Sam was born April 19, 1943 in Asheboro.  He graduated from Asheboro High School in 1961 and went on to attend the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

He is married to Linda Russell Cranford and they have one daughter.

Sam served as President and Treasurer of Asheboro Hosiery Mills, Inc., a family owned hosiery manufacturing company, from 1971 until the company discontinued operations in 1998.

Since then, he has been involved in residential and commercial real estate and is currently a real estate appraiser.

Sam received the Distinguished Service Award of Randolph County from the Randolph County Jaycees and was selected by the North Carolina Jaycees as one of the Five Outstanding Young Men in North Carolina in 1974.

He served as a director of First Peoples Savings and Loan and later as Vice
Chairman of First American Savings Bank.  He was on the founding board of Bankers Trust of North Carolina, now BB&T.

Sam was a founding member and officer of the Asheboro-Randolph YMCA.  He was President of United Way of Randolph County in 1977 and later served as Chairman of United Way of North Carolina.

He has served as President of the Randolph Community College Foundation, President and Chair of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina, as a member of the Randolph Fellowship Home Board of Directors, on the Administrative Board of First United Methodist Church, and as President of Asheboro Country Club.

He served on the NC Institute of Medicine Task Force on Nursing, and co-chaired the Preventative Healthcare Reform Commission.

Sam has served for 37 years on the Board of Directors of Randolph Hospital Inc., a private not-for-profit hospital in Asheboro, and has served as Chairman of the Board for the last five years.

Sam joined the Rotary Club of Asheboro in 1968.  He was President in 1974 and was District Governor in 1978-79.  He served as chair of the district Interact Committee in 1981-82.  He is a Paul Harris Fellow.

-PRID Ken Morgan (2017)