Whatever happened to ... the one-time spy with many interests?

By Kelley Benham, Times Staff Writer
Published February 24, 2008

Sam Hall has come to the aid of many animals - from pets abandoned after Hurricane Charley to harp seals and buffalo.
	[Jamie Francis | Times (2004)]

"The Salvation of Sam"; Sept. 19, 2004;
See past coverage at life.tampabay.com.

THE STORY: Sam Hall, condo developer, former counterterrorist spy and all-around adventurer, was bored silly by the life of a rich Belleair Shore retiree. He set out to put his money and mettle to better use - rescuing animals after Hurricane Charley.

FROM THE STORY: If you've heard of Sam Hall, it's either because of the condos or because of the spy thing. In December 1986 he was captured at a Nicaraguan military base with a map in his left sock.

As great a story as that was, it has already been told. . . . He wrote a book about it, called Counter Terrorist, in which he is shot, bayonetted, divorced three times and born again. The book covers his 1960 silver medal in the Rome Olympics and his "mostly boring" term in the Ohio House of Representatives. He then rescues 19 children from terrorists in Angola, leads rebel forces into Nicaragua and ultimately spends 47 days in an underground Sandinista prison.

THE REST OF THE STORY: Now almost 71 and still unable to act like it, Sam has traveled to the North Pole to help stop the killing of baby harp seals, studied animals in Kenya, rounded up buffalo, wild stallions and stranded cows, and traveled to Israel and Lebanon to rescue animals left behind in the war.

He successfully climbed the Grand Tetons, Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. He made a 2006 attempt at Mount Everest, "to see what I was made of." Around Day 11, he told the guide: "I just want to make it to that one insignificant peak."

"You miserable bastard," the guide said, "there are no insignificant peaks in the Himalayas."

He planted his flag at 20,000 feet, then was medically evacuated with partial blindness in one eye, two frostbitten fingers, gastroenteritis, loss of coordination, vomiting and three separated ribs.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Sam aspires to be a motivational speaker, on topics such as "you are more capable than you'll ever know" and "picking romantic danger over safe boredom." He has a new Web site, samnhall.com, and can be contacted there. His second book, Danger's Disciple, is due out later this year.

He is planning an expedition to the South Pole, and he hopes to cook up a plan to help the polar bears.

[Last modified February 22, 2008, 17:11:13]