KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM/FM) — Long before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball and long before Joe Louis was pummeling opponents in the ring, Western Michigan University’s “Black Ghost” was racking up points on the gridiron.
It has been a century since Sam Dunlap, originally from Benton Harbor, was invited to play at the University of Michigan, until they found out he was African-American.
He was a Bronco for four seasons, taking a one year break to serve in the army during World War I. He earned 11 varsity letters in football, baseball and track. He set school records that stood for 98 years, all the while working to get around the racism that created travel and lodging restrictions.
One team even refused to play Western unless Dunlap was benched.
Friday, his descendants will return to WMU for a lunch and a tour of campus, which is quite a bit different than it was between 1916 and 1919. But the athletic facilities are in the same place and his uniform and equipment are kept at the Zhang Legacy Collections Center, 100 years after he played for the brown and gold.
He is also enshrined in WMU’s athletic hall of fame.
