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…
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