2026年8月28日 美国东部时间晚上8:12 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
史蒂夫·哈特曼 特约记者
史蒂夫·哈特曼是哥伦比亚广播公司新闻特约记者，他在每周获奖专题栏目《在路上》中，为观众带来他偶遇的普通人的暖心故事。
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今年早些时候，在德克萨斯州奥斯汀的一条步道上散步时，贾斯珀·斯坦梅茨发现了一名男子，他身上的物品既熟悉又格格不入。
“我看到了印第安纳大学的运动背包，而我刚从印第安纳大学毕业，我们有了这个共同点。我当时就想，不如和他打个招呼？”斯坦梅茨在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访时说道。
斯坦梅茨了解到，这名男子原籍印第安纳州，已经无家可归八个月，名叫桑普森·詹姆斯。后来斯坦梅茨在谷歌上搜索詹姆斯时，大为震惊。
他发现詹姆斯曾是印第安纳州埃文市埃文高中的四星橄榄球苗子。2019年，他以新生跑卫的身份加入印第安纳大学橄榄球队。2021年他转至普渡大学，2023年短暂以走读生身份重回印第安纳大学。
“他曾是一名出色的运动员，绝对是明星球员，”斯坦梅茨说道。
但他的橄榄球梦想破碎了。他遭受了严重的膝伤，还被诊断出患有双相情感障碍。2023年他从印第安纳大学辍学，未能毕业，最终失去了一切。唯一留下的，是他那只红色的校园背包，那是他仅有的几件物品之一。
直到这位同乡的出现。
“他告诉我他也上过印第安纳大学。我当时就想，哇，太不可思议了，加油，山地人队，”詹姆斯谈起与斯坦梅茨的相遇时说道。“他能够接纳并理解我，真正做到了感同身受。”
凭借这份同乡情谊，斯坦梅茨决定伸出援手。今年6月，他为詹姆斯发起了线上众筹，最终筹集到17000美元。
这仅仅是开始。接下来是一套住房。
“我们提前预付了大笔房租，为他配齐了公寓所需的一切物品，”斯坦梅茨谈起这套能让詹姆斯重新开始生活的新住所时说道。
如今，当詹姆斯和斯坦梅茨再次走在他们初次相遇的那条步道上时，未来看起来光明多了。
“现在这么多人捐款，还帮你拿到了公寓，他们都真心希望你能成功，”斯坦梅茨本周对詹姆斯说道。
“没错，我绝不会让他们失望，”詹姆斯回应道。
这是一个全新的开始，也证明了只要两个人找到共同点，就能建立起令人惊叹的联结。
A former Indiana football star had fallen on hard times. A chance encounter with a fellow Hoosier gave him a new lease on life.
August 28, 2026 8:12 PM EDT / CBS News
By Steve Hartman Correspondent
Steve Hartman is a CBS News correspondent. He brings viewers moving stories from the unique people he meets in his weekly award-winning feature segment “On the Road.”
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While walking along a path in Austin, Texas, earlier this year, Jasper Steinmetz spotted a man with something both familiar and out of place.
“I saw the Indiana University athletic backpack, and since I had just graduated from Indiana, we had that commonality. And I figured, you know, why not talk to him?” Steinmetz told CBS News.
Steinmetz learned the man was originally from Indiana. He had been homeless for eight months, and his name was Sampson James. Steinmetz later got quite the shock when he Googled James.
He discovered James had been a four-star football recruit out of Avon High School in Avon, Indiana. In 2019, he joined Indiana University’s football team as a freshman running back. He then transferred to Purdue in 2021, before briefly returning to Indiana University as a walk-on in 2023.
“He was an amazing athlete, really a standout star,” Steinmetz said.
Indiana Hoosiers running back Sampson James runs during the second quarter of a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Oct. 31, 2020, at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rich Graessle/Icon College Football via Getty Images
His football dream crumbled, though. He suffered a bad knee injury and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He dropped out of Indiana University in 2023 without graduating and eventually lost everything. Except, that is, for his red school backpack, one of his only possessions.
Until along came that fellow Hoosier.
“He told me he went to IU as well. So I was like, wow, that’s amazing, go Hoosiers,” James said of meeting Steinmetz. “He was able to grasp and understand me and come to a point of understanding.”
Because of that Hoosier connection, Steinmetz decided to act. In June, he started an online fundraiser for James that raised $17,000.
That was just the beginning. Next came a home.
“We just prepaid a bunch of rent and got him everything that he needed for the apartment,” Steinmetz said of the new digs with everything James needed to start anew.
So now, when James and Steinmetz walk along that same trail where they first met, the future looks so much brighter.
“Now that all these people donated and you got the apartment, they really want to see you succeed,” Steinmetz told James this week.
“Oh yeah, and I’m big on not letting them down,” James responded.
It’s a fresh start and a testament to the amazing connections that are possible whenever two people find common ground.
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