SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015
Dean Edwards Smith 1931-2015
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THE HERALD-SUN | DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015
Smith had taste, touch on recruiting trail BY JOHN MCCANN
JMCCANN@HERALDSUN.COM; 919-419-6601
O
C H A P E L
H I L L
K, granted, Ed Geth didn’t exactly tear it up for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1992-96. But he had game. The guy could play. There was a reason UNC coach Dean Smith made trips to Granby High School in Norfolk, Virginia, to check him out. “I’m in the same area as the Joe Smiths,” said Geth, referring to former Maryland forward Joe Smith, who played in the NBA. “Allen Iverson, Michael Vick. A lot of kids came out of there.” Vick was the doggone good quarterback who took his ball skills from Virginia Tech to the NFL. There are tales in the Tidewater area of Iverson as this terrific quarterback, but he stuck with basketball and became a remarkable NBA point guard after playing college ball at Georgetown, were he was coached by John Thompson, one of Smith’s good friends. When Smith died Feb. 7, the seal was broken on an untold number of stories that had been bottled up by his humility. “I’m going to tell you a funny fact,” Geth said. Here’s “how Dean Smith got me over probably a lot of other schools that were recruiting me.” Now, some of you still are wondering who in the world Ed Geth is. Well, in 1993, he as a reserve forward helped Smith win his second national championship. Geth was at UNC when Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Jeff McInnis, Shammond Williams, Dante Calabria, Donald Williams, George Lynch and Eric Montross were Tar Heels. Geth shot 52.5 percent over the course of his college career. Of course, he didn’t shoot a lot. But let the record reflect that he made more than he missed during the 62 games he played in, and he’s got that championship ring. He played pro ball overseas in Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Singapore. So Geth could play. That’s why Smith wanted him. Here’s how Smith got him: Because it’s hard to teach somebody to be 6 feet 9 inches tall, Smith figured he and UNC assistant coach Bill Guthridge had better go smile at Geth, who was tall like that. So the coaches hit the recruiting trail, meandering through that Hampton Roads area that grows athletes in Virginia. “They came and did a home visit, which is pretty standard, and they were pretty impressive,” Geth said. “But what really got me and, I know, got my family [is] my grandmother fed them and served them cake, and she was a hell of a cook. Coach Guthridge has this sweet tooth.” To be clear, this is a basketball story. Specifically, this is about the genius of Smith. “So they do the home visit, but then they come back later — I don’t know, maybe a couple weeks later or whatever. They come just to see [my grandmother]. They said, ‘Hey, we enjoyed that cake so much.’ They came, saw her while I was in school. They came, sat there and ate some cake with her, hung out with her without me being there, and then just
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Bernard Thomas
North Carolina’s Ed Geth (40) shoots over Serge Zwikker (45) during the Blue and White scrimmage game in 1995. came over to my game. You can call that what recruiters do or whatever, but that went a long way with my family.” That must have been one dynamite red-velvet cake. “Oh, it was chocolate,” Geth said. “Homemade chocolate cake. “Gut’ and Coach Smith came back just to sit down and eat cake with my
grandmother.” Geth recalled another sweet story about the time the great Michael Jordan returned to UNC to knock off a little rust. This time Smith cooked up a little something, with Jordan as the main ingredient to serve some guys who thought they had it going on. “Coach put (Jordan) on the team
with all the walk-ons, and he beat a team with Rasheed, Stack, me, Dante, Jeff, Donald, all of us,” Geth said. Geth was an assistant women’s basketball coach at N.C. Central, Wofford and Marshall. He was an assistant girls’ basketball coach at Hillside High School, and he coached both girls’ and boys’ basketball at Southern High School.
