{{Short description|American football player (1903–2007)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox CFL biography | name = Sam Dana (born Samuel Salemi) | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|8|7}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, US | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|10|29|1903|8|7}} | death_place = Buffalo, New York, US | team = | number = | status = | position1 = RB | height_ft = | height_in = | weight_lb = | college = Columbia University | playing_years1 = 1926 | playing_team1 = Hartford Blues | playing_years2 = 1928 | playing_team2 = New York Yankees | career_highlights = }}

'''Sam Dana''' (August 7, 1903 – October 29, 2007), born '''Samuel Salemi''',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SaleSa20.htm |title=Sam Salemi |website=Pro Football Reference |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=January 4, 2023}}</ref> was an American professional football player who was a running back for two seasons for the Hartford Blues and New York Yankees. At the time of his death, Dana was thought to be the oldest living NFL player. He is the 2nd-longest lived NFL player in history.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071031%2FSPORTS%2F710310941%2F1002%2FSPORTS&nclick_check=1 |title=Sam Dana, NFL's oldest former player, dies at 104 |date=October 31, 2007 |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |access-date=June 27, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728162749/http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071031%2FSPORTS%2F710310941%2F1002%2FSPORTS&nclick_check=1 |archive-date=July 28, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=John Wawrow |title=Sam Dana, 104; called oldest ex-NFL player |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117996047/sam-dana-104-called-oldest-ex-nfl/ |access-date=5 February 2023 |work=The Boston Globe |agency=Associated Press |date=1 November 2007 |page=49 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}</ref>

==Biography== Dana was known as Sam "Smoke" Salemi during his playing days. He became a football player at the suggestion of a teacher at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn after seeing him weave through desks as a fellow student was chasing him. He attended Columbia University and was a football teammate of Lou Gehrig. Dana attended St John's University and Canisius College. After retiring from football, he became an agent for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He legally changed his last name to Dana in 1945.<ref>{{cite news |title=NFL's oldest living ex-player celebrates No. 100 with Bills |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117996098/nfls-oldest-living-ex-player/ |access-date=5 February 2023 |work=The Indianapolis Star |agency=Associated Press |date=7 August 2003 |page=32 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sam Dana should be a lock for NFL's all-century team |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117996132/sam-dana-should-be-a-lock-for-nfls/ |access-date=5 February 2023 |work=The Courier-Journal |date=8 August 2003 |page=E2 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}</ref>

Dana was mistaken for a baseball player who died in 1969, the mixup being published in the NFL's ''Total Football'' encyclopedia. He resurfaced in 2003 upon turning 100 when his son notified the Pro Football Hall of Fame that he was living in a nursing home in Kenmore, New York. He was a guest at the Hall of Fame's Senior Citizen Day later that year and was presented with a special jersey by the Buffalo Bills bearing 100 emblazoned on it upon visiting their training camp. Dana died at the age of 104 in 2007.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |date=2007-11-01 |title=Sam Dana, 104, Oldest Former N.F.L. Player, Is Dead |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/sports/football/01dana.html |access-date=2023-08-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Biography}} *List of centenarians (National Football League players)

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dana, Sam}} Category:1903 births Category:2007 deaths Category:American men centenarians Category:American football running backs Category:Columbia Lions football players Category:Hartford Blues players Category:New York Yankees (NFL) players Category:20th-century American sportsmen

{{runningback-1900s-stub}}