Old North Banter
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Dean Smith and Immortality: He’s Not Really Gone

By John Woodcock

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Coach Dean Smith died Saturday, almost a week ago now. Yet he never quite is gone. Everyone who ran into Coach Smith has a Dean Smith story and those will live in memory. There is a basketball complex with his name on it in Chapel Hill. In that basketball complex there are thirty jerseys hanging in the rafters of players from the Dean Smith era from 1961-1997.

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Those rafters are Smith’s Iliad. They ensure his immortality just as the deeds of other notable men do for them. His presence continues in the lives of those he influenced and the monuments, real and metaphorical, that he left.

Up in those rafters is the jersey of Charlie Scott, the first ACC African-American scholarship athlete. He was recruited and brought in by Smith. Many of the following jerseys are African-Americans that might not have been there without Smith and Scott.

Also in those rafters are Larry Brown and Billy Cunningham. Both of those men became coaches who won NBA championships. Brown’s long career includes an NCAA title at Kansas and he is still coaching at SMU. Doug Moe is up there too. George Karl is not, but his coaching success sees him back in the NBA all the time, including with the Sacramento Kings this week. Roy Williams is not either, but his coaching career at Kansas and back at North Carolina has become a thing of legend.

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    • Professional star players are there too. Bob McAdoo, Walter Davis, and Sam Perkins are there. More recently Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, and the last Smith player Vince Carter are up there as well.

    There is James Worthy, the work horse of the 1982 title team. Worthy became a Hall of Fame member of the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s.

    Of course everyone points to Michael Jordan, the greatest NBA player of all time, who played for Dean from 1982-4. It was once said that the only person who could hold Jordan under twenty points was Dean Smith. Jordan is now the owner of the Charlotte Hornets.

    Just watch any college basketball game. Every possession begins with a 30 second shot clock. That shot clock largely exists because of Dean Smith’s frustrating four quarters offense.

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    It is difficult to bring up all of the Dean Smith stories, but given this situation I think one joke is probably the most appropriate.

    A man went up to heaven. He came through the pearly gates and was greeted by St. Peter. St. Peter let the man in and showed him around. The man was shocked to find an athletic complex in heaven. There were countless souls all playing pickup games of various sports.

    The man went to the basketball courts and proceeded to join the action. As he played he noticed a man on the sideline. He seemed to be directing or pretending to direct the action on the court. In a break in the action, the man asked St. Peter, “Who is that guy over there?”

    “Don’t worry,” said St. Peter. “That’s just God, trying to be Dean Smith.”

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