David Samsa

Quick Facts

• Position: Second
• Speciality: Mixed Doubles, Mixed Team 
• Wheelchair curling mixed doubles silver medalist, best-ever finish for the United States in Wheelchair Curling at the world championships or Paralympics
• Cancer Survivor

Biographical Information 

In 2008, Dave Samsa suffered a torn aorta as a result of a car accident coming back from a ski trip in the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan when another driver crossed the center line and hit his vehicle. As part of the surgery to repair his heart, the doctors needed to stop the flow of blood to the spine, which has caused him to be in a wheelchair ever since the accident.  Samsa was grateful nothing happened to his two small children, who were with him in the car: “As a parent, you would never want anything to happen to your family. I got my wish. It happened to me and not one of my two small children.”

By 2009, Samsa started mono-skiing and picked up curling around 2012. He first represented the United States at the wheelchair curling world championships in 2019 and made his Paralympic debut at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. 

Samsa and his mixed doubles partner Pam Wilson were back-to-back national champions (2022,2023) and won a silver medal at the wheelchair curling mixed doubles world championships in 2023, the first medal for the U.S. in this event. It was the best-ever finish for the United States in wheelchair curling at the world championships or Paralympics, and the only time that Americans have reached a gold medal match at a top-division wheelchair curling world championships.

David is a former millwright and has been married to his wife Pam since 1993. They have two children, Austin and Taylor, and one grandchild. Samsa is also a cancer survivor.

Paralympic Experience

• 1-time Paralympian
  • Paralympic Games Beijing 2022, 5th (Team - Mixed)

World Championship Experience

• Most recent: 2023 – silver (Doubles - Mixed)
• Years of participation: Doubles - Mixed 2022, 2023; Team - Mixed 2019, 2021
• Medals: 1 (1 silver)
  • Silver – 2023 (Doubles - Mixed)