Smith embraced change, UNC women’s basketball coach Hatchell says
M
BY JOHN MCCANN
JMCCANN@HERALDSUN.COM; 919-419-6601
C H A P E L
H I L L
oving is the enemy of defense. Basketball is about making the other team uncomfortable. Those were among the basketball philosophies of the late North Carolina coach Dean Smith. Yet while Smith had standards, he wasn’t unduly stuck in them, UNC women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “I think one of the greatest compliments that I can give Coach Smith is that as the game changed, he changed,” Hatchell said. When the NCAA’s implementation of the 45-second shot clock during the 1985-86 season threw a potential wrench in UNC’s four-corners offense, Smith found ways to win besides having his players hold the ball hostage. When college basketball adopted the 3-point shot during the 1986-87 season, Smith kept winning. “Whatever how the game changed, he changed,” Hatchell said. “[The late Dallas Cowboys football coach] Tom Landr y was also like that.”
Hatchell wouldn’t put herself in their league, were the right ones. But when this one came never mind her membership in the Naismith open, this was my dream job. This is where I Memorial Basketball Hall of wanted to be.” “I think one of the Fame. Smith’s in there, too. She’s been here 29 years and “I don’t think I could ever doing it like Smith, borrowing greatest compliments compare myself to Dean Smith,” from his playbook trapping and that I can give Coach Hatchell said. “But I just feel pressing defenses, surprise Smith is that as the game elements like that. Hatchell said blessed to be here, coach here. This is my dream job.” even players on her Francis changed, he changed.” Hatchell was 34 years old when Marion teams would point out — Sylvia Hatchell the teammate who made an she arrived at UNC in the fall of 1986 from Division II Francis UNC women’s basketball coach assist, and those on the bench Marion. would stand up to acknowledge “I had other opportunities before I came teammates who’d come out of the game for a here,” Hatchell said. “I just didn’t feel like they breather, stylings of Smith.
With great sadness we say goodbye to
Dean Smith.
He was a legendary coach, mentor, and friend to many. Rest in peace Coach Smith.
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Smith allowed NCCU’s Moton into UNC family BY BROOKE PRYOR
SPORTS@HERALDSUN.COM
DURHAM — LeVelle Moton didn’t play basketball for Dean Smith at North Carolina. Moton’s name was never stitched on the back of a baby blue jersey. His name doesn’t appear in any box scores for North Carolina. And yet, Moton, now the head basketball coach at North Carolina Central, still considers himself to be a part of the family Smith created in Chapel Hill. Smith didn’t even recruit Moton — at least he didn’t think he did. Smith was after Moton’s first cousin, shooting guard Donald Williams, eventual Most Outstanding Player of the 1993 National Championship. Moton and his cousin were close, and Moton spent a lot of his time at Williams’ house growing up. In high school, Moton watched as his cousin, a year and a half ahead of him, garnered attention from nearly ever y college coach in the nation, but only one name made Moton sprint to the phone at his cousin’s house. “I just remember every time the phone rang, I’d look on caller ID,” Moton said. “I would run to the phone and just try to disguise my voice just to have an opportunity to talk to Dean Smith. It was like a kid in the candy store.”
