Serving UNC students and the University community since 1893

Volume 122, Issue 148

dailytarheel.com

Monday, February 9, 2015

Dean Smith
1931-2015

Everyone on the bench

stands for the man
coming out of the game.

DTH FILE PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/KATIE WILLIAMS

Dean Smith Commemorative Edition

Monday, February 9, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RESIDENTS REACT

The town wont be the same without its star

The Daily Tar Heel

COACH DEAN E. SMITH

IN HIS OWN WORDS

The Daily Tar Heel

www.dailytarheel.com
Established 1893

121 years of editorial freedom

THE THINGS HE LEFT

JENNY SURANE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A look at the mementos he left behind

EDITOR@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

KATIE REILLY
MANAGING EDITOR

THE LIFE OF DEAN SMITH

MANAGING.EDITOR@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

A closer look at the coachs 83 years

JORDAN NASH
FRONT PAGE NEWS EDITOR

A WINNING COACH

ENTERPRISE@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

MCKENZIE COEY
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

A snapshot of Dean Smiths best statistics

HIS COACHING LEGACY

DTH@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

BRADLEY SAACKS
UNIVERSITY EDITOR

Dean Smith inspired greatness among his peers

UNIVERSITY@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

COMMENTARY

HOLLY WEST
CITY EDITOR

Isaiah Hicks would have made Dean Smith proud

CITY@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

SARAH BROWN
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR

CHAMPIONING CIVIL RIGHTS

STATE@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

Smith was a lifelong advocate for equality

GRACE RAYNOR
SPORTS EDITOR

A POLITICAL POINT

SPORTS@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

Smith was active in politics throughout his life

GABRIELLA CIRELLI
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
ARTS@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

SHOT CLOCK INSTIGATOR

TYLER VAHAN
DESIGN & GRAPHICS EDITOR

A breakdown of the famous Four Corners offense

Students gathered at a candlelit vigil Sunday

10

Dean Smith lived an extraordinary life

CANDLELIT REMEMBRANCE
A TRIBUTE TO GREATNESS
DTH ONLINE:

Go to dailytarheel.com for
more coverage of Coach
Dean Smiths death.

DESIGN@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

KATIE WILLIAMS
VISUAL EDITOR

FROM THE HUGH MORTON COLLECTION, NORTH CAROLINA PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES, WILSON LIBRARY
ur basketball program at North Carolina certainly had a strong philosophy and mission, which produced extraordinary results over a long period of time, thanks to the
terrific players and people we attracted to our program. We believed in following a
process instead of dwelling on winning or worrying about consequences. We asked our players
to concern themselves only with things within their control, so our mission statement was: Play
hard, play smart, play together. We knew if we did those things, we would be successful a large
percentage of the time. We wanted the players focus and attention and tried to help them avoid
distractions. In addition to winning hundreds of games, our players graduated and went on
to great careers, and while at Chapel Hill they proved to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that
when talented individuals sacrifice for the team, everybody wins.

PHOTO@DAILYTARHEEL.COM

Coach Dean E. Smith in his book, The Carolina Way

CORRECTIONS
The Daily Tar Heel reports any
inaccurate information published as soon as the error is
discovered.
Editorial corrections will be
printed on this page. Errors
committed on the Opinion Page
have corrections printed on
that page. Corrections also are
noted in the online versions of
our stories.
Contact Managing Editor Katie
Reilly at managing.editor@dailytarheel.com with issues about
this policy.

Grigris
Monday, Feb 9th

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On my way

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ONLINE EDITOR

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MARY BURKE
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editors note

Wednesday, Feb 11th

FREE - 7:00pm Doors at 6:30pm

Todays special edition of

The Daily Tar Heel focuses on
the lasting legacy Coach Dean
E. Smith left on this campus.
That means readers can
head to The Daily Tar Heels
website dailytarheel.com
for all of this weekends
regular news coverage.

Nelson Mandela Auditorium, FedEx Global Education Center

Supported by: Cultural Services of the French
Embassy in the US, Centre National de la
Cinmatographie et de lImage Anime, Dept. of
Romance Studies, Center for European Studies, &
Dept. of Asian Studies.

roml.unc.edu

Going Out Of Business Sale

T-Shirts
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Adult & Youth Sizes!

1201 Raleigh Road

Suite 102 Chapel Hill, NC 27517
(919) 942-4764 (919) 942-7553
qualitees@mindspring.com

All during February 2015

Low Prices Everything Must Go!!

Foreign Student Clinics on February 28th, March 21st, and March 28th

We had reporters at the

TEDxUNC conference on
Saturday, where technical
difficulties slowed down
speakers at the assembly
required-themed event.
Our journalists also covered
the Quidditch teams win over
Duke at the King of the Hill
tournament this weekend.
Gen. Martin Dempsey,
the highest ranking military
officer in the country, visited
campus on Friday to discuss
the growing threat of the
Islamic State. Dempsey is the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and President Barack
Obamas top military adviser.
We also covered Thursdays
release of the N.C. public
school performance report
cards, which showed that
schools with higher poverty
rates tended to receive lower
letter grades.
And its all online for your
reading pleasure.
We hope you enjoy this
commemorative edition of The
Daily Tar Heel. As always, feel
free to reach out to me with
any questions or problems.
Jenny Surane
Editor-in-Chief
editor@dailytarheel.com

TEACHING TRANSFORMS LIVES

A P P L I C AT I O N D E A D L I N E F O R M O S T P R O G R A M S : F E B R U A R Y 1 0 T H

A P P LY N O W
For more information, visit our website at
http://soe.unc.edu or contact 919-966-1346
School of Education
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dean Smith Commemorative Edition

The Daily Tar Heel

Monday, February 9, 2015

A town mourns its humble star

Chapel Hill residents knew a modest Dean Smith

DTH/KATIE WILLIAMS
DTH/CHRIS GRIFFIN
DTH/KATIE WILLIAMS
(From left to right) Suttons Drug Store, located at 159 E. Franklin St., put out a sign that reads, A leaders job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers sense of commitment.
Mourners brought notes, signs and flowers to the Dean E. Smith Center on Sunday. R&R Grill, located at 137 E. Franklin St., put out a sign in front of the restaurant that reads, We will miss you, Dean.

By Jordan Nash and

Gabriella Cirelli
Senior Writers

The corned beef sandwich was his

favorite. He almost always ordered
it to go.
Dean Smith didnt want anyone
to treat him differently or let him
order first. So he often called his
order in to Four Corners Grille and
picked it up through the back door
in the kitchen.
This was Smith the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
coach off the court. The Chapel
Hill resident. The food connoisseur.
We would always know to leave
it in the kitchen for him, said Art
Chansky, founder and former owner
of Four Corners.
He always would check out the
food as he walked by to see what we
were serving that day, and sometimes he would give us his opinion.
I remember one time he told us the
corned beef looked a little lean.
Chansky opened the restaurant
in 1979 with business partner Eddie
Fogler, Smiths assistant coach at
the time.
The pair named the restaurant
after the famous delay-offense
invented by Smith.
But corned beef wasnt the only
type of sandwich Smith, who died

Saturday at his Chapel Hill home at

the age of 83, enjoyed.
He loved the BLT, especially the
double, said Merritts Store and
Grill manager Chris Elkins, who was
also a UNC cheerleader while Smith
was head coach.
As he did with Four Corners,
Smith frequently called in his orders
ahead of time and picked them up at
the store, Elkins said.
He started coming to the store
in about the 1990s, she said. And
he would come in three to four
times per month he was a frequent visitor.
Elkins said Smith ordered either
a double BLT or his other favorite
the chicken salad sandwich even
after he began experiencing symptoms of dementia.
Were just grateful for all the positive memories that he left behind,
she said.

Halos for the archangels

One particularly memorable
night for Four Corners was the night
North Carolina won the 1982 NCAA
mens basketball championship.
Its name hung in brass letters on the facade of the building.
And it was those brass letters that
Chanskys staff meticulously protected from the excitement following

To have Dean Smith call you on the phone and ask

you personally to design new uniforms for my beloved
Tar Heels was akin to having God call and ask for new
halos for the archangels.
Alexander Julian, owner of Julians clothing store
the 1982 NCAA championship.
We bought rolls and rolls of that
very thick plastic and we fastened
over the top of the restaurant and
then dropped it down in front of the
windows, Chansky said.
Theyre the original letters that
have been there since 1979, and we
didnt want any paint on that.
That 1982 NCAA championship
game was the first national title for a
newly argyle-clad team.
Smith himself called designer
and Franklin Street shop-owner
Alexander Julian two years before
to ask for help in a redesign of the
teams uniforms.
To have Dean Smith call you on
the phone and ask you personally to
design new uniforms for my beloved
Tar Heels was akin to having God
call and ask for new halos for the
archangels, Julian said.
Julian, along with many of Smiths
family and close friends, watched in
pain as a man known for his remarkable memory ended the last few years

of his life unable to use it.

He remembered every play, he
remembered every student athlete,
the family, their brothers and sisters,
their parents, Julian said. He was a
genius. The guy was a saint.

Loving the little guy

A reverence for Smith was felt
by many who knew him, including David Hart, a manager of the
mens basketball team during the
1981-82 national championship
winning season.
I grew up in North Carolina
idolizing Dean Smith, and so I went
down there and had a chance to do
something that I never dreamed was
possible, Hart said.
Hart said he remembers when the
team had just won the NCAA championship. The NCAA awarded the
team players, trainers, coaches
and managers with commemorative watches.
They had 22 watches, and there

were 23 of us when you counted

everybody, Hart said. I was the
youngest manager, and so when
it came time it was natural for me
to not get a watch.
Hart was called into Smiths
office a few days later. He and Smith
talked about the championship for a
few minutes.
Then he said, I appreciate everything you did; you were as much a
part of this team as anyone, and I
want you to have this, Hart said.
And he gives me a box with his
national championship watch.
Hart said this was the side of
Smith many people never got the
chance to see.
Here is a vertically-challenged,
athletically-challenged kid that
would have paid to do what I got to
do never scored a point to help
the team, Hart said. And yet he
cared so much about my feelings
and my contribution that he was
willing to part with the one piece of
tangible evidence that he gets.
Smith touched everyone he met
from restaurant managers to basketball managers.
Whenever he walked into any
place, everybody wanted to talk to
him, Elkins said. They wanted to
tell him how much he was loved.
sports@dailytarheel.com

Compassion for all, neglect for none

Smith proved even legends
have time for everyone
By Dylan Howlett
Senior Writer

It was a beautiful paradox: Dean

Smith, an uncommon man, dispensing gestures so kind and so voluminous to the common men who
adored him, who were lucky enough
to feel the lasting warmth of an
uncommon heart.
His heart would not go cold
with its final beat Saturday night,
weeks before it would have marked
84 years within the chest of its
beloved conductor. It has left
embers everywhere, far beyond a
hard gym floor. And its symphony
too heartfelt to capture with a
simple melody plays on in the
minds of the common men.
Jeff Bardel lost his right arm in
1993 while working at a glass plant
in Laurinberg, N.C. He was 18 and
crestfallen. He was to begin, in a
few months, his baseball career at
Appalachian State.
Bardel was a Tar Heel fan by
birth. When his recovery sent him
to Duke, he wore UNC apparel each
of the 16 days he spent there. A few
of Bardels friends reached out to
UNCs basketball program to share
his story. Smith soon heard it, for he
was blessed with an altruists ears.
He sent a letter dated July 30, 1993.
I probably cant imagine the feelings you are having right now, Smith
wrote, but I do know that, as hard
as it may be, if you can try to focus
on the things you do have, you will
be able to go to school and move into
other things that will be rewarding.
It took the pain away for a while
for a broken 18 year old, Bardel
wrote Sunday on Facebook.
Daniel Johnson joined the Navy
after he graduated from UNC
in 1998. An accident at sea little
more than a year after he graduated claimed both of his legs. His
younger brother, Will, was a freshman forward on Bill Guthridges
1999-2000 Tar Heels. Smith soon
heard of Johnsons tale, and he
sent him a letter while Johnson
recovered at Walter Reed Army
Hospital. It was handwritten and

heartfelt, a splash of Smiths patented compassion.

That note hangs in my office to
this day and serves as a reminder
that, no matter how busy my day
may be, it is important to make time
to care about and to support those
in need, said Johnson, now a partner at the Raleigh law firm Willis
Johnson & Nelson.
Generosity emanated from Smith
with the reach and glow of a lighthouse. There was Emily Schaffer, a
2009 UNC graduate, whose aunt
was dying from lung cancer in 1998.
Schaffers aunt was a recovering
alcoholic, and, through a chance
encounter, had grown friendly
with Smiths wife, Linnea Smith, a
psychiatrist. Dean Smith heard her
story. He sent her an autographed
poster, writing that he had heard of
her friendship with Linnea Smith
and wished her the best.
Something very simple, Schaffer
said, but genuine and heartfelt.
More than mortality and lost limbs
compelled Dean Smith to connect
with those who felt just as compelled
to connect with him. Keith Poston was
a high school junior and self-described
rec league hack at Fayettevilles
Douglas Byrd High School when he
wrote to Dean Smith in 1984 about
making his team as a walk-on or team
manager. Poston, who would graduate from UNC in 1989, mailed the
letter on Feb. 24. Dean Smith replied
in a letter dated March 8. He encouraged Poston to visit the basketball
office upon his Chapel Hill arrival. He
should speak, Dean Smith said, with
then-varsity assistant coach and JV
head coach Roy Williams.
You certainly had some nice
comments to make about our basketball program, Dean Smith said.
I feel very fortunate to be involved
with the type of young men who represent our team.
Always personal. Always authentic. Bailey Pennington, now a UNC
junior and journalism major, was a
high school sophomore in 2009. She
was as rabid a Tar Heels supporter
as her boyfriend, Stewart Johnson.
Christmas was coming. Another

MCT/ROBERT WILLETT
Surrounded by former UNC basketball players, Dean Smith acknowledges a standing ovation from the crowd after
being honored during at the Dean E. Smith Center on Feb. 12, 2010. This was the 100th year of UNC basketball.

UNC T-shirt wouldnt do for

Stewart. Pennington was stumped.
Why dont you write a letter to
Dean Smith? her mother, Marie,
asked. What would he give the biggest Tar Heel fan he knows?
Pennington sat down with a pencil and notebook. She mailed her
letter. Weeks passed. You know, its
Dean Smith, she thought. Hes got
more important things to do.
Then an envelope appeared in
the mail. Pennington screamed.
It was a letter from Linda Woods,
Dean Smiths secretary since 1977.
Coach Smith read your letter and
really enjoyed it, Woods wrote. He
wanted you to have this.
It was a black-and-white, eightby-10-inch photo of Dean Smith,
made out to Stewart and signed in
swirling silver sharpie. Then there
was a second photo, the same as the
first, made out to Bailey Pennington.
Pennington still keeps the photo in
her Mebane bedroom. It has its own
shelf. She cried when she first received
the photo, and cried again Sunday
morning when she learned the man
with the silver Sharpie would never

ink another black and white.

