Fan Memories Of Dean Smith: Wednesday

Yesterday, we asked for your favorite memories of Dean Smith, and hundreds of you responded. We'll be publishing some of the best each day this week, and there's still time to send us yours.

Here are Monday's memories, along with Tuesday's edition.

My senior year, my friend Travis and I had Phase I tickets for the UNC-UVA game. We arrived a few hours early and stood in the back of the bleachers, wondering why first row of seating was roped off.

As game time drew near, the seats behind us began to fill up - not with students but with Billy Cunningham, James Worthy and Robert McAdoo. Then, a man in a Carolina blue sport coat was escorted to the seat directly behind us - it was Coach Smith.

With his mouth open in disbelief, Travis quietly grabbed both of my arms. We felt like we had been electrocuted. As the game began, we eavesdropped on every word behind us. Coach Smith commented on plays, the crowd and had shining compliments for the players - players who went on to win the National Championship that year.

Coach Smith and I never met, but I gave him a smile and he returned it with a wink. Of all my wonderful experiences at North Carolina, the moment that Coach Smith walked into the Dean Dome and sat with us, the students, is and will always be my favorite.

Kate Clark

I had the privilege of playing on the golf team at Carolina from 2001 to 2006, and meeting Coach Smith on many occasions given his affinity for the game. One summer I was traveling from Pennsylvania to Savannah to play in a golf tournament. My childhood friend, who was my caddie for the tournament, had never been to Chapel Hill. We decided to stop in Chapel Hill, a bit of a detour form Route 95, and visited Finley golf course. While driving to the driving range I noticed a lone individual was practicing on, what was, an extremely hot and muggy summer afternoon in Carolina. As I drove a little further I noticed the icon figure. I turned to my friend and said, “Are you ready to meet a legend today?” He looked at me a little confused. I pointed to the figure standing on the range and said that we will be practicing with Coach Smith this afternoon. As we walked up to the range I noticed that Coach had on his usual Nike sneakers, his clubs were strewn across the grass, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. I introduced my friend to Coach Smith, and a lengthy conversation ensued. Coach wanted to know everything about my friend – family, school, life, etc. The friendly conversation lasted throughout our practice session, with many stories about Carolina basketball players from Eastern Pennsylvania (where I am from). About a year later I saw Coach Smith again on the practice range. His first question to me was, “How is your friend Taylor?”

Douglas Kingston

Besides catching every game possible on TV and/or radio (usually both at once), I religiously watