Black Ghost Remembered

The Black Ghost was remembered Friday, at Western Michigan University.

One hundred years ago Sam Dunlap, WMU’s first black student athlete, struck fear in the hearts of gridiron opponents and racked up scoring records that lasted decades, while fighting racism on and off the field. Legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne called him one the finest athletes he’d ever encountered.

Dunlap, a Benton Harbor High School football star, played for WMU for four seasons, 1915-1917 and 1919, after taking a year off to fight in the First World War.

The event was organized by Dunlap's nephew, Moses Easley of Nantucket, Massachusetts, who was himself a college football player for Indiana University. Dunlaps family toured the campus of WMU, Friday, and met with WMU leaders.