I guess its just the little things,
Pennington said. Of course everyone
knows how great of a coach he was,
but then everybody seems to have all
of these testimonies of how great of a
person he was.
Angelica Lieth didnt know Dean
Smith as basketball royalty. She was
young, and Dean Smith was old,
and they were next-door neighbors
in Chapel Hill. She didnt see Four
Corners or national championships
or pretense of one of his sports most
accomplished men.
She saw Dean and Linnea Smith
welcome Lieth and her two brothers and two sisters into their yard,
romping in their pool or in the woods
behind their home. She saw the
Smiths walking their dogs, Kona and
Mayzie, beckoning Lieth and her siblings to join them on a jaunt around
their cul-de-sac. Always so warm and
welcoming and sweet, Lieth said.
Her brother Alex wanted to be
basketball player. Dean Smiths ears
wouldnt betray him. They never did.
He heard about Alexs aspirations
and encouraged him, pushed him,

mentored him. There they were, a

dreamer and a Hall of Fame coach,
dribbling together in the Lieths
driveway, his normal humanity
quashing anything abnormal about
this unlikely union.
One year, Dean Smith sent a
card to Alex on his birthday, April
30. Alex decided to respond. He
waited 10 months before sending
Smith a card on his birthday, Feb.
28. Dean Smith was touched. So he
sent Alex an autographed basketball poster: Alex, thanks for your
nice birthday card. Best always to
my neighbor. Dean Smith.
My brother was just a kid, and
Dean took time out of his day to do
that, Pennington said. I think that
really shows how much Dean truly
did care about the people in his life,
no matter how big or how small of
a portion they made up in his life.
It didnt matter if it was one of his
players or his next-door neighbor.
It never mattered. No soul was ever
too high or too low for Dean Smith to
touch. He cared for them all.
sports@dailytarheel.com

Dean Smith Commemorative Edition

Monday, February 9, 2015

By Pat James
Assistant Sports Editor

Coach Dean Smiths 879 wins, two

national championships, 13 ACC tournament championships and 17 ACC
regular-season championships will
always serve as proof of his impact on
the North Carolina mens basketball
program.
But unlike the banners hanging in
the Smith Center rafters, the influence
Smith had on his players throughout
his coaching career while not visible

might have been just as great.

Several of Smiths former players have
gone on to coaching careers at both the
collegiate and professional levels.
And many of these players-turnedcoaches then inspired players of their
own to pursue coaching careers, making Smiths impact touch many teams
in the world of basketball.
The below players who have continued on to their own coaching careers
are not a complete list but a short summary of Smiths most significant coaching descendants.

1980s
Buzz Peterson

In 16 years as a head
coach, Peterson
coached Appalachian
State, Tulsa,
Tennessee, Coastal
Carolina and UNC-W.

1960s

Matt Doherty

Doherty coached at
UNC from 2000-03.
He also coached
at Notre Dame,
Florida Atlantic and
Southern Methodist.

The winning numbers behind the

Tar Heel coaching legend

Smiths legacy lives on

In his 36 seasons as a coach for the mens basketball team,
Smith influenced many of his players to start coaching

The Daily Tar Heel

879
WINS
17

ACC regular season

championships

13

ACC Tournament
championships

Doug Moe

Moe played for UNC

from 1958-61. He
coached in the NBA
for 15 seasons and
was NBA Coach of
the Year in 1988.

Larry Brown

Brown is the only

head coach to ever
win an NCAA and
NBA championship.
He is in his 40th season as a head coach.

Billy Cunningham

Cunningham
coached in the NBA
for eight years and
is in the Naismith
Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame.

Jeff Lebo

Lebo played under

Smith from 1986-89.
He is currently the
head coach at East
Carolina, where hes
been since 2010.

Phil Ford

Ford served as an
assistant coach at
UNC from 19882000. He was also
an assistant coach in
the NBA.

Bill Guthridge

Eddie Fogler

Fogler became an
assistant under Smith
in 1971. He later
coached at Wichita
State, Vanderbilt and
South Carolina.

1970s

NCAA Championships

Olympic gold medal

FIVE HALL OF FAME

MEMBERSHIPS

Roy Williams

Williams led UNC to

national titles in 2005
and 2009. He is in his
12th season as the
head coach at UNC
and 27th overall.

ACC Coach of
the Year awards

1990s
Guthridge joined
Smiths staff in 1967
as an assistant. He
became UNCs head
coach when Smith
retired in 1997.

Scott Cherry

Cherry played at
UNC from 1989-93.
He is currently the
head coach at High
Point, where hes
been since 2009.

King Rice

Rice played point

guard for Smith from
1988-91. He is currently the head coach
at Monmouth, where
hes been since 2011.

FIBA Hall of Fame

Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame
Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame

National Collegiate Basketball

Hall of Fame

George Karl

Karls 1,131 regularseason wins as an

NBA head coach rank
him as sixth all time.
He was NBA Coach of
the Year in 2013.

Feb. 28, 1931

Dean Smith is born
in Emporia, Kan.

1930

Tony Shaver

Shaver played for

Smith from 1972-75.
He is currently the
head coach at William
& Mary, where he has
been since 2003.

Wiel served as an
assistant coach under
Smith from 1985-93.
He coached at UNCAsheville and Middle
Tennessee State.

1949
Smith graduates from
Topeka High School in 1949.
He goes on to attend the
University of Kansas on an
academic scholarship and
plays varsity basketball and
baseball for the Jayhawks.

1940
1948
Dean Smith goes to the principal of his
high school, Buck Weaver, and asks him
to integrate the black and white Topeka
High School basketball teams. The
teams merge after the 1948-49 season.

DTH/FILE PHOTOS

Randy Wiel

1952
Smith is a member
of the Jayhawk
basketball team that
wins the NCAA title
under Kansas head
coach Phog Allen.

1950

1958
Smith joins the UNC coaching staff as an
assistant under head coach Frank McGuire.
He helps integrate a Chapel Hill restaurant
by asking to be served with a black friend.

Hubert Davis

After a 12-year career

in the NBA as well
as a stint with ESPN,
Davis became an
assistant coach at
UNC in 2012.

Rasheed Wallace

Wallace played at
UNC from 1993-95.
He was an assistant
for the Detroit
Pistons during the
2013-14 season.

3 jerseys

1960
1965
Smith begins
instructing his
players to use
his famous
Four Corners
offensive
strategy.

1970
1966
At the urging of
his pastor, Smith
begins to recruit
black athletes to
his team. Smith
makes Charlie
Scott the first
black scholarship
athlete at North
Carolina in the
1966-67 season.

12

WORTHY

JORDAN

52

23

retired during UNC coaching tenure

DTH FILE PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/TYLER VAHAN

Aug. 2, 1961
At 30 years old, Smith succeeds Frank McGuire as UNCs head
coach. UNCs 1961-62 season is Smiths only losing season. The
team finishes with an 8-9 record.
Dec. 2, 1961
UNC wins its first game with Smith as head coach. The Tar Heels
win 80-46 against the University of Virginia in Woollen Gym.

FORD

1976
Smith coaches the 1976 U.S. Olympic basketball
team to a gold medal at the Montreal Games.

1980

1983
Smith is inducted
into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame in
Springfield, Mass.

1990

April 5, 1993
UNC defeats the University
of Michigan 77-71 for the
Tar Heels fourth national
championship, Smiths
second as head coach.

March 15, 1997

Oct. 9, 1997
UNC defeats
the Colorado Smith announces his retirement as UNCs
head coach at a 2 p.m. press conference.
Buffaloes for
Smiths 877th
win, making him
the winningest
mens college
basketball coach
at the time. The
win earns Smith
his 21st trip to the
Sweet 16.

2000

January 1986
The Dean E. Smith Center opens at the University of North Carolina.
March 29, 1982
Freshman Michael Jordan hits
a jump shot with 17 seconds
left to defeat Georgetown
63-62 for the Tar Heels third
national championship title,
Smiths first as head coach.

2010
July 17, 2010
Smiths family
announces he
has a progressive
neurocognitive
disorder affecting his
memory.

Feb. 7, 2015
Dean Smith dies at
the age of 83.

2020

Nov. 20, 2013

President Barack Obama presents
Smith with the Presidential Medal
of Freedom for his courage in
helping to change our country,
in addition to his contributions to
basketball. Smiths wife Linnea
accepts the honor on his behalf.
DTH/KATHLEEN HARRINGTON, KATIE PERKINSON

Opinion

Monday, February 9, 2015

The Daily Tar Heel

Established 1893, 121 years of editorial freedom

JENNY SURANE EDITOR, 962-4086 OR EDITOR@DAILYTARHEEL.COM
HENRY GARGAN OPINION EDITOR, OPINION@DAILYTARHEEL.COM
SAM SCHAEFER ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR

EDITORIAL CARTOON

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

BAILEY BARGER

PETER VOGEL

KERN WILLIAMS

BRIAN VAUGHN

KIM HOANG

COLIN KANTOR

TREY FLOWERS

DINESH MCCOY

By Ngozika Nwoko, nwoko@email.unc.edu

Guest columnist

NEXT

FEMINIST KILLJOY
Alice Wilder urges students to
support Project Dinah.