A
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Mark Dolejs
UNC coach Dean Smith gives instruction to his bench, including Donald Williams, during the game against Wake Forest on March 13, 1982. Smith wasn’t fooled by seconds to talk to Smith. Moton’s antics, but even so, “After a while he knew it was Moton still raced to the phone me,” Moton said. “Me and my time after time just to have a few cousin sounded alike. He never
jumped to conclusions on the phone saying ‘Hey Donald, how are you doing?’ It was always, ‘Hello, can I speak to Donald, please.’ It was never a moment where he put himself out there to be embarrassed.” Moton’s interactions with Smith didn’t end there. He remembers seeing Smith come to the St. Augustine’s summer league games to watch Williams. “He walked into St. Augustine’s gym and everything just stopped,” Moton said. “And this a gym that’s jam packed with the best summer league talent in the nation, and he walked in and everything just stopped. “I just remember he walked in with Phil Ford ... I just remember telling my cousin, he’s really recruiting you, huh? You’re really somebody, man. Ever ything just stopped. It’s like a moment frozen in time. It really inspired me to this day. I was a year and a half behind him. “I wanted to work really hard and get recruited as well. It was just inspirational. It was bananas.” Though Moton didn’t get recruited by Smith, he ended up close by at North Carolina Central. But even though he wasn’t one of Smith’s players, he was still treated like one of the family — like the best
friend that’s always over, has the spare key and raids the refrigerator just like anyone else in the family. “During the Christmas breaks and the holidays, I would always go to Carolina because I didn’t have anywhere to go, and I didn’t want to go home,” Moton said. “He had closed practices, but he always allowed me into the practices. “He had this huge film room where he kept all the films of old Carolina games, and I would just go in there and he would have his secretary, Angela, at the time, just take care of me. I would go in there and watch old films, old games from 1970s and '80s.” Smith didn’t have to let this college kid from another program hang around, and yet, he did, welcoming him with open arms. Moton’s story is just one of the hundreds of examples of Smith’s inclusiveness, his way of creating a sincere, genuine family. “He brought that camaraderie, that family atmosphere and the true meaning of a program,” Moton said. “A lot of people put their hands in and say ‘1-2-3 family,’ but he really created that. His legacy speaks for itself. He was so humble and such a gentleman and everything that he did. I have nothing but respect forever.”
Smith’s greatness spans across the generations
t 23, I often feel wandering up to the man who promised he incredibly young in makeshift memorial would go to his player’s my job — in front of the weddings, well, just the and, if we’re being Smith Center, I first one, anyway. honest, in most learned about From reporters who aspects of life. Dean Smith the covered him, I learned I’m reminded great figurehead about Dean Smith, the frequently that I — a man with reliable and quirky wasn’t even alive a prominent interviewee — the man when many of my title who still whose desk was covered coworkers started somehow in sticky notes with notes BROOKE their careers. managed to feel to call people back and PRYOR I’ve heard all like everyone’s the man who loved tape HERALD-SUN the jokes, all favorite uncle, recorders because they the warnings even without meant he would never get about joining an industry meeting him. misquoted. filled with people trying People like Hoyt From the student to resurrect an old, Young, once a regular at members of UNC’s antiquated industry. Dean Smith’s basketball Black Student Movement And yet, I’ve never felt camps, told stories about gathered in front of the as young as I did the day his knack for sending Smith Center for a small Dean Smith died. personal letters to people memorial Tuesday night, I was 19 days away who needed them most. I learned about Dean from my seventh birthday For Young, that letter Smith the humanitarian when he retired in came when he was 16 — a man who none of October 1997. I don’t years old groggily lying them had met or even remember seeing him in a strange hospital in remembered, but who coach a single basketball Detroit after undergoing was a champion of civil game. a 35-hour facial rights and spoke up for I’ll admit I didn’t know reconstructive surgery. the people most ignored much about Dean Smith. “I am sorry to hear by society. I couldn’t recall the that you are in the And of course, there exact numbers of his win hospital and will miss were the tales, some of totals, or the number of basketball camp this them undoubtedly tall, times he took his teams to summer,” the letter read. and some of them just the Final Four or won an “Everyone here in the short anecdotes. Like the ACC Championship. basketball office will be time a local landscaper I grew up hearing thinking of you, and we did work on a house next stories and anecdotes want to wish you a speedy to Smith’s and noticed about Dean Smith from recovery.” one day that a putting my parents and aunts and From his former green had been installed uncles, a byproduct of players and assistant in his lawn. Three days later, Smith announced coming from a family full coaches, I learned about Dean Smith the coach — his retirement. of UNC alums. a man who was fiercely After a week of Through reporting competitive, even if his listening to all of the I did a year ago for his sideline demeanor didn’t stories, I finally feel like I Presidential Medal of always show it, a man know Dean Smith. Freedom honor, I knew I know that it feels he recruited Charlie Scott who was so much more than just a coach, and a wrong to refer to him in and stood up against segregation in Chapel Hill. Even still, I didn’t feel like I knew enough to truly capture the man who made the world a better place, using basketball as a vehicle to accomplish his mission. So I did the only thing I knew to do. I went to Chapel Hill, and I listened. All of the Durham Listening to the different stories from all Coca-Cola Family will different people was like truly miss you. putting on one of those plastic toy binoculars, the kind with a slot to insert a wheel of photo films. Each story was like clicking to a new Durham Coca-Cola Bottling Company image, each one telling a different story of Dean Smith. From the people
news stories by his last name alone, because someone who meant so much to so many people can’t simply go by the most generic last name in United States. And yet, that’s probably how he would’ve wanted it.
That’s the other thing I’ve learned about Dean Smith this week — he didn’t want the spotlight. He greatest joy was seeing his players and the people closest to him succeed. And so, I want to say thank you to all the
people who told stories about him. Please, never stop telling these stories and anecdotes so that people like me, and the people in the generations to come, will still feel like they had the profound honor of knowing Dean Smith.
DEAN SMITH
Leader, partner, friend Legend.
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THE HERALD-SUN | DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015
Remembering Coach
SMITH The Herald-Sun | File photo by Harold Moore
Dean Smith and Roy Williams coach from the sideline.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Charles Cooper
Dean Smith poses for a photo with Charlie Scott, who played basketball at North Carolina from 1967 to 1970. Scott was the first African-American scholarship basketball player at UNC.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Bill Willcox
Former UNC Chancellor Michael Hooker, former coach Dean Smith, and Russell Hendrix, Campus Y Martin Luther King Celebration committee representative, hold hands during the Show of Hands event on Jan. 22, 1998 in front of the South Building.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Bernard Thomas
Coach Dean Smith disagrees with call in game against Wake Forest on Jan. 32, 1996.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Jim Sparks
Dean Smith smiles as he drives a convertible in this undated file photo.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Bill Willcox
Coach Dean Smith finds that humor is needed when posing for a photography session to promote the annual holiday card project at UNC Hospitals in 1995. Ryan Wheeler, 18 months, was less than excited about sitting on the coach’s knee and cried for his mother Jeanay. The child’s footprints were featured on a best-selling holiday card which helped the project net $50,000 for the children’s hospital last year.
The Herald-Sun staff
North Carolina player Sam Perkins takes a picture of coach Dean Smith on Oct. 15, 1981.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015
THE HERALD-SUN | DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
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AP Photo | Chuck Burton
Michael Jordan, right, embraces former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, left, at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 14, 2010. Jordan was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame during a halftime ceremony.
Leaving a
LEGACY
AP Photo | Evan Vucci
Linnea Smith, accepts the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her husband, former UNC head basketball coach Dean Smith, from President Barack Obama, Nov. 20, 2013, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Peter Schumacher
Dean Smith speaks to kids in his basketball camp at UNC on June 23, 1994.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Charles Cooper
Coach Dean Smith meets with the team and coaches Bill Guthridge and John Lotz for the opening of the 1970-71 season.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Jim Sparks
Dean Smith cuts down the net after defeating Virginia for the 1982 ACC Championship.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Mark Dolejs
Dean Smith and members of the 1993 UNC menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball team celebrate their national title victory over Michigan.
