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NFL or Storm, Samuels family shares in glory

Lawrence Samuels gets support from brother Chris, a Redskins tackle.

By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 17, 2002

Lawrence Samuels shared MVP honors with quarterback Shane Stafford after the Storm's 66-53 victory over Chicago on Friday, but the vote could have been split another way.

Tampa Bay had a secret weapon in Samuels' younger brother, Chris, a Washington Redskins tackle who was in the Ice Palace stands jawing with Chicago defensive backs Tristan Moss and Dameon Porter.

"You can't hold my brother," Chris yelled after Lawrence stretched over Moss to catch a second-quarter touchdown.

"Your turn, your turn," Chris mocked later, when Porter tried to cover Lawrence.

After Lawrence beat Porter on a deep post early in the fourth quarter, he tossed his brother the ball. Chris couldn't resist one last dig.

"Porter, you going to sign this for me?" he asked, eliciting a laugh from the Chicago player.

The barbs were Chris' way of thanking his brother.

Lawrence, at 32 the second-oldest of four brothers and seven years older than Chris, taught his brother to play football and gave him an example to follow throughout his professional life.

Lawrence taught Chris how to run the ball, stiff-arm and catch when Chris played park ball (similar to Pop Warner) in Mobile, Ala. The lessons continue, though Chris is now a 6-foot-5, 303-pound lineman, and his brother's suggestions have more to do with blocking than receiving.

Lawrence was in the green room with the rest of his family when the Redskins chose Chris, a first-team All-American and the Outland Trophy winner at Alabama, with the third pick of the 2000 draft.

"That was a real high point in our family's lives," Lawrence said. "We all came together and got to experience something that was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, to get somebody in your family drafted, especially that high. It was just a very exciting feeling."

Lawrence, who, in his brother's words, "has always been the best at his position," had a similar NFL dream.

But he thinks he might have hurt his chances by playing only one year of high school football and attending Division II Livingston University. Lawrence was a basketball star at John S. Shaw High, and his mother worried about him getting injured in football because of his slight build.

Lawrence got a few calls from NFL teams, "but it just didn't really pan out in my direction," he said.

Chris learned from his brother's struggles.

"If my brother would have made it, he probably would have given me a lot of money and I wouldn't have worked as hard to make it to this league," Chris said. "It would have spoiled me, in a sense."

The boys were anything but spoiled as children.

Their father, James, was disabled after a series of car accidents that at one time left him in a full body cast. Their mother, Shirley, worked two or three jobs until she fell off a ladder, injuring her back, while Chris was in college.

Chris remembers washing and wearing T-shirts his older brother, Dexter, wore just days earlier.

"I always knew what it was like to struggle," Chris said.

Chris still thinks Lawrence, a ninth-year Arena League wide receiver/linebacker who rejoined the Storm this season after one year in New Jersey, has NFL talent.

"I think he could have developed into a player of Jerry Rice's caliber," Chris said. "He just never had the opportunity to make it."

Chris and Dexter were in town last weekend to watch the Chicago game and visit Lawrence, his wife, Kellei, and their daughter, Landry.

Lawrence didn't disappoint, catching 9 passes for 88 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also forced two fumbles, recovering one, to earn Ironman and co-MVP honors.

Plays like those are why coach Tim Marcum re-signed him in the offseason.

"That's what he's done in the past," Marcum said. "The first turnover, he made the play on his own, ripping the ball out. That's what he does, and he caught a ton of balls."

The victory allowed the Storm to avoid the first 0-4 start in franchise history.

"Any time you win, it's a good thing," Lawrence said. "Being an 0-3 team at this point in the season, you really want to start getting on a winning track and it was a very important win for us."

Lawrence is listed as probable for tonight's game at Los Angeles after a high ankle sprain in the second half of the Chicago game. A defender fell on the ankle, twisting it, after a short catch.

"I managed to make a play or two limping out there," Lawrence joked.

And his brother was there, yapping all the way.

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