Sam Hixson, 25, is pursuing his dream to become a steamboat captain aboard the American Queen.It was love at first sight.
Sam Hixson knew she was "the one" the first time he laid eyes on her. She was, quite simply, the finest, steamiest thing he had ever seen.
Sam was so smitten that he daydreamed about her. He wrote earnest letters to her online. He was sure - with as much certainty as a 20-something man can muster - that he wanted to devote his life to taking care of her.
Finally, he got the answer he was hoping for. Yes, she would give him a chance. If things worked out, she might even let him tie the knot.
And that, friends, is how a Chattanooga lad began his love affair - and career - with the American Queen, America's biggest and most prestigious steamboat.
Hixson, 25, a McCallie School graduate and former pre-law and philosophy student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, decided abruptly a few years ago that his path to the bar was being blocked by his gnawing desire to pursue a 19th-century career.
"The paddleboat is one of the most uniquely American things ever invented," he says.
While in college, Hixson had taken a job on the Southern Belle, Chattanooga's own dinner-cruise riverboat, and he was swept up by the romance of working on the river.
"I realized very quickly that I was having more fun on the river than studying law or philosophy," Hixson said in an interview this week. "I figured out that I could make a career of working on the river, make just as much money, and love my job 10 times more."
Over time, Hixson worked his way up from tour guide on the Southern Belle to deck hand to second mate to first mate. Then one day the American Queen, the biggest steamboat every built, floated majestically up the Tennessee River and docked at Ross's Landing.
Hixson's jaw dropped.
For scale, the American Queen has a crew of 170 and is 175 feet longer and about 45 feet taller than its sister ship, the Delta Queen, which was docked in Chattanooga for years before recently leaving to be repaired.
"I immediately realized I wanted to work on that boat," Hixson said of the American Queen.
The American Queen caters to an affluent clientele, some of whom pay up to $14,000 a week to cruise the great rivers of North America. She makes regular stops in Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and points in between. Once a year she comes to Chattanooga.
Hixson got his chance to work on the American Queen through dogged persistence. For months, he applied online for every staff opening, even jobs for which he was not qualified. Every few weeks he would take down all his old resume postings and reapply, hoping to catch someone's attention.
Hixson says "blowing up the computers" eventually caught the attention of the riverboat's hiring staff, who rewarded his persistence with an entry-level position. Today, five years later, Hixson has moved up in the ranks and is now a bosun's mate in charge of the deck staff, safety and the mechanics of docking the boat. He holds seminars on the American Queen to introduce passengers to the craft of knot-tying.
Earlier this week, the American Queen made her yearly stop in Chattanooga, and Hixson swelled with pride as he got to show his friends on the riverboat his hometown. He was equally proud to show his floating home to friends and family here.
"My mother, when she first saw it, said, 'It's bigger than Dallas,"' Hixson recalls with a chuckle. "It was an unreal experience [to be in Chattanooga.] I've been telling my friends for six months how beautiful [the city] is."
Hixson has set his sights high. He wants to be a riverboat captain some day, and he is preparing for the maritime tests that will help him climb the career ladder.
In this day and age, when young people sometimes seem to search aimlessly to find their passion, there is little doubt Sam Hixson has found his.
And there's something unmistakably endearing about a young person who wants - needs - to be the captain of his own ship.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/ mkennedycolumnist.