He may not be a household name, but Dunlap helped put TCU football on map

In the last 20 years, TCU football has become known for Gary Patterson’s defense, LaDainian Tomlinson’s legs, a Rose Bowl, a bizarre- Cheese Plate Bowl, and a handful of guys who made it to the pros (Jerry Hughes, Marcus Cannon and Andy Dalton to name a few).

The guts of TCU’s brand, though, were made by men more like London Dunlap.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know the name, but know TCU would not be what it is today without a guy like him: A good player who believed, overachieved, graduated and has since represented his alma mater, and the TCU brand, well long after he left.

Twenty years ago, Dunlap was one of a handful of mostly anonymous TCU football players who pulled off a prorgram-establishing upset by defeating USC in the 1998 Sun Bowl. TCU was a 17.5 point underdog.

“The further you are removed from the game the more you realize how special it was. It’s a bird’s eye deal; when you are in the weeds you don’t see what you are doing. Now I can see it was so special,” Dunlap said in a recent phone interview.

Dunlap graduated from TCU and played enough pro ball to qualify for the NFL’s pension plan. He is now a sales area representative for Penske trucking in Atlanta.

“That day in El Paso is a day I’ll never forget,” Dunlap said. “We knew it. It was a turning point for the entire program.”

Dunlap was named the game’s Defensive MVP. When he won the award he said, “I can’t believe I won this over Chris Claiborne.”

USC’s Claiborne had been named the Butkus Award winner as the top linebacker in college football that season. The next spring, Claiborne was the ninth overall pick in the ‘99 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions and would go on to play eight NFL seasons.

For one afternoon on New Year’s Eve in El Paso, London Dunlap was the best defensive player on the field. He repeatedly made life miserable for USC freshman quarterback Carson Palmer; Dunlap’s sack of Palmer with 1:50 remaining in the game near the goal line secured TCU’s 28-19 win.

After the game, his father met him and said, ‘Wow.’

This was a big deal. This remains a big deal.

“That was the first game my dad gave me props on,” he said.

IMPRESSING DAD

London Dunlap’s father is Lenny Dunlap, who was the first African-American student at Kilgore Junior College in the late ‘60s. Lenny Dunlap eventully transferred to North Texas, where he was one of the best players in the history of its program.

After his senior year in 1971, Lenny Dunlap became the third player from then-North Texas State to be chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft when the Baltimore Colts selected him. He played five NFL seasons, is a member of the Kilgore Junior College Hall of Fame, was named to UNT’s all-century team, and is a member of the North Texas athletics Hall of Fame.

Like his dad, London began his college career at Kilgore, only he could not get on the field.

“My first two games, I didn’t play at all and when I finally got my chance, and after that second game I just lost it,” Dunlap said. “Dad took me behind the bleachers there and I was just crying. He said, ‘Let it out.’”

The next game, the player ahead of Dunlap suffered an injury, “And I am running onto the field before they can even take him off. I had a strip sack that game, and I ran it back,” he said. “After the game, I’m so excited I don’t even take a shower. I can’t wait to see (his father) for an, ‘Atta boy.’ He said, ‘Son, let me show you something’ and he pops the trunk and there is the old, deflated football and he shows me the three-point technique to carry a ball.”

REPRESENTING TCU

Dunlap was a part of former head coach Pat Sullivan’s team in 1997 that won one game. When Dennis Franchione arrived in Decemer of that season, every player was dying to believe and buy in to something.

“We were humble and we listened,” Dunlap said. “We just bought in to what Coach Franchione, and Gary Patterson, were selling.”

After Dunlap’s senior year in 2000, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the 49ers. Then he went to the Green Bay Packers. Then he played in Scottland and Germany in the now defunct NFL Europe. He said he stayed in NFL-affiliated football long enough to qualify for a pension check, and life-long medical coverage.

Since he ended his football career, he moved to Houston where he’s been with Penske for more than 15 years. He recently moved to Atlanta to accept a promotion.

He is an avid follower of TCU, and he returns to games when he can.

He was neither a big college, or NFL, star, but London Dunlap made it in every sense to represent his alma mater well, and even earned some rare praise from pops.

This story was originally published December 28, 2018 at 6:00 AM with the headline "He may not be a household name, but Dunlap helped put TCU football on map."