Sam worked for Dietrich Industries as a forklift and heavy equipment operator in Blairsville, Pa., for 19 years. He then worked for a trucking company before driving for Knopp & Klatt Excavation near Ebensburg, Pa.

He died in a truck accident in Munster Township, Cambria Co., Pa. Sam was driving a tri-axle truck with a raised dump bed eastbound on Route 22, when the bed struck an overpass under Cooney Road, causing the vehicle to flip and then the cab to cave in.