{"id":260233,"date":"2026-08-06T10:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/260233\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:18:09","slug":"west-philly-johnny-sample-rec-center-reopens-after-remodel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/260233\/","title":{"rendered":"West Philly Johnny Sample Rec Center reopens after remodel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? <a href=\"#Section1\">Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>West Philadelphia\u2019s Johnny Sample Recreation Center in Cobbs Creek reopened this week after a $15 million renovation that added a boxing training gym and upgraded its pool.\n<\/p>\n<p>The facility, named after the professional athlete and community advocate, has been a staple in the community since it was renamed in 2019.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Sample] wasn\u2019t just a football player; he was an athlete of extraordinary gifts,\u201d said Pennsylvania state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, D-Philadelphia.\n  <\/p>\n<p>After retiring from the NFL, Sample made the Cobbs Creek neighborhood his home and turned his attention to tennis, a sport in which he quickly excelled. He was also a sports radio host, commentating on the Philadelphia Eagles.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember my dad jogging up this parkway and coming to this center to coach the young people,\u201d his daughter, Evelyn Sample, said during the ribbon cutting. \u201cMy brother and I wanted to find a way that his name and legacy could live on in this community, one that he loved so much.\u201d<br \/>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-749333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/evelyn-sample-addresses-partners-cl-080526-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Evelyn Sample, daughter of Johnny Sample, addressing the neighborhood partners\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"  \/>Evelyn Sample, daughter of Johnny Sample, addressing the neighborhood partners expressing gratitude. (Chelsea Lubbe for WHYY)\n<\/p>\n<p>The renovated Sample Recreation Center features a two-story addition with expanded programming spaces, flexible activity rooms and a multipurpose space. The facility also includes a new fitness and boxing room, an updated gymnasium and pool, HVAC and roofing systems, and improved accessibility features connecting the center to Cobbs Creek Park\u2019s trail system.\n<\/p>\n<p>The project\u2019s budget came from the city\u2019s beverage tax and Philadelphia\u2019s Rebuild project. Additional funding was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of State, the Fairmount Park Conservancy and Councilmember Jaime Gauthier, who secured support through the city\u2019s Improvements to Existing Facilities program.\n        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11355,69,71,70,877],"class_list":["post-260233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cobbs-creek","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-west-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}