Local photographer Hal Samples refuses to touch alcohol.
During a Cancun vacation in 2004, Samples recalls taking a cruise for Valentine’s Day. While seated at his table, Samples began introducing himself to the other guests and placed his drink order. Samples, 34, ordered a Diet Coke, but instead received a cocktail with rum.
“Once the drink came up the straw, I instantly had this chemical reaction inside my mouth to where I knew it was alcohol,” he said. “I went spoosh and spit the drink all over the table.”
Samples knows the effects of alcohol better than any brochure. He allowed drugs and alcohol to consume his life for over a decade.
The descent into drugs began in the 1990s while Samples worked as a salesman at Prestige Ford in Garland. He was making $10,000 to $12,000 a month as the company’s top producer. Samples lost count of the number of times he made salesman of the month, earning his first at age 19. He broke records faster than the dealership could set them, all while consuming 30 beers a day in addition to methamphetamines.
Samples said he lost his job, his convertible BMW and his wife, who he said resembled Julia Roberts. He lived in a vacant apartment near White Rock Lake. Samples said he often awoke in the streets with cuts across his forehead, wondering how he got there. After exhausting all options, he made the decision to attend rehab.
“I couldn’t control my bodily functions,” Samples said. “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
Today, Samples commits himself to his photography. Samples has a studio in Deep Ellum where he shoots portraits and special events. He also uses his photography to fund his Hero to Zero organization, creating awareness of the growing homeless population in Dallas.
“I picked up a camera three years ago, and it felt completely foreign to me,” Samples said. “Homelessness is not just something you can write a check for. It’s not a city council problem or a bureaucratic issue. It’s a societal issue.”
He also celebrates five years of sobriety.
Born a Natural
Samples began working at Prestige Ford in 1989 collecting trash and washing cars for $3.50 an hour. He credits his uncle Donny Geldert for getting him the job. At the age of 17, Samples wanted to be more like the salesmen with their sharp suits and spotless cars.
“I thought these guys had it made,” Samples said. “I began to think I’d be cooler if I had these things.”
It wasn’t long before Samples was put on the sales floor. He remembers the first vehicle he sold to Gordon Irwin of Irwin Utilities. Samples stood with the other salesmen smoking cigarettes and waiting for potential sales. As Irwin entered the lot, the seasoned salesmen pushed Samples forward.
“They thought I was a dud,” he said.
Samples ran to collect the forms and prices, passing his colleagues each time. Irwin bought Rangers and Ford F-150s from Samples that day.
“Talk about making friends,” Samples said. “These guys who have been here for 15 to 20 years were so bitter.”
Charlie Nixon, former general manager at Prestige and current owner of Lone Star Chrysler and Jeep Dodge, said Samples was a natural-born salesman.
“He was passionate about selling cars,” Nixon said. “Hal is charismatic and can deal with any person from any walk of life.”
By the time Samples was 25, he moved into the finance department making $150,000 a year. The money didn’t last long.
Work Hard, Play Harder
Alcohol was Samples’ first drug. He said his parents occasionally put it in his baby bottle to help him sleep. It was cheaper than Benadryl, Samples says. As he grew older, he helped carry the beers from the fridge.
“The bottle was as big as my head,” Samples said. “They’d open it and let me have a sip…None of it was ever to intentionally hurt me though. I just grew up in an environment where people could drink and be okay.”
A few sips turned into 30 beers by the time Samples reached his late 20s. He eventually needed to stand in the shower of his Valley Ranch home, while he hid the empty ones. Samples hid four behind the shampoo bottles and the others inside towels.
His addiction to narcotics took a similar path. Samples experimented in high school, eventually becoming addicted to Trazadone, a sleep inducer, and methamphetamines. This included crystal meth, speed and cocaine.
“I had no reason to stop,” he said. “As long as I was making the dealership money, no one was going to tell me anything.”
Despite his addiction, Samples remained one of Prestige’s top producers. According to Nixon, Samples was often penalized for being late. He cut $5,000 from Samples’ pay one month, $3,500 the next and $2,000 after that. It became evident that Samples needed to hit rock bottom before anything could be done.
– Hal’s story continues tomorrow in Part II.
