section_path: Early life
section_name: Early life
paragraph_text: Early life
  
  Sampson was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina, to parents who were members of the Lumbee Native American community of Deep Branch in Robeson County, North Carolina, in which he was reared. Sampson excelled in the classroom and the athletic arena during his prep days at Pembroke High School, in Pembroke, North Carolina. Sampson was captain of his high school basketball team for two years, and played for his father John W. "Ned" Sampson, who was later named to the UNC Pembroke Athletics Hall of Fame. His father was also one of the 500 Lumbee Native Americans who made national news by driving the Ku Klux Klan out of Maxton, North Carolina in what is annually celebrated by the Lumbee as the Battle of Hayes Pond. Later he played at Pembroke State University (now UNC Pembroke), concentrating on basketball and baseball. He earned four letters in basketball and three in baseball, and was team captain of the basketball team as a senior. He also earned Dean's List recognition throughout his collegiate career and received the Gregory Lowe Memorial Award as the school's outstanding physical education major his senior year.
  
  After earning degrees from Pembroke State in both health and physical education and political science, Sampson pursued his master's degree in coaching and administration at Michigan State University. He left with his degree and a year's experience as a graduate assistant under Jud Heathcote.
  
  Sampson was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina, to parents who were members of the Lumbee Native American community of Deep Branch in Robeson County, North Carolina, in which he was reared. Sampson excelled in the classroom and the athletic arena during his prep days at Pembroke High School, in Pembroke, North Carolina. Sampson was captain of his high school basketball team for two years, and played for his father John W. "Ned" Sampson, who was later named to the UNC Pembroke Athletics Hall of Fame. His father was also one of the 500 Lumbee Native Americans who made national news by driving the Ku Klux Klan out of Maxton, North Carolina in what is annually celebrated by the Lumbee as the Battle of Hayes Pond. Later he played at Pembroke State University (now UNC Pembroke), concentrating on basketball and baseball. He earned four letters in basketball and three in baseball, and was team captain of the basketball team as a senior. He also earned Dean's List recognition throughout his collegiate career and received the Gregory Lowe Memorial Award as the school's outstanding physical education major his senior year.
  
  After earning degrees from Pembroke State in both health and physical education and political science, Sampson pursued his master's degree in coaching and administration at Michigan State University. He left with his degree and a year's experience as a graduate assistant under Jud Heathcote.