No Cyanogenmod for that device? I had a Fascinate which I believe is Verizon's version of original Samsung S, went to Gingerbread and Jelly Bean well ahead of Verizon's OTA updates.
Samsung is frequently referred to as "the only android carrier that makes any money". One wonders whether such Apple-sque upgrade forcing has contributed to their financial success.
Apple doesn't 'force' upgrades anything like what every Android vendor does. The iPhone 4 is now 2.5 years old and still happily runs iOS6 - I can't find anyone with a 2.5 year old android phone that's running current software that hasn't modded it.