PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers remembers football letterwinner Samuel Chapman, who recently passed away at age 74. Chapman earned two letters on the gridiron for the Scarlet Knights (1969-70) and still appears in the program's record book.
A memorial will be held Thursday, June 27 at 3 p.m. at St. John's Baptist Church (2387 Morse Avenue, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076).
A native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Chapman attended Thomas Jefferson High School and earned all-state and honorable mention All-America status at the scholastic level. He enrolled at Rutgers, but suffered a leg injury early in his collegiate career. Chapman came back stronger as a junior in 1969, recording five interceptions with 89 return yards as a safety to garner Associated Press honorable mention All-East honors and collect the George T. Cronin Trophy, awarded to the varsity football player who has manifested the most improvement and progress. The team finished 6-3 in celebrating the centennial season of Rutgers football.
Chapman followed with six more interceptions in 1970, sixth-most in a season in school history, and still ranks seventh in the RU record book with 11 career picks. He added 299 kick return yards (188 punt return, 111 kickoff return) that season, with the 25 punt returns being eighth-most in a single-season in program history.
Chapman graduated from Rutgers in 1971 as an agricultural business major. He worked his way up and became the first Black owner of a ShopRite Supermarket. Chapman also had stops working for Baxter Travenol, Proctor and Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Lender Bagel Bakery, New York Life and Kraft Foods.
Chapman is survived by his wife of over 45 years, Luisa, their son, Jonathan, and numerous nieces and nephews.
By Luisa Chapman
Sam was good. I am grateful. He was always sharing. His nieces and nephews, Tip, Donald, Virginia, Khalid found a home in ours. As did my brother Eugene and sisters Jackie and Kaye. As well as our good friends Yasamin and Christian Brown. So many siblings and relatives and friends shared our home that Jonathan, our only child, never felt like an only child. So many times, Sam and I dreamed of having a house on Martha's Vineyard, but how could we justify having a second home when some of our relatives needed a first? Somebody quipped we should have purchased a home on the Vineyard and moved our relatives into it.
Sam was a good man and a generous one too. Not only did he share his home, but he also shared his time. People who worked or played football or golf or ran road races with him had only complimentary things to say. He was also generous financially. Our sister, Kaye, had only to ask and Sam wired her the funds to purchase her house in California. He financed many family ventures. Just ask Sam.
Sam had integrity. I am grateful for that. What is integrity? Incorruptibility. Adherence to a code of ethics. Morality. He did not cheat. He could not lie. I will never forget the day he told me, "Luisa, I want to be the person with the answer. The person people come to. I want to be the expert." Accordingly, he was promoted time and time again in corporate America. From Baxter Travenol to Proctor and Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Lender's Bagel Bakery, Kraft Foods to being the first Black owner of a ShopRite Supermarket. Our home is strewn with trophies and plaques from his business world achievements, for Sam had transformed the art of selling into Fine Art.
ShopRite proved to be a challenge, but did Sam quit? No. With his great work ethic, he took a job selling New York Life Insurance. And after that—and here is the key to Sam's character—even when the effects of the deadly brain tumor had affected his ability to walk, even when this proud-stepping man dragged one leg, even when his speech was slurred, even when he was no longer decked out in dapper pinstripe suits, bright bow ties, freshly laundered shirts (medium starch please), even then, he soldiered on like the National Guardsman of his former days. Dressed in the uniform of a grocery clerk, he did inventory in the ShopRite store of his friend, Don Drust. For that I am also grateful. He did what was necessary. Never whining. Never complaining. Just getting the job done. Whatever it might be.
Rutgers '71 classmate Greg Stewart, who recently visited me, reiterated this point when he told me of the time Sam had a compound football fracture. Broke his leg in half. And rather than quit the game, after it had healed, he went right back on the gridiron. Sam was made of tough stuff. I am grateful.
Sam was not a quitter. From the time he contracted the brain tumor in 2015 to the day he died, Sam did not quit. Duke, Boston Hospital, Hackensack, Yale, together we shopped for a cure. We tried this alternative therapy and that one. And I must say, it worked to some extent. Most people with glioblastoma do not survive for three months. Sam survived eight years. Oh, how grateful I am for his extra time.
I must stop here and pay tribute to his mother, Julia Mae Burton Chapman ("Nanny"). A native of South Carolina, with only a fifth-grade education, Nanny came to Elizabeth, New Jersey, married Samuel Chapman, Sr. and gave birth to three children: Sam, Haywood, and Gil. She taught her sons to be strong, hard-working men. From the South, of a generation not too far removed from enslavement, she impressed upon her sons the importance of not just working hard but being the best of whatever you are. That was—and remains--the only way for Black people.
Sam was young at heart, and for that I am grateful. Wendy Williams, the over-the-top TV talk show host. He loved her. He would watch her and laugh as if the two of them had an inside joke. He loved all things Denzel and must have watched Denzel Washington's movies countless times. TV in his man cave and movies at the cinema with or without you. Those were the things that brought him much-needed comic relief from the pressure cooker in which he performed. He responded to the hip-hop music of the Notorious B.I.G. as if it was written for him. His hamburgers were so delicious we christened them, Samburgers.
Sam was a mover. When he came home, he would run up the stairs to the kitchen. I always knew that when Sam stopped running, something would be wrong. But he also ran marathons. New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere. Gil ran with him.
Sam was a great father. He was involved in Jonathan's life. Sam was Jonathan's Pop Warner football coach. Sam was Jonathan's employer. Sam was Jonathan's advisor. They traveled to Florida. They camped in Lake Tahoe. Sam was Jonathan's comrade. Every idea Jonathan had, Sam was there to question and encourage. Sam was Jonathan's champion. Sam was the father of Jonathan's dreams.
Sam was also an exemplary role model to Haywood and Gil. Sam went to college. Haywood and Gil followed his example. There was no sibling rivalry between the three. Only great respect and brotherly love. Everyone in the village knew the Chapman football juggernaut. Bond Street royalty.
We met in 1979. Gil and my sister Idalene, who were married, had come to Detroit to visit my mother who was ill. Sam told Gil, "I'd like to meet Idalene's sister." As Idalene had eight sisters, Gil said, "Which one?" I am grateful Sam chose me. We were married on May 19, 1979, about four months after meeting. Bond Street royalty marries Detroit royalty. There were times when life with this good, generous, hard-working, young at heart, titan of integrity was challenging, but I do miss him and when I see him again in that great gettin' up morning, by the grace of God I will be oh so very grateful.