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THE HERALD-SUN | DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015
Coach K and Smith: Intense rivals but always respect BY STEVE WISEMAN
SWISEMAN@HERALDSUN.COM; 919-419-6671
M
D U R H A M
ike Krzyzewski stood on the opposite side of Dean Smith in the intense blue-blood rivalr y that is North Carolina-Duke. In the 1980s, Krzyzewski was the pugnacious newcomer daring to stand up to the great Smith’s UNC juggernaut. Once Duke began regularly visiting the Final Four and winning national championships of its own to establish itself as UNC’s on-court equal, their relationship grew into mutual respect. But that doesn’t mean that Krzyzewski, even in those early days of his Duke tenure, failed to respect Smith status. “The league was amazing and the head of it was Dean,” Krzyzewski said back in 2010, when he passed Smith on the all-time coaching wins list. “We all made each other better because you had to be good to sur vive.” Krzyzewski, now men’s Division I college basketball’s all-time wins leader, has built a Duke program that’s won four NCAA championships and been to 11 Final Fours. While getting there, his teams had to become as good — or better — than Smith’s UNC teams. Even in the heat of that competition, Krzyzewski said he always respected Smith “100 percent.” “When two teams that are coached by two guys who are as competitive go after one another, you’ve got to make each other better,” Krzyzewski said. “And in that respect, it made the ACC one hell of a conference. I mean no one’s done a better job in the ACC, by far, than Dean. We’ve done our share, but what he did was set a standard that the league then had to adopt or else you drop by the wayside. He’s one of the great pioneers. He built a program when no one else knew what the hell a program is.” Last Monday night, one day after UNC announced that Smith had died at age 83 on Feb. 7, Krzyzewski spent part of his post-game press conference at Florida State talking about a man who he grew to know as a cherished friend.
AP Photo | Gerry Broome
Former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, left, smiles at Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski during a ceremony presented by the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in Raleigh on June 29, 2011. Smith, Krzyzewski and the late Kay Yow were honored for their contributions to basketball by the Naismith International Basketball Foundation. That’s why I don’t compare wins, championships, all that. No one could do it any better than him.” It took both programs being at the top of the sport to make the Duke-UNC rivalr y as truly special as it has become. UNC had Smith. Duke had Krzyzewski. “He built one hell of a program at a great school by recruiting unbelievably good kids,” Krzyzewski said, “developing great relationships with them and then they played a brand of basketball where the showed up ever y night. And we’ve, I think, done a lot like that in our own way. And that’s produced some unbelievably good basketball.” Over the last few years, as Smith battled the progressive neurological disorder that stripped him of his memor y and The Herald-Sun staff eventually took his life, UNC basketball coach Dean Smith and Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski on March 2, 1985. Krzyzewski said he was impressed with how the UNC won 78-68. family dealt with their grief. Even though Krzyzewski Smith. biggest accomplishment. “Linnea and the kids has far more wins than “The thing that Dean did And he has done that better have been incredible while Smith’s 879, and Duke has the best is that he made than anybody. I’m proud to he fought this horrible won twice as many NCAA men of boys that came to say that I was his friend. disease,” Krzyzewski said. titles under Krzyzewski him,” Krzyzewski said. And I love him, and I love “So God bless him, God as UNC did under Smith, “And all those men revere what he built and how he bless him. God bless him. Krzyzewski doesn’t think him. They don’t love him, did it. It’s second to none. We lost a great, great man of himself as superior to they revere him. That’s his It’s really second to none. in him.”
