My Carolina Experience: Joe Frierson
October 29, 2014 | Men's Tennis
Joe Frierson grew up in Athens, Ga., so it is understandable that during his early years he was a Bulldog fan. However, thanks to an aunt and uncle from Goldsboro, N.C,. he was exposed to UNC just in time to witness Michael Jordan help the Tar Heels win the 1982 NCAA basketball championship. From then on, Carolina was always a favorite team of his.
Throughout high school, Frierson and his twin brother Jack were ranked in the Top 5 nationally in doubles. As a singles player, he was a two-time high school All-America with a pair of state titles so he had many collegiate offers. Though his brother Jack committed to the University of Georgia, it was Frierson's recruiting trip to Carolina that sealed the deal.
"Thomas Tanner, my recruiting host in 1988 and one of my best friends to this day, did a really great job on my recruiting trip showing me the finest academic, athletic and social opportunities available at Chapel Hill," said Frierson.
"I was recruited by Notre Dame, Duke, Alabama, Kentucky and UNC. After taking recruiting trips to most of those schools, it wasn't even close. The academic reputation at UNC was sterling and between the quad, the stone walls and the old buildings, I don't think you could design a more beautiful campus. The people that made up the campus -professors, students, academic support - all had a great spirit about them and the team was made up of great coaches and great guys. It was an absolute layup that UNC was where I wanted to be."
Coming into Carolina, Frierson's goals were mostly athletic and social. His career, however, became representative of his process of maturation as his priorities changed.
"Between my fraternity and tennis, I was not very academically focused my first two years. However, I had a very good grade point average my last two years and was on the ACC Academic Honor Roll in my last. I majored in English and love to read and write so that was a great way to get my UNC degree. One of my greatest academic memories, and most challenging classes, was a paper I wrote in an AFAM class taught by the great Sonja Stone. She was a wonderful teacher but tough as nails. I did an essay on the symbolism in Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing'. Professor Stone loved it and I always felt very proud given her stature on campus."
Prior to Frierson's freshman year, the Carolina tennis team finished last in the conference. As part of an excellent recruiting class, Frierson and the team lost in the finals of the ACC tournament in his freshman year. They saw further improvement his sophomore year when the team won the ACC tournament and even more his junior year when they won the ACC regular season and finished Top 25 in the country.
With a very talented recruiting class coming in, Frierson decided to quit the team after his junior year to focus more on his academics and on enjoying the time he had left at Carolina. Frierson's DKE brother, Robert Lesley, a tennis standout from Greensboro, convinced him to go hit balls at the varsity courts in October of his final year. That session between the two friends and seeing his teammates practicing made Frierson realize he missed being a part of the team.
"Lesley put together a rigorous training program to make up for a six-month layoff. With Lesley's help and the coach Allen Morris' willingness to let me play again, I came back and had an incredible year.
"We had a very good team that year so I was hardly the savior, but we didn't have an experienced player at number six singles and our doubles were not as strong. In singles, I finished second on the team in wins and was on the All-ACC team. In doubles, my best friend, Bryan Jones, and I went undefeated and were the clinching point in just about every important match we won that year.
"The NCAA Tournament was in Athens in 1992 and the courts are about 200 yards from where I grew up. Our team upset TCU, the no. 5 team in the country, after Bryan and I won the clinching doubles match under the lights on the stadium courts. Given that I was an eight-year-old ball boy on those courts for the NCAA Tournament in 1978, there is something really special about the memory of us celebrating on those same courts for one of the best wins in Carolina tennis history."
The team finished eighth in the nation that year, sweeping the ACC regular season schedule and winning the conference tournament before losing to the number No. 1 UCLA in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
Men's tennis coach Sam Paul was Morris' assistant during Frierson's time at UNC. "Joe went from a sophomore in college who was very unfocused to a very successful businessman with a beautiful family," says Paul. "Looking back, he was going through some growing paind. Joe is very complex so he needed that pivotal time, but I never stopped hoping he would come back and always felt like he would his senior year.
"Joe was a great competitor, and the program missed him as a player and a leader. He had the capacity to use humor to make people comfortable and also get on his teammates when they needed pushing. It was a great combination and the team had a lot of respect for Joe. To look at the man he's become, you would not have predicted that from his behavior when he was a sophomore in college. He became a leader for us in his senior year and has continued to be one for both the University on The Board of Visitors and for the tennis program as chairman of our fundraising group, Carolina Tennis Circle."
What makes most Carolina sports so special is the fact that they thrive by utilizing all parts of the unit to make up a better whole. Frierson discovered that when he rejoined the team his senior year. Subconsciously, he also discovered how much he meant to something that was bigger than himself.
"Spending four years in Chapel Hill was a transformational experience for me. I went to this massive place where I really didn't know anyone when I arrived. I left Carolina with a lifetime of memories. I met my wife in Chapel Hill and made more friendships than anyone deserves."
Frierson now works at Merrill Lynch in Athens, Ga., on an investment team, The Frierson Group, that manages over $1 billion for high net worth families throughout the Southeast.
"I attribute much of the success I have had to my time at Carolina. I learned about work ethic and leadership from Coach Morris and Coach Paul and I learned about integrity and character from Dick Baddour, then an associate athletic director at UNC. More than anything, the friendships and connections I made in Chapel Hill are present in virtually every part of my life today. I married a Tar Heel, with whom I am raising three rabid fans, a huge part of my client base is the result of relationships from Chapel Hill, and many of my very best friends today are from my days at UNC.
"That closeness is still strong after over two decades, despite having hectic lives in different states because at an incredibly impressionable time in our lives, we all shared a singular bond of friendship and achievement through a world-class collegiate experience which time and distance simply cannot erode."