Joining the Army is one way to travel, and being on an internationally famous basketball team like the Harlem Globetrotters is another; one Fort Jackson Family has experience with both.
They had a mini reunion at the Globetrotters exhibition game at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia Jan. 11 before the team shipped off to Greenville Jan. 12 for two more games.
Louis Dunbar Jr., otherwise known as "Sweet Lou Dunbar," a famous former Globetrotter and current head coach, leads a line of athletes -- some in the professional sport arena, and others in the military.
A daughter and granddaughter of his joined the Army. They have a history at Fort Jackson.
Harlem Globetrotter games in Columbia have brought Dunbar and his military relatives together twice now -- once last week, and once decades ago.
Dunbar's daughter, Sgt. 1st Class Geisha Wallace, a reserve component career counselor, played basketball as a kid, but she chose not to pursue it professionally. Her 5 foot, 4 inch stature likely would have made it difficult, anyway.
She joined the Army instead.
"It seemed like a good deal," Wallace said. The military funded her education.
"She's done very well," Dunbar said. "She's served the country very well."
Wallace was stationed at Fort Jackson in the school for recruiting years ago.
Her stint at Fort Jackson marked the first time she ever saw her dad play.
The Harlem Globetrotters were in Columbia at the time, and Wallace's drill sergeants made sure she could make it to the game.
Last week, Dunbar returned to Columbia as the team's head coach for a game against their long-standing rivals, the Washington Generals.
This time, Wallace couldn't be in the audience; she is currently stationed in Fort Hood, Texas.
The Family was still represented in the crowd, though.
Wallace's Daughter, 1st Lt. A'Miracle Wesley, 27, turned up.
"It's good to see my granddaughter here," Dunbar said, adding that it was like "déjà vu."
Wesley met up with her grandpa before the game Jan. 11 for lunch; Wallace Facetimed in for the long-awaited get-together.
Wesley is currently enrolled in the Adjutant General Captains Career Course on post.
She joined the Army in 2016.
"(I joined) just to follow in my momma's footsteps … (to) have a better life for myself," Wesley said.
In her youth, she played basketball, too. It was a Family tradition.
"We all played … so I played," Wesley said. "My mom and my grandpa pretty much influenced me to play."
She joined little league basketball at roughly the age of 7, always taking jersey number 41 after her grandpa.
Wesley said that getting some time with him Jan. 11 was important to her.
"It's very rare that I see him," Wesley said.
Decades ago when Wallace attended his game, she was moved by the experience for the same reason.
Wallace said her dad "traveled the world all the time" throughout her childhood. That made the game "something that (she) will never forget."
After it was over, Wallace rode back to post in the Globetrotters bus.
Before that, she had kept her relationship with the famous showman private.
"I never (told) people that he's my dad," she said, explaining that she didn't like the celebrity status that came with the title.
After that day, it was pretty common knowledge to Fort Jackson. Her dad even made an appearance to take photos with Wallace's peers, and The Fort Jackson Leader wrote an article on them.
"It was awesome," Wallace said.
Wesley openly tells people who her grandpa is, and she says many are "really shocked" when they find out.
Dunbar has a long history in basketball.
He was encouraged to sign up by his junior high coach many years ago.
"I was a tall kid," he said. Dunbar grew to a height that he calls "5 feet, 22 inches."
In his rural hometown of Minden, Louisiana, Dunbar said there wasn't even a park to practice in, so he built his own court.
With Christmas money, he bought a ball and built a backboard. Dunbar put the rim up himself.
"When the ball went over the fence, we had to distract the (neighbor's) bulldog," he recalled. Still, he practiced rain or shine.
"All kids, I think, growing up aspired to be in the (National Basketball Association) at that time," Dunbar said. "A lot of people say this was my calling."
He went undefeated in junior high, and when he finally lost his first game during high school, he said he "cried like a baby."
After playing professionally for a number of teams, including the Houston Rockets, the Harlem Globetrotters discovered him.
"The rest is history," Dunbar said. "I ended up playing with my childhood legends." Many were hall-of-famers.
After 24 years, he retired from playing and did public relations work with the team before taking over as coach.
Dunbar has been a Globetrotter in some capacity for the last 43 years.
The legacy is ongoing.
Dunbar's son, Louis Dunbar, "Sweet Lou II," is a current Harlem Globetrotters teammate.
Even before Sweet Lou II was born, there was a basketball hoop in his room, his dad quipped, though he admitted thinking his son might pursue baseball professionally.
In the end, Sweet Lou II filled his dad's shoes on the team, taking his old number: 41.
Another of Sweet Lou Dunbar's daughters, Ashlynn Dunbar, plays volleyball on the San Diego State University team.
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