Roy Williams, speaking about Dean Smiths mantra

FEATURED ONLINE READER COMMENT

Deborah Davidson Perkins, on Dean Smiths sportsmanship

Lecturer in the UNC School of

Journalism
Email: tcrother@email.unc.edu

ean Smith would have

disliked this column.
He would have politely urged me not to bother.
He would have suggested a
dozen topics he found more
worthwhile. But I should have
written this 30 years ago. With
Coach Smiths passing, it cant
be put off any longer.
I remember as students at
UNC in the early 1980s, we
called him Dean. Not Coach.
Dean. Yes, it felt somewhat
irreverent, but we couldnt help
ourselves. It was amazing how
we all felt we knew someone
who shared so little about himself. Then one day, during my
senior year in the fall of 1985,
as a writer for this newspaper, I
went to interview Coach Smith
in his office.
I did not call him Dean. I
was petrified, and he knew it.
He calmed me down by asking
about my family, and eventually it came up that I had a
grandmother named Virginia,
and he teased me not to repeat
that name in his presence
because it reminded him of
Ralph Sampson. Silly, sure, but
I havent forgotten it.
Coach Smith had a brilliant
way of controlling a conversation, and, during our half hour
together that afternoon, we
barely spoke about basketball.
We talked mostly about leadership. He was mentoring me. I
returned to the office lamenting
how little information I had
gleaned for my story but gushing about how Coach Smith had
treated me as an equal. Dean
Smith made me love coaches. I
should have told him right then.
I moved on to write for
Sports Illustrated, and all of
my favorite stories were about
coaches, from winners like
Pete Carroll to lovable losers
like Red Klotz, the coach of the
Washington Generals. More
recently I have co-authored two
books profiling a pair of the
greatest coaches ever to roam
the sideline, Roy Williams and
Anson Dorrance, both of whom
credit Dean Smith with much
of their success. I am currently
coaching my sons fifth-grade
basketball team, smiling whenever I see one of the 10-yearolds instinctively pointing to
the passer. All of that is largely
because of Dean Smith.
Toward the end of Smiths
coaching career, I returned
to Chapel Hill to interview
him again. A decade later, he
remembered me. Remembered
Virginia. Even remembered
what hed said about Sampson.
I should have told him then,
but the timing didnt feel right.
Occasionally, over the last
few years, I would spot Coach
Smith leaving the Smith Center,
and I would always be tempted
to approach him, tell him about
how hed lit this fire inside me
three decades ago, but I knew it
was too late. I knew he wouldnt
remember me, and thats not
how I wanted to remember him.
We all knew this time was
coming. It actually crossed my
mind the other night when
Coach Smiths face flashed up
on the video board: Hello, Im
Dean Smith and, certainly, Im
a Tar Heel.
So humble. So perfectly
Coach Smith. Every time I
watch that clip, it reminds me
of what I never got to tell him.
Dean Smith would have
disliked this column. I regret
that part. But after all of these
years, I need to say it.
Thank you, Dean.

And his whole thing was do the best that

you can do, the absolute best that you can do
And then live with it.

... Carmichael was waving their hands and

the other team was shooting a free throw. He
got the mic and said, We dont do that.

Tim Crothers

Thank
you,
Dean
Smith

QUOTE OF THE DAY

LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
Remembrances of
Coach Dean Smith

I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.

EDITORIAL

Beyond basketball
Honor Dean Smith
with lasting efforts
for justice.

one of the undergraduates who

work for this
newspaper are old enough
to properly eulogize Dean
E. Smith.
Most of us werent even
5 years old at the time of
his 1997 retirement
scarcely old enough to
remember a game of basketball, much less understand the weight Smith
carried in so many circles
of American life.
But even into his retirement and old age, the stories about Smith persisted.
We named the biggest
arena in town after our
faith in what Smith stood
for. When the Dean E.
Smith Centers namesake
appears on the jumbotron
to proclaim that this is
Carolina basketball, there
remains an understanding among us younger
folks that without Smith, it
wouldnt be.
All the high schools in
town hold their graduations in the Smith Center.
For parents, theres no
more fitting symbol of
hope for their childrens
future than Smiths ability to change the lives of
young people for the better.
And so, as we remember Smiths life and mourn

his passing, its comforting

to be surrounded by so
many reminders of his legacy. But that legacy must
not just be remembered:
It must be acted upon.
Today, as the University
attempts to reconcile
its desire for successful
sports programs with
the real-world complications of academics, race
and justice, it can look to
Smiths philosophy as one
that embodied a desirable
balance. He integrated
himself into the fabric of
the lives of his players and
fans in a way that suggested he saw his status as
a coach and local hero as
a means to accomplishing
something greater.
Smith is, in large
part, responsible for the
Carolina Way, at least as
we conceive of it today. But
rather than simply repeating the phrase in hopes
that doing so might ward
off what threatens it, we
must act as Smith would
have and involve ourselves
in efforts to confront those
threats honestly.
Participants in the world
of athletics hear a familiar
refrain when their commentary strays too far from
the field or hardwood:
Stick to sports, theyre
told. No better argument
against this mindset exists
than the life of Smith, who
aggressively taught his
players to be conscious

members of the world they

inhabit. Honoring Smith
would be to continue his
constant concern for the
justice of our actions.
Its tempting to use
sports as refuge from
everything that makes life
so complicated, but Smith
knew as well as anyone
that basketball could never
be separated from the lives
of its participants or spectators. His teams, UNC
and Chapel Hill, were all
better off for his refusal to
stick to sports. Things
were good when Smith
was coach, but that was
because he fought for them
to be that way.
Despite the years of
scandal this University
has endured, the beauty of
Smiths vision has remained
inspirational to those who
wish to see UNC once again
on the side of justice. It is
because of him that UNC
basketball still sits upon
such a lofty pedestal in the
hearts of millions.
These days, we might
find ourselves cheering a
Marcus Paige floater or a
J.P. Tokoto jam instead of
a Michael Jordan gamewinner. But we know what
brought them here, and
we know what brought us.
We look up into the rafters,
down at the players on the
court and at the people
standing beside us. We
remind ourselves: This is
the house that Dean built.

COLUMN

Dean Smith is everywhere

The coachs legendary influence is visible on and off UNCs court

ean Smith was at

once everywhere
and nowhere.
We see him when we watch
the North Carolina mens basketball team play home games
his name, Dean Edwards
Smith, is the arena.
We see him at the Four
Corners restaurant on
Franklin Street, named for
one of his many on-court
innovations, on a cloudless
and sunny day like Sunday,
the temperature perfect and
possibilities endless. We
think it cant be coincidence
that the cold is gone, at least
for this day.
We see him every day
when we wait the extra
three seconds to hold the
door open for the person
behind us, say thank you to
the crossing guard, strike up
conversation with Ms. Paige
at the dining hall embodying The Carolina Way, the
three-word philosophy of the
University of the People.
But we never saw Smith.
We saw him at the end of
the This is Carolina basketball montage at UNC home
games, but the neurological
disorder that robbed him of
arguably his greatest asset,
his memory, robbed us of
seeing him in the flesh. He is,

Robbie Harms

Senior Writer
Senior journalism major from
Port Orange, Fla.
Email: rharms93@gmail.com

because of this, almost divine.

So it was in snowy
Chestnut Hill, Mass., on
Saturday, when No. 12 UNC
beat Boston College, 79-68,
that Smith was both there
and not there, just as he is
at every Tar Heel basketball
game. He was there because
Dean Smith and UNC
basketball are nearly interchangeable, because every
game since Smith retired in
1997 has been touched by the
legendary coach in some way:
huddling at the free-throw
line, changing defenses midgame, pointing to the passer.
It was mandated, Dave
Chadwick, who played for
Smith in the late 1960s, said
of pointing to the teammate
that assisted your basket.
And Smith cared, deeply,
for every one of his players.