Smith chatted up McCallie on education, on, off court BY STEVE WISEMAN
SWISEMAN@HERALDSUN.COM; 919-419-6671
DURHAM — One of Duke women’s basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie’s first interactions with Dean Smith had little to do with basketball. It didn’t even have to do with her immediate family. While attending a Nike pilgrimage event in Canada in 2005, Smith sought out McCallie and her UNC-educated husband, John, at an outdoor dinner party on a gorgeous British Columbia spring night. The topic he wanted to discuss was her brother-in-law, Wyatt McCallie, who was a Morehead Scholar at UNC. “He was all into this Morehead Scholar thing,” Joanne P. McCallie said. “He was immediately friends with my husband. He wanted to know all about Wyatt McCallie and how he
became a Morehead first — and to date, only Scholar.” — Final Four appearWhen the conversa- ance as a head coach. tion inevitably turned “Your women’s team to basketball, Joanne P. is my favorite women’s McCallie said she was a team this year,” McCalbit melancholy. lie said Smith told her. Just a few months That Michigan State earlier, she team was had coached “The thing that lit k n o w n f o r Michigan teamwork, State to the him up more than u n s e l f i s h school’s first anything was the ness and w o m e n ’ s Morehead Scholar.” b a l a n c e d Final Four scoring as it appearance. — Joanne P. McCallie produced a The SparDuke women’s 33-4 season. tans ralbasketball coach In its five lied from NCAA Toura 16-point nament wins deficit in the semifi- to reach the championnals against Tennessee ship game, the Spartans before defeating the had at least 4 players Pat Summitt-led Volun- score in double figures teers 68-64 to reach the each time. NCAA championship Still, it came up short game. of the ultimate goal and In the final against that loss to Baylor still Baylor, though, Michi- haunted McCallie. gan State fell behind “He could tell I was by 19 points in the first down,” McCallie said, half and eventually lost a d d i n g t h a t a t e a r 84-62. formed in her eye as she T h a t d i d n ’ t s t o p talked with Smith that Smith from praising the night. job she had done in her “I joked with him,”
McCallie said. “I said Scholar at UNC. thing,” McCallie said, `Yeah but we didn’t get it “The thing that lit “was the Mor ehead done because we didn’t him up more than any- Scholar.” win a national title.’” Smith, though, recalled his first Final Four experience at UNC. In 1967, the Tar Heels reached the national semifinals in Louisville, Kentucky, before losing 76-62 to Dayton. “Well, if I can remember correctly, in my first Final Four, we didn’t make it past the semifinals,” Smith told McCallie. “`I guess that puts you ahead of me.” She said their talk turned heartfelt and that his kindness helped her get past missing out on a national championship. It’s her lasting personal memor y of Dean Smith. “For a guy with his 5230 HOLLYRIDGE DR. RALEIGH success level to say something so self-depre(Oak Park Shopping Center on Glenwood Ave.) cating….” McCallie said. Of course, getting to 919-521-5566 the national championwww.theorganicbedroom.com ship game still wasn’t being a Morehead
REMEMBERING A TAR HEEL LEGEND
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PAGE 7
Smith’s Milestones A look through the years of memorable games in Dean Smith’s tenure at UNC basketball coach Dec. 2, 1961: Br yan McSweeney and Jim Hudock score 20 points apiece while Larry Brown added 12 points and eight rebounds, leading UNC over Virginia 80-46 in Dean Smith’s first game at Tar Heels head coach. Dec. 7, 1964: Behind 23 points from Bob Lewis and 22 from Billy Cunningham, UNC beats No. 11 Kentucky 82-67 in Charlotte for Smith’s first coaching win over a ranked opponent. Dec 4, 1965: North Carolina beats William & Mary 82-68 for the school’s first win at the new Carmichael Auditorium. March 11, 1967: After UNC won the ACC regular-season title for the first time under Smith, the Tar Heels topped Duke 82-73 for Smith’s first ACC Tournament title. Larry Miller scored 32 points and Bob Lewis added 26 as the Tar Heels beat Duke for the third time that season. March 17-18, 1967: In his sixth season at UNC, Smith notches his first NCAA Tourna-
