals of the Finnish Maple League, realizing his longtime dream of playing for a living.

Dickey's love of football was nurtured throughout his childhood, where he spent countless hours watching, with family, his hometown New England Patriots dominate the NFL. He played the sport throughout high school and made his way to Kenyon, where the linebacker only saw his love for the sport increase.

He wound up playing in 33 collegiate games. In that time he racked up 244 career tackles, including 22 tackles-for-losses and 10 quarterback sacks. He also forced three fumbles and snared an interception.

"[While playing at Kenyon] the schematics were no longer a nuisance or something that I had to remember, but they started to become more of a chess game and something that I was interested in and wanted to partake in," he said.

After graduating last year, Dickey stuck around this past fall to help coach the Lords as he pondered his next step, hoping that he would have the opportunity to continue his playing career.

"When I was done playing [at Kenyon], I didn't feel like I had given everything I had to the sport yet," he said. "I felt that I still had a lot more potential to grow and I wanted to increase my level of competition."

While on Kenyon's staff, Dickey was first introduced to the European football scene by former Kenyon assistant coach Tom Lachendro, who planted the seed in his mind about the possibilities of playing overseas.

Making the jump into professional football is not easy, however. The top leagues around the world are very challenging to break into. Typically, for players with NCAA Division III backgrounds, the opportunities at those levels are few and far between.

"They're really looking for a lot of ex-NFL, ex-NCAA Division I guys when they want to bring people over, because it is an investment for them. They are paying them a salary and paying for their place to live. Those guys are supposed to be key contributors to the team," he said, "They want to make sure they have a high-caliber athlete from a trustworthy school."

That is not to say that no Division III athletes are able to go over and have success in Europe. A year ago, fellow former North Coast Athletic Conference player, Wittenberg University quarterback Jake Kennedy, made the move to Austria and had great success, leading to a deal with a GFL team. After reaching out to Kennedy, Dickey began to see playing in Europe as something that was a real possibility.

"He basically just gave me the confidence," Dickey said of Kennedy, "He said, listen, your tape is definitely good enough; you just need to get it in front of as many faces as possible."

Dickey decided to put his tape on Euro Players, a database where coaches throughout the world search for American imports to bring overseas to join their teams. Numerous teams had shown some interest in Dickey when the Royals head coach, John Booker, reached out to him. From that point, things came together quickly.

"I was all for the opportunity [with the Royals] because I loved everything that I had learned from the interview process with them and just the feel I got from them."

With his big move to Finland approaching, Dickey certainly harbors some nerves – "I've actually never been to Europe," he admitted – but he is feeling even more excitement, particularly at the prospect of being able to, "completely immerse myself in football without any other extra responsibilities."

He has high expectations for the Royals season, as well. "We're hoping for a championship run, you don't go there to do anything less than that," he said. "I feel like we have a really good chance of it because they went to the semifinals last year and Coach Booker's been telling me that they feel like they got a lot better on defense."

As much as Dickey is looking forward to playing in Europe in the upcoming season, he has even greater ambitions for his future playing career.

"I want to make it back to North America," he said. "If I'm going to be playing for the next five to ten years, I'm going to want it to be in the NFL or the CFL… whether or not I would predict that, definitely not, but whether or not that is my goal, absolutely."

The move to professional football in Europe has put Dickey in rarified air among Kenyon athletes. He believes, however, that other Lords and Ladies can follow his footsteps.

"Coming from a Division III school, you're going to have a lot of self-doubt about whether or not it's the right choice, whether or not you would be good enough," he said. "[But] if it's something that you really want, enough hard work can make any opportunity happen, because, at least for most sports, there are opportunities out there."