When I left the campus,

he said to me, Thank you for
four years. If you ever need
me, call me. Ill always be
here for you, Chadwick said.
Years later, Chadwick
needed him, and Smith was
there. Chadwicks 13-year-old
son, David, dislocated his
kneecap and needed surgery.
Chadwick called Smith and
asked if he would call David
Jr. to offer encouragement.
Smith called the next day.
He and David Jr. talked for
15 minutes, about life and
basketball, and Smith told
him that plenty of people have
come back from knee injuries
and to not give up. David Jr. is
now 25 and playing Division I
basketball at Valparaiso.
Surely Smith, in Boston
in spirit but not in person,
loved watching Isaiah Hicks,
an unrenowned sophomore
in his first ACC start, muscle
his way to a career-high 21
points against the Eagles on
Saturday. Two of those points
came early in the second half,
with UNC leading, 40-38,
when Hicks received a pass
from Nate Britt near the left
block and dropped in a soft
hook. Starting back down the
court on defense, Hicks pointed to the passer, and somewhere, the old coach smiled.

TO THE EDITOR:
I met the man only once.
I tried to explain to him
that the day he retired, my
mother and I sat at our
kitchen table and cried. In
the telling, I began to tear
up. He took my hand, patted
it and told me how much he
appreciated the thought.
My earliest memory
from childhood is the win
over Georgetown My
house exploded in cheers;
the phone didnt stop ringing and my family was over
the moon. I feel like Ive
lost a family member.
Mary Shannon Thomas
Class of 10
TO THE EDITOR:
Theres a compelling
argument that Dean Smith
did more for the value of
my degree from UNC than
any other single person.
The basketball teams he
coached brought prestige
to the University, attracting an incalculable number
of students who might not
otherwise have applied,
making admission to UNC
extremely competitive. He
improved the social fabric
of Chapel Hill and North
Carolina in a way that wins
and losses could never
measure but which hoisted
the reputation of the school
to even greater heights.
While recent events
may have diminished
some of the intangible
values Coach Smiths work
attached to every degree
bestowed by UNC, this
much is certain: Dean
Smith is undiminished.
Leo J. Carmody Jr.
Class of 96
TO THE EDITOR:
Coach Smith was, by
all measures, a fantastic
coach, innovator and leader
of young men. But most
importantly, he always
stood up for what he considered to be right, especially
if it went against popular
opinion. He wasnt afraid to
ruffle feathers; racially integrating his team in 1966,
taking his players to meet
prison inmates to challenge
perspectives or advocating
against the death penalty
(and famously calling former Governor Jim Hunt a
murderer).
It is a mind-boggling
realization that there will be
freshmen at Carolina next
year who were born after
Coach Smith retired. As
such, it is our responsibility
to ensure that his impact
remains more than the
name on a stadium (after
all, he wanted it named
after the players: I never
scored a single point!).
Its our job to ruffle feathers now. We must carry on
Coach Smiths legacy and
seek out opportunities to
stand against injustice,
while staying humble in our
efforts. As Coach said, You
should never be proud of
doing the right thing. You
should just do whats right.
Thats the true meaning of

The Carolina Way.

Coach Smith would be
proud, however, of the
innumerable lives he has
influenced over the years.
After dementia cruelly
stripped his remarkable
memory and faculties, we
hope his family can find
solace in tributes from all
over the world as he rests
peacefully. And we can
all take comfort knowing
Coach has quite the welcoming party waiting for
him in Blue Heaven.
Moazzum Bajwa
Class of 08
TO THE EDITOR
Coach Smith came to our
room in 1971. It was 108
Lewis. He was recruiting two
fellows from Ohio named Ed
Stahl and Brad Hoffman.
My roommate and I were
from Columbus, and Coach
spoke with us for 20 minutes. Fast forward to 2003,
and I got to play with him in
the Carolina Kids Classic at
Finley Golf Course.
Coach walks up to me
on the first tee to introduce
himself, and when I say
my name, he recounts the
above story with names,
dates and times precisely
even our dorm room.
What a spectacular
memory but more just a
genuinely caring, nice man!
Thanks, Coach!
Rick Zollinger
Class of 73
TO THE EDITOR:
R.I.P., Coach Dean
Smith. The Carolina family
mourns with your family. I
personally am so glad that
you were the bedrock of
Carolina basketball for so
many years, and the years I
was at UNC, and following
after we moved back here
in 1987. I know your former
players must be especially
sad. I know your legacy will
help the UNC community
with the current challenges.
Let your accomplishments
and integrity be an inspiration to players, students,
faculty, alumni and all fans.
Frances Schaefer
Class of 82
TO THE EDITOR:
Some call him the greatest
coach in college basketball.
Some consider him a revolutionary in the game. To the
Carolina family, Dean Smith
was a legend and friend. You
will be missed, friend.
Joey Schwind
Sophomore
Nursing
TO THE EDITOR:
Dean Smith will be
remembered for his relentless commitment to selflessness and teamwork.
His emphasis on pointing
to the man who dished the
assist is a representation
of his outlook on life itself.
Dean Smith was more than
a coach, he was the embodiment of the Carolina Way.
He will be remembered for
teaching us that life is the
most important team sport.
Logan Judy
Junior
Political Science and
Peace, War and Defense

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News

The Daily Tar Heel

Monday, February 9, 2015

A greater man than me

Charlie Scott, Roy Williams and others remember
Dean Smith for his humanitarian efforts off the court
By Aaron Dodson
Senior Writer

These are the memories that especially

stand out yet they dont involve comeback victories, his trademark four-corner
offense or runs to a national title.
In fact, these stories dont really revolve
around Dean Smith, the legendary basketball
coach. They provide glimpses of Dean Smith,
the humanitarian. Dean Smith, the man.
He became a man early. Maybe in high
school even, when he got tired of playing on
an all-white, segregated basketball team. So
in 1948, Dean went to Topeka High Schools
principal and demanded the schools team
be merged with its separate, all-black squad.
After the 1948-49 season, there was one integrated team five years before the Supreme
Courts Brown v. Board of Education decision.
What about during his three-year tenure
as an assistant coach at North Carolina?
Dean showed up to The Pines, a segregated restaurant in Chapel Hill, with
Robert Seymour, longtime pastor at Olin
T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church and a
black theology student. The three of them
ate together that day.
How about when Dean expressed his antideath penalty sentiments to the most powerful man in the state of North Carolina?
Youre a murderer, Dean told then-N.C.
Gov. Jim Hunt at a clemency hearing for a
death row inmate.
These arent the basketball anecdotes to
be expected in remembrance of the Hall of
Fame coach who died Saturday night.
But for those who spent time with him,
they sum up the person Dean Smith was
much more than a basketball coach. A man.
To us, and to me, he was just being
Coach Smith, said UNC basketball legend
Phil Ford, who played for Dean from 197478. He was just being the good, honest guy
that wanted everyone to be treated fairly.

All about opportunity

Charlie Scott has been asked the same
question about a million times.
How did it feel to be the first black scholarship athlete to play at UNC? Dean recruited
Scott, who achieved that feat in 1967.
Scotts answer to this question has always
remained the same.
Coach Smith never treated me like
the first African-American to go to the
University of North Carolina, he said. It
was all any person would want to be treated
like like everybody else.
Dean might have treated Scott just like any
one of his players, but when others treated
Scott differently because of his race, Dean had
to change his ways ever so slightly. The usually calm and collected Dean disappeared.
David Chadwick, a teammate of Scotts
from 1968 to 1971, remembers one game
when the team played in South Carolina
and a fan directed racial slurs toward Scott.
Deans reaction: We had to hold him back,
Chadwick said.
Hubert Davis, one of Deans former players and a current assistant mens basketball
coach at UNC, remembers a visit from the
coach when he was in high school.
He gave me an opportunity, said Davis,
who Dean originally thought couldnt
make it at UNC.
That was Deans passion: helping lead people, not just his players, toward opportunity.
Dean helped then-UNC graduate student
Howard Lee move into an all-white Chapel
Hill neighborhood after Lee arrived in town
in 1964. Lee later became the first black

Smith
fought for
his beliefs
Dean Smith was an outspoken
Democrat in North Carolina.
By Bradley Saacks
University Editor

why Williams can call himself one of Deans

successors as head coach of the North
Carolina basketball team.
But Williams especially remembers when
he told his 11th grade U.S. history teacher,
Buddy Baldwin, that he wanted to go to UNC.
Well, that will be good for you because
youll be able to learn some things from Coach
Smith, Baldwin responded.
Maybe the most important lesson
Williams learned during his 10 years as
Deans assistant coach was that its what a
coach does off the court that truly matters.
He was successful, Williams said. Sitting
at the cafeteria counter was more important
than wins and losses It was more important to Coach Smith. It means he won.
Scott especially cherishes his memories of
the Dean Smith from off the court.
Coach Smith was a better man than he
was a coach, and thats hard to do with all
the things that he accomplished, Scott said.
Jones wishes he couldve met Dean
Smith, the political activist.
He was able to stand behind these things
that were not in line with majority opinion,
he said. When Dean Smith said it, it all of a
sudden meant people had to listen.
Roy Williams loved, and always will love,
the person the coach truly was.
Dean Smith, the man.
He was a much greater man than me,
Williams said. And his whole thing was do the
best that you can do, the absolute best that you
can do. Dont leave any stone unturned; do the
absolute best you can do. And then live with it.

There are an unlimited number of titles that

apply to Dean Smith, most of which will probably
be brought up in the coming days.
Coach. Father. Genius. Champion. Democrat.
The last title was not the hall-of-famers
defining trait, but it was notable as the former
coach helped integrate UNC,
endorsed the presidential campaigns of Howard Dean, Bill
Bradley and Barack Obama and
spoke his mind on many political issues throughout his career.
He was active and vocal
and had an opinion about very
important issues, said Matthew
Jesse Helms
Andrews, who teaches American
won the 1990 U.S.
and sports history at UNC.
Andrews said Smiths outSenate election
spoken political views differagainst former
entiate him from his coaching
Charlotte Mayor
peers, many of whom shied
Harvey Gantt.
away from politics.
In 2006, Smith appeared in an ad for the
grassroots political group known as the Devout
Democrats.
Im a lifelong Baptist and vote for Democrats,
Smith said in the newspaper ad. One reason?
Democrats are serious about alleviating poverty.
While Smith endorsed winning candidates in his
life, one of his most notable political stories involves
a candidate who lost.
In 1990, former Charlotte
Mayor and Democrat Harvey
Gantt was running against
Republican incumbent Jesse
Helms to be one of North
Carolinas U.S. senators.
While many wanted Smith,
himself, to run against Helms,
Harvey Gantt had Smith instead reached out to
the support of Dean Michael Jordan to see if he
would endorse Gantt publicly.
Smith in the 1990
And Jordan and this
election for U.S.
Senate but did not has become a very famous
pull out the victory. story now said he wouldnt
do it because Republicans
buy sneakers too, Andrews said.
Helms won the election, receiving 53 percent
of the vote.
Andrews said Jordans comment set him up as
the poster boy for the apolitical athlete, but Smith
harbored no resentment for his former star athlete after he rebutted his request.
Ive never heard of any animosity between
Dean and Jordan, Andrews said.
In a statement released Sunday and in interviews in years prior, Jordan acknowledged the
importance of his college coach, who is famously
known to be the only one capable of keeping the
former Chicago Bull under 20 points.
Coach was always there for me whenever I
needed him, and I loved him for it. In teaching
me the game of basketball, he taught me about
life, Jordan said in the statement.
While Smith would have preferred Jordan
endorse Gantt, Andrews said Jordans response
represented a quality Smith instilled in all of his
players the need to stand by your beliefs.
One of these things Dean Smith always was
trying to do was to take the boys he had and turn
them into men, Andrews said.

sports@dailytarheel.com

university@dailytarheel.com

MCT/ROBERT WILLETT
Charlie Scott embraces former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who was honored with the
Dr. James A. Naismith Good Sportsmanship Award on June 29, 2011 at Memorial Auditorium.

mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969, and along the

way Dean supported him.
It was a tough process, said Lee of buying
the house. We were threatened, our kids were
threatened, we even had a group of teenagers
burn a cross on our lawn one night
He was a person committed to doing
what was right.
During his 83 years, Dean participated in
sit-ins. He protested the Vietnam War and
pushed for the United States to reduce its production of nuclear weapons.
In 2013, Dean received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom the nations highest
civilian honor.
He was very soft-spoken, very active
politically, said UNC womens basketball
coach Sylvia Hatchell.
For ESPNs Bomani Jones, Deans legacy
extends further than college basketball.
I think you could make an argument that
Dean Smith is the most significant resident
of the state of North Carolina of the 20th
century, he said. When you start looking at
the advancement socially that he was behind,
the significance of him being who he was,
taking the stances that he was willing to
take and what some of the ultimate effects
of those happened to be. With that, I think
theres a legitimate case that theres been no
person more important to the history of the
state than he was in the 20th century.

The man they knew and loved

Roy Williams has countless memories of
Dean. Like he did for Scott and Lee, Dean
also gave Williams a chance. Hes the reason

Dean E. Smith: a life dedicated to equality

The national championship-winning basketball coach was committed to giving
everyone a chance to play and making every person feel appreciated

MCT/OLIVIER DOULIERY
Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Linnea Smith, wife of Dean Smith, on Nov. 20, 2013 in Washington, D.C.

DTH FILE/ ERIK PEREL

Dean Smith talks to Vince Carter during the Feb. 27, 1996 game
against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons won 84-60.

Dean Smith Commemorative Edition

Monday, February 9, 2015

The Daily Tar Heel

With 4 corners, Smith leaves a legacy

Smith perfected the Four Corners offense
and changed the rules of basketball forever
By Brendan Marks

taught him to do.

He lifted his arm to the sky and
tucked his thumb into the crevice on
the palm of his hand. And then, as if
it were choreographed, the crowd of
light blue shot to its feet, rising in sync
with Fords now-outstretched fingers.
You dont see The Four Corners
anymore, Ford said on Sunday. They
outlawed that, but I see his footprint
on a lot of the plays and defenses that
we see today.
Strategically, the four corner
offense was difficult to master. Four
players spread out on one half of the
court, forming a near-perfect square.
They were outlet passers and safety
valves they were the four corners.
But in the center of this stagnant
strategy was one ever-moving cog.
At one point, that cog was Ford. By
the time Smith finally led the Tar
Heels to a national championship in
1981-82, Ford had been replaced by
another facilitator: Jimmy Black.
But whatever the name on the
back of the jersey, the role was always
the same. The point guard was the
primary ball handler, weaving in and
out of the square. His job was to hold
onto the ball for as long as he could
by himself, only dumping it off to a
corner at the very last moment. Then,
he took back the ball.
The process repeated.
At times, it was nothing more
than a game of one-on-one, the
eight other bodies serving as cones
on an otherwise open court. At
other times, it was only that Smith
taught his teams to play keep-away.

