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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS. – Salem State University today held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Sam Cioffi Student-Athlete Wellness Center, a new hub dedicated to student-athlete wellness, prevention, and community.
The center honors the memory of Sam Cioffi, a standout men’s lacrosse player and VeSPY award winner who set program records in 2022 before his life was tragically cut short by fentanyl poisoning. With the support of his family and the broader community, Salem State has transformed his legacy into a resource designed to protect and empower student-athletes for years to come.
“Sam was an amazingly gifted student-athlete with a complicated past,” said Nicolle Wood, director of Athletics at Salem State. “He was a very engaging, honest young man who didn’t shy away from his story. He spoke openly about how supportive everyone was, and how that helped him stay clean and become the best version of himself.”
An Impactful Life and Career Cut Short
Cioffi, a 22-year-old business administration major from Beverly Farms and Marblehead, transferred as a junior to Salem State in the fall of 2021 and joined the university’s men’s lacrosse team with energy and ambition. In his brief tenure, he became a standout attackman—a record-setter whose performance both inspired and elevated his team.
To close his first season in April of 2022, Cioffi shattered the men’s lacrosse program’s single-season goal record, notching 55 goals across 16 games. His record-setting performance was met with recognition, landing him as a finalist for a VeSPY award for Record-Setting Performance of the Year.
Barely two days later, tragedy struck. After an evening celebrating the end of the season with teammates, Cioffi took a pill he believed to be a Percocet—a prescription opioid. In actuality, the pill was fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than Percocet.
Early the following morning, teammates found Cioffi unconscious and immediately attempted life-saving measures, but there was nothing they could do to save him. A toxicology screening later determined he died of fentanyl poisoning.
Cioffi’s passing sent shockwaves throughout the Salem State community, energy that saw the campus proactively pivot and transform grief into public health action. By March of 2023, a Sam Cioffi Student-Athlete Wellness Fund was established and endowed three months later after explosive public support. A wellness program then developed to support student-athletes and bring speakers of interest to campus. As that program unfolded, plans also began developing for a wellness center to serve student-athletes in perpetuity.
A Wellness Center to Honor Sam
The Sam Cioffi Student-Athlete Wellness Center, opened recently to student-athletes for the first time, offers a variety of services, supplies, and supports with the swipe of a university student ID card.
- A wellness lounge where student-athletes can gather between classes, practices, and other events.
- A refueling station with healthy snacks and drinks supported and stocked by the Wellness Fund.
- A private office for confidential one-on-one conversations with staff or coaches.
- Discrete access to harm reduction resources, including Narcan and fentanyl test strips.
- Access to sports psychology and other support services.
“Between sessions and classes, it’s their home,” Wood said of the Wellness Center. “The refueling station is really important to our student-athletes, because it’s stocked with healthy snacks, Gatorade, and other things they can grab when they go on the road and can’t make it to a dining hall. This was a huge need before we lost Sam; now, we’re able to do it.”
The Cioffi family has been an active and committed partner in shaping not just the university’s student-athlete wellness programming, but also the Wellness Center. Since losing her son, Sally Cioffi has actively shared Sam’s story and become a staunch advocate for the kind of services now available through the Wellness Center.
The space also incorporates the design of a tattoo Cioffi had that has become a rallying phrase for Salem State athletics in the wake of his loss: “Let Them Know You Passed This Way Once.”
“’#LetThemKnow’ became our hashtag,” Wood said. “Sam’s brothers and father all got the tattoo when he passed.”
For more on the Sam Cioffi Student-Athlete Wellness Fund and to contribute, please visit this link.