First Person Singular


Looking down the field


Chris Samuels, 33, Vienna // Former Washington Redskin, now Redskins coaching intern


interview by KK Ottesen I always knew I wanted to coach. My next-oldest brother coached a little Pop Warner team when I was in high school. I used to go help out, and I really enjoyed it. Right then and there, I knew this was my next move. The injury just speeded up the process. I got hit [playing] down in Carolina. It was a neck injury; it was pretty bad, and I was really upset and nervous. I was born with a condition called [spinal] stenosis — disks really tight around my nerve core — so every time I would get hit a certain way, I would be temporarily paralyzed. It happened five or six times total in my career, but I kept playing, and I would just pray about it. This time, the doctor was like, “You know, I advise you to quit.” I didn’t second-guess it one bit. I had a great career overall, 10 years of playing pro football, and I just knew it was time. So, the same way I worked my whole life to become an NFL football player, I’m taking the same


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Who Knew Name this local landmark Dedicated in 1922 + Lies in a direct line with the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument + Designed by Henry Bacon, architect; Daniel Chester


French, sculptor; and Jules Guerin, interior murals = (Answer: See Page 30) 2 The WashIngTon PosT MagazIne | September 26, 2010


PHOTOGRAPH BY KK OTTESEN


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