ment win as the fourth-ranked Tar Heels beat No. 5 Princeton, 78-70 in overtime, at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland. The Tar Heels beat Boston College, 96-80, the next day to reach the Final Four for the first time under Smith. March 22-23, 1968: At the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, UNC reaches the NCAA final for the first time under Smith as the Tar Heels beat Ohio State 80-66 in the national semifinal. The next day, UCLA tops UNC 78-55 in the national championship game. March 8, 1969: Charles Scott, the first African-American scholarship basketball player UNC, scores 40 points leading the Tar Heels over Duke, 85-74, to give Smith and UNC their third consecutive ACC Tournament championship. Duke led by nine points at halftime before Scott scored 29 points in the final 20 minutes and was named tournament MVP. March 27, 1971: UNC claims the National Invitation Tournament championship as Bill Chamberlain scores 34 points and grabs 10 rebounds in an 84-66 win over Georgia
Tech at Madison Square Garden in New York. March 2, 1974: UNC trails Duke by eight points with 17 seconds to play, but four points and a steal from Bobby Jones spark a rally and freshman Walter Davis banks in a 35-foot shot at the buzzer to force overtime. The Tar Heels win, 96-92. March 26, 1977: In a thrilling NCAA Final Four semifinal matchup at the Omni in Atlanta, Mike O’Koren’s 31 points lead the Tar Heels over Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV Running Rebels. The win sends Smith and UNC to its first NCAA title game since 1968. March 29, 1982: Freshman Michael Jordan’s jump shot with 17 seconds left lifts UNC past Georgetown 63-62 to give Smith his first NCAA championship. Final Four MVP James Worthy makes 13 of 17 shots to score 28 points as the Tar Heels shoot 61 percent in the second half to top Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas. Dec. 3, 1983: UNC wins 88-75 at Stanford to give Smith his 500th career coaching win. Jan. 18, 1986: Steve Hale’s 28 points and 23 points
and 11 rebounds from Brad Daugherty help No. 1 UNC beat No. 3 Duke 95-92 in the first game played at the Dean E. Smith Center. Jan. 9, 1991: Huber t Davis scores 25 points as UNC beats Mar yland 105-73 as Smith becomes the first coach in ACC history to reach 700th career coaching wins. April 5, 1993: On his way to being named Final Four MVP, Donald Williams scores 25 points for the second game in a row as UNC beats Michigan 77-71 to win the NCAA Tournament for the second time in Smith’s tenure. Eric Montross scored 16 points and George Lynch posts his fourth consecutive double-double. Feb. 3, 1994: The UNCDuke rivalr y reaches a new level as the teams meet as the nation’s 1-2 ranked teams for the first time. No. 2 UNC wins 89-74 as Derek Phelps scores 18 points and collects six assists with no turnovers. March 12, 1994: Smith claims his 800th career coaching win in a memorable ACC Tournament final. UNC rallies from five points down late to force overtime against Wake
Forest before winning 86-84 in the extra period. March 8-9, 1997: Shammond Williams scores 24 points in the semifinals against Wake Forest and adds 23 in the final against N.C. State as UNC wins the ACC Tournament for the 13th and final time under Smith. March 15, 1997: Smith becomes college basketball’s all-time wins leader with 877 as UNC posts a 73-56 win over Colorado at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem in an NCAA Tour nament second-round game. March 23, 1997: UNC gives Smith his final coaching win, No. 879, with a 97-74 victory over Louisville at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The win sends the Tar Heels to the Final Four, where Smith coaches his final game, a 66-58 loss to Arizona on March 29, 1997, at Indianapolis. Oct. 9, 1997: Smith retires after 36 years as UNC’s head coach, finishing with an overall record of 879254 with 13 ACC Tournament titles, 11 Final Four appearances and two NCAA Tournament championships.
Hall of Fame UNC Players
U
NC has honored the jerseys of 35 former players in the rafters at the Dean E. Smith Center. Among that group, five who played for Dean Smith were later enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Four of those players (all but Larry Brown) were enshrined primarily for playing careers. Here is a look at those four players:
In 1973, Cunningham was the ABA’s Most Valuable Player when he averaged 24.1 and 12 rebounds per game while also leading the league in steals. A career-ending injury while playing with the 76ers in the 1975-76 season left him with career averages of 21.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Cunningham coached the 76ers to NBA runner-up finishes in 1980 and 1982 and an NBA championship in 1983. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1986.
