Sam Spence

Samuel Lloyd Spence is an American soundtrack composer best known for his work with NFL Films. A former USC music instructor living and working in Munich, Spence was hired in 1966 to score the hyperromanticized mini-documentaries that conveyed NFL highlights and personalities to fans in the network-television era. Spence's bombastic music cues combined with the baritone voice of John Facenda to remarkable artistic effect, and he can arguably be credited with a significant role in making American football the top professional sport in the U.S.

A former USC music instructor living and working in Munich, Spence was hired in 1966 to score the hyperromanticized mini-documentaries that conveyed NFL highlights and personalities to fans in the network-television era. Spence's bombastic music cues combined with the baritone voice of John Facenda to remarkable artistic effect, and he can arguably be credited with a significant role in making American football the top professional sport in the U.S.

Spence's compositions have also appeared in German television and cinema, and after his retirement in 1990 he returned to Munich. He achieved unexpected fame in 1998 with the success of a CD compilation entitled The Power And The Glory: The Original Music & Voices Of NFL Films.

In 2005, Spence's music was remade by the hip hop music group Da Riffs, which can be found in the soundtrack of the game Madden NFL 06. Along with the urban remakes, the original songs still play in the game's soundtrack.