Assistant Sports Editor

Rarely do four fingers incite such

a ruckus. Rarely do they incite any
ruckus at all.
But these are no ordinary four
fingers.
On this day, in this place especially, those digits signal something
more. Not just a play call, though at
the heart of the situation, thats what
it is. Not just a phenomenon, some
off-the-wall science experiment
played out on a hardwood floor.
On the 12th of March exactly 40
years ago, these four fingers marked
a legacy of a coach and his game,
a leader of men but, above all else, of
unparalleled ingenuity in every facet
of life.
This was the start of Dean Smiths
legacy. This was The Four Corners.
The crowd in Carmichael would
erupt when the point guard raised
the four, said Dave Chadwick, who
played for Coach Dean Smith from
1968 to 1971. When we saw the
fours go up, games over.
Phil Ford knows it better than
anyone.
The gangly freshman from Rocky
Mount, N.C., lazily dribbles the ball
down the court of Carmichael Arena
after all, hes in no hurry. Therere
several minutes left in the game, and
the North Carolina mens basketball
team has a small lead over Duke, but
the result has already been decided.
So Ford did what Smith, who died
Saturday night at age 83, had always

And it worked.
That was never clearer than
in the 1982 ACC championship
game against Ralph Sampson and
Virginia. Up a point with 7:34 to
play in an era before the shot clock
existed, the Tar Heels held the ball
for seven minutes and six seconds to
preserve their eventual 47-45 win.
But it didnt last.
One of the greatest compliments
that I can give Coach Smith is that
he changes as the game changes,
said North Carolina womens basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell. When
the shot clock took away his four
corners, he adjusted.
Smiths creation was next-toimpossible to stop on the court. But
off the floor was a different matter.
During the 1985-86 season, college
basketball implemented a 45 second
shot clock that buried The Four
Corners for good. The days of holding
the ball for minutes on end were gone.
It was no longer possible to pass the
rock until the clock read zero.
Smiths legacy is more than one
system, even if that was where it all
began. Smiths legacy mirrored his
coaching career: an ever-changing,
evolving collaboration of moments
that collectively tell a story the story
of a coach, the story of a man.
Hell be on the Mount Rushmore
of college basketball, without a question. Not only his legacy as a winner
and a champion but as a champion
of social justice off the floor as
an innovator of the game, said Jay
Bilas, an ESPN analyst and former

Smith Center or the assorted masses

who sent him letters, Smith always
went out of his way to appreciate
other people.
He always went out of his way to
point the passer.
Coach Smith has a legacy that
touched basketball and will be around
forever, said Roy Williams, the current head coach at North Carolina.
You know, the little things like huddling at the free throw line, changing
defenses, guys clapping when guys
come off the bench all those kinds
of things. But one of the ones that Ive
always admired the most was pointing
at the guy that made the pass.
People will be doing things that
they have no idea came from Dean
Smith, but theyll be doing it because
its been passed down from coaches
to coaches, players to players.
Pointing the passer its as easy
as holding up four fingers.

Duke basketball player. There are

so many things that he originated in
the game of basketball. How many
people can you say that about?
Everyone that coaches now that
plays now is doing something that
Dean Smith innovated in some way.
Maybe its clapping as a teammate
comes out of the game. Maybe its
pointing the passer after a made
bucket. Maybe its just throwing a
finger in the air not four, only one
to signal that a player is tired.
Its the little things in the game
that Smith brought to the forefront,
the signals and signs that young boys
grow up mimicking. His thoughts,
those moments of brilliance, were
brought to life through his players
and assistants every day on the job.
But more impressively than his
coaching, better than anything he
accomplished in the realm of basketball, Smith stressed the little
people in his daily routine. Be it the
men guarding the tunnel inside the

sports@dailytarheel.com

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The Daily Tar Heel

Dean Smith Commemorative Edition

Monday, February 9, 2015

DTH/KATIE WILLIAMS
Mourners gather at 8 p.m. Sunday with candles, flowers and notes to place in front of the Dean E. Smith Center. Students sang the alma mater after a moment of silence. Smith died Saturday night.

More than wins games

Hundreds of students gathered to
honor Dean Smiths legacy Sunday
By Daniel Wilco
Senior Writer

Dean Smith would have hated this.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, a few hundred students
gathered by the plaque that bears his name in
the shadow of the building that does as well.
They wrote his name in chalk on the sidewalk
and in marker on the poster boards they held
close to their hearts or placed amid the flowers
and candles at the foot of the plaque.
Clad in black and blue, the students assembled for him. They loved him, they idolized
him, but at that moment, more than anything,
they missed him.
Smith, UNC basketball coaching icon and
friend to these hundreds of students and countless more, passed away Saturday night at 83.
If he were there, Smith would have hated the
impromptu vigil held in his honor Sunday night.
Smith scorned the spotlight more than the status
quo, always beelining for the tunnels after monumental wins and having to be convinced, if not
dragged out, to cut down the last strand of net
after yet another ACC
crown or one of his two
national titles.
But if he could get
past all the attention
he was receiving right
then, he would have
seen the vigil for what
it really was an
embodiment of one
of his dearest virtues:
community.
Theres a specific
Carolina Way and its
almost tangible in
Ben Peery,
some senses, said Erin UNC alumnus
King, a senior at the
vigil Sunday. I really
think he embodied that. Hes representative of
everything you could want in a community.
Fifteen minutes past eight and students
were still trickling in when one stood on the
stone semicircle surrounding the plaque and
offered up a proposition.
Im not sure who organized this, she said.
But I think we should sing the alma mater
right now.
There werent any responses. There didnt
need to be. The hundreds of students and
handful of alumni wrapped their arms around
each other and broke the silence.
Hark the sound of Tar Heel voices, ringing
clear and true
He was more than his 879 wins, he was more
than his 13 ACC titles, he was more than his 11

final fours, said alumnus Ben Peery. He would

have asked us to finish our homework right now
because we have class tomorrow. More than
anything, he taught us what it meant to be Tar
Heels. He taught us The Carolina Way.
Singing Carolinas praises, shouting NCU
My wife and I met here in the heyday of
Deans career, said Keith Aldridge, who got his
masters in 1977. We were intertwined with
not only the basketball, but some of the social
issues. Im not surprised to see so many people
here. Actually Im surprised it wasnt bigger.
I think its just a stark reminder of what he
meant to everybody for people to be coming out
and laying flowers and just standing silently.
Aldridge and his wife, Karen, waded
through the sea of mourners to place flowers
at Smiths plaque.
Hail to the brightest star of all, clear its
radiance shine
Ive wanted to come to this school since I
was 5 years old, said junior Myles Robinson.
I wanted to be just like Michael Jordan.
Whether you knew Dean or not, you felt like
you knew him, especially as Tar Heels in the
Carolina community.
Theres no other place I
would have been tonight.
Carolina, priceless gem,
receive all praises thine
Carolina to me has
meant community, Peery
said. Being a Carolina
fan was never about
winning the national
championship or being
the best or beating Duke
or any of that. Being part
of that was about being a
better person, and it was
about the idea of Coach
Smith being such a powerful ambassador.
After the alma mater, students, again spurred
by some unspoken connection, raised their arms
toward the plaque, index finger extended.
Point the passer a tradition Smith started
for each of his players to recognize who gave
them an assist.
The vast majority of students gathered
Sunday night had never met Smith. They were
born a little too late to watch his magic on the
court. They never played for him.
But each one had received something from
the man. A community. Sunday, they recognized who gave that to them.
Dean Smith would have loved that.

He would have
asked us to finish our
homework right now
because we have class
tomorrow He taught
us The Carolina Way.

sports@dailytarheel.com

The DTH debate

The Daily Tar Heel hosted
a student body president
debate on Sunday. See
dailytarheel.com for story.
2015 The Mepham Group. All rights reserved.

Level:

4
Complete the grid
so each row, column
and 3-by-3 box (in
bold borders) contains
every digit 1 to 9.

Solution to
Fridays puzzle

A dental donation
The School of Dentistry
provided free dental
services for children. See
dailytarheel.com for story.

Liberty conference
The Young Americans
for Liberty held its state
conference Saturday. See
dailytarheel.com for story.

A Tar Heel shake up

North Carolina beat
Boston College 79-68 on
Saturday. See dailytarheel.
com for story.

Its not too early to start

thinking about summer!
Check out summer.unc.edu

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

ACROSS
1 The Alphabet Song
opening
5 Closed
9 Postpone
14 Lemony in taste
15 __ Lisa
16 Overjoy
17 *Handy tool to have
when youre out of
loose-leaf paper
19 Red-suited reindeer
driver
20 Chinas Zhou __
21 Forming a queue
23 Memory aid, such as
HOMES for the Great
Lakes
26 Amount paid
29 *Amulet
34 Sch. in the smallest state
35 T-shirt sizes, for short
36 Sound portion of a movie
37 *Prime ballpark
accommodation
39 *Architectural style
featuring geometric
shapes
41 Amazed
42 Regret
43 __ Misrables
44 *Stand-up venue
48 French father
49 Kids show host
with a
Neighborhood
51 Will you marry
me? is one
55 Flusters
59 Deceived
60 Ostracize ... and

what the first words of

the answers to starred
clues comprise
63 Submit tax returns online
64 Actor Lugosi
65 Sulk
66 Small and unimportant
67 Cheese from the
Netherlands
68 Winter fall
DOWN
1 Arthur of tennis
2 Timely benefit
3 Select with care
4 Imagined while sleeping
5 Church-founded Dallas
sch.
6 Luv
7 Clean with Liquid-Plumr
8 Hummus paste
9 Dry up
10 Vivacity
11 Vampire tooth
12 Caesars immortal And
you?
13 Gather in a field

18 Bowlers target
22 Actor Cage, in tabloids
24 Austen heroine
25 Milkshake additive
26 Like Rubiks creation
27 Maine college town
28 Early risers hr.
30 1963 Paul Newman film
31 Dancer Astaire
32 Potato cutter
33 Bullwinkle, for one
35 Start-up cash
38 Nor. neighbor
39 Cut __: dance, in old
slang
40 Hick
45 1520 and 2015, e.g.:
Abbr.

(C)2015 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

All rights reserved.

46 Buster who played Buck

Rogers and Flash
Gordon
47 Lazed
48 Biblical songs
50 Bobbys monogram, in
60s politics
51 Argued in court
52 Lower-interest mtge.
53 Norse war god
54 President when Texas
was annexed
56 Utah national park
57 1960s-70s Boston
Bruins nickname
58 Hearty dish
61 Pie __ mode
62 Pic taker

10

Monday, February 9, 2015

The Daily Tar Heel

MCT/ DAVID T. FOSTER III

Former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith congratulates former UNC player Michael Jordan after Jordan was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on Dec. 14, 2010 in Charlotte.

A ready-made legacy

North Carolina basketball legend Dean Smith, who was loyal to a

fault, touched the lives of 12-year-olds and basketball icons alike
By Grace Raynor
Sports Editor

He wasnt ready.
So he called the one man who always was.
I called him the night before I went to Kansas
for the interview, a teary-eyed Roy Williams says
Sunday. And I said, Coach, are you sure you
want to do this? This is your school. Youre screwing them up here, telling them I can do the job.
Are you sure you want to do this to your school?
Of course he did. And on the other end of the
phone, the legendary Coach Dean Smith who
died Saturday night at 83 years old made that
clear to his protege.
You can do this job, Smith told Williams,
reassuring him about the Kansas head coaching
job. And youre going to be the best.
Roy Williams remembers that 1988 phone call
27 years later. It made all the difference for the
then 37-year-old, who was interviewing for his first
head coaching job after serving as Smiths assistant
at UNC for 10 years. He felt doubtful and needed
hope. He felt uneasy and needed Dean.
That was the man Dean Smith was, a man made
up of more than just statistics. Yes, he accrued 879
wins in 36 seasons for the most in college basketball
at the time of his retirement, 13 ACC Tournament
titles, 11 Final Fours, two national championships
and an Olympic gold medal.
But he was also a man who loved people; a coach
who yelled at you if you forgot to point to the passer
on the court, but remembered the names of your
family members, hometown and kids off of it.
Meet him once, and hed never forget. Enter
his circle, and hed never let go.
I told him one time I thought he was loyal to a
fault, Williams said. And he said that I shouldnt
use those two words in the same sentence.
***
She wasnt ready.
She had finally narrowed down her choices to
Gandhi and Dean Smith, and Dean had won.
Allison Hawkins was in the seventh grade at
her Brevard, N.C. middle school, and the assignment was to write a one-page essay on the historical figure of her choice. Both of her parents were
Tar Heels, and Dean just made sense.
But she didnt know her father would send
Dean a copy of her essay which was written
with Comic Sans font and clip art and so she
wasnt ready when North Carolinas basketball
office sent her a package a few weeks later.
I opened it up, and it was a letter from Coach

Smith and an autographed picture that said,

Happy 12th Birthday, she said. It was just the
coolest thing and just completely blew me away
that he would respond to that at all.
In the letter, Smith told Allison he was
impressed with her writing skills and figured she
was a strong student in the classroom.
I will quickly add that I would question my
part in history with thousands of others who certainly have done more to help others. However
I wanted you to know that I appreciated your
doing this, the coach humbly wrote. I surely
hope to see you at North Carolina one day.
Allison is now a graduate student in the UNC
School of Government. She completed her UNC
undergraduate degree in 2012.
***
They werent ready.
This man in their locker room, whom Hubert
Davis had jumped off the stairmaster to envelop in a
hug, wasnt who Davis teammates were expecting.
The game between the Detroit Pistons and the
Washington Wizards hadnt even started, yet two
college coaches were in their NBA locker room.
Davis, in his last year in the NBA, was competing
for the Pistons, Michael Jordan for the Wizards.
Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge had come to watch.
I just gave him a big hug, and I was like, Yes
sir, yes sir, Davis said. And all the guys were
like, Man, it was like you were a little kid like
thats your dad.
Thats because Dean was.
I was like, He is my dad, Hubert replied.
Thats my coach.
There isnt a single player out there who played
for Smith who wouldnt echo that sentiment. He
was indeed a father, many of them would say.
And when he wasnt fighting for civil rights or
calling Four Corners from the sideline, he was
spending most of his time with them. After all,
nobody meant more to him than his players.
I mean you talk to his players and coaches that
worked with him: Roy Williams and Phil Ford,
they just rave and rave. To me his legacy will be all
of the lives he will affect generation after generation because theyll pass that down to their kids as
well, ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said.
Id call him on the air Michelangelo coaching,
an artist at work ... (But) he was all about North
Carolina.
***
Nobody was ready.
They knew the day was coming perhaps for

years as Smiths health continued to dwindle.

Time was precious, and one day soon theyd have
to accept that he was gone.
But that doesnt mean they were prepared.
Roy Williams simply wasnt ready at 11:19 p.m.
Saturday night when he got the call that his
mentor had passed. Hubert Davis struggled to
grapple with a reality that said this time it wasnt
OK. This time Smith wasnt invincible.
And Phil Ford, perhaps Deans most cherished
player of them all, immediately went into a state
of shock, looking for comfort during a time when
it seemed like there wasnt any to be had.
You wake up the next day and open your
eyes and say your prayers, he said. You think
to yourself, Man this is for real. Today is the
toughest day.
There will never be anyone like Dean a
father and coach on the court, an innovator
and Presidential Medal of Freedom award winner off of it.
In one sense, Davis knows that college basketball today will never again be what it once
was in Smiths era.
There are players who will often have themselves
in mind when they make a college decision, and
what once was a choice about people and legacy
as it was when Smith was at UNC will continue
to morph into one about going to the NBA.
And thats sad, Davis says. Because this is a
beautiful place.
But theres a part of Williams that hopes
some of the magic will prosper that at least
for a little while longer, some of Smiths ideals
will live on.
And as long as he has any say in the matter, it
will. Right up until the very last time Williams
takes the court as a coach, hell do everything
with one goal in mind.
I want to make Coach Smith proud, he said.
When I came back here 12 years ago, there
were some problems and I told him one night,
I said, I really do want to do this the right way.
I want to be proud of what Im doing. He said,
Im already proud.
Years from now, Williams will still remember
the call the night before his Kansas interview.
Hawkins will remember the best birthday present
shes ever received and Davis will fondly remember the stairmaster incident.
Gone? Yes. Forgotten? Never.
Until I die, Williams said, A lot of the things
that I do will be from him.
And thats a pretty good legacy. It really is.
sports@dailytarheel.com