Michael Jordan In the conversation for greatest player the game has even seen, the 6-6 Jordan broke on to the national scene as a freshman in 1982 when his jump shot with 17 seconds left propelled UNC to a 63-62 win over Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament championship game in New Orleans. Jordan, from Wilmington, was named national player of the year in his sophomore and junior seasons at UNC and he was on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team that won gold in Los Angeles. After the Chicago Bulls selected him No. 3 overall in the 1984 NBA Draft, Jordan made the league’s all-rookie team and made the first of his 14 All-Star Game appearances. Jordan was a six-time NBA Finals MVP and a five-time league MVP while leading the Bulls to six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998. While compiling a career per-game scoring average of 31.5 points, Jordan was named first-team all-NBA 10 times and was on the league’s all-defensive team nine times. Named by ESPN as the greatest athlete in the 20th century, Jordan concluded his career with the Washington Wizards in 2003 and now owns the Charlotte Hornets. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2009.
James Worthy After breaking his ankle as a freshman at UNC during the 1979-80 season, Worthy put aside questions about his health to star over the next two seasons for the Tar Heels. The Gastonia native averaged 14.2 points and 8.4 rebounds as a sophomore and wsa named all-ACC.
Bob McAdoo The Herald-Sun Staff
Michael Jordan dunks the ball during a game in the 1980s.
The Herald-Sun | File photo by Harold Moore
North Carolina’s Billy Cunningham (32) pulls in a rebound in game against Wake Forest on February 8, 1964. As a junior in 1981-82, Worthy was a consensus first-team All-American while averaging 15.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He scored 28 points in the NCAA championship game when UNC beat Georgetown 63-62. The Los Angeles Lakers made Worthy the No.1 overall pick of the 1982 NBA Draft and he rewarded them by setting a team record by making 57.9 percent of his shots as a rookie. He was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie team.
Worthy was part of three NBA championship teams with the Lakers in 1985, 1987 and 1988. He was named the NBA Finals MVP in 1988. Worthy made seven NBA All-Star teams and was third-team All-NBA in 1990 and 1991. Nicknamed “Big Game James”, his career postseason averages of 21.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game were higher than his regular-season averages of 17.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest. Worthy was inducted
A Greensboro native, McAdoo played one James Worthy (52) during the UNC v. South Florida season at UNC in 1971-72 game on Dec. 12, 1981. and was a first-team All-American. The 6-9 McAdoo averaged 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds while leading the Tar Heels to the 1972 Final Four. Florida State bounced UNC in the national semifinals despite McAdoo scoring 24 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. The Buffalo Braves made McAdoo the No. 2 overall pick of the 1972 NBA Draft and he averaged 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. The following season, McAdoo won the league scoring title while averaging 30.6 points per game. He also made his first NBA All-Star team. In 1974-75, McAdoo was named NBA Most Valuable Player while repeating as the league’s top scorer (34.5 points per game). Even though the Braves The Herald-Sun staff were eliminated by the Bob McAdoo (35) during game against Virginia Tech Washington Bullets in the on Dec. 11, 1971. NBA playoffs, McAdoo averaged 37.4 points per into the Naismith Hall of 1965 ACC Player of the game that postseason. Fame in 2003. Year and a first-team McAdoo would play All-American as well as Billy Cunningham being named Academic with the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, All-ACC. The Brooklyn-born After being drafted by Detroit Pistons, Los Cunningham came to Angeles Lakers and the NBA’s Philadelphia UNC in the early 1960s Philadelphia 76ers 76ers, Cunningham and thrived under Dean before his NBA career made the league’s Smith’s tutelage. A ended in 1986. He was all-rookie team. 6-7 forward, he once part of the Lakers’ NBA In 1967, he teamed grabbed 27 rebounds in championship teams in with Wilt Chamberlain a game (in 1963 against 1982 and 1985. Clemson) and he scored to lead the 76ers to the McAdoo was named NBA championship. 48 points in a 1964 game to five NBA All-Star Cunningham was against Tulane. Game teams and he Cunningham averaged a three-time NBA averaged 22.1 points per first-team selection 24.8 points per game game for his career. before heading to the in his three seasons He was inducted into ABA where he starred with the Tar Heels and the Naismith Hall of with the Carolina was named all-ACC Fame in 2000. Cougars. three times. He was the The Herald-Sun staff
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Dean Edwards Smith 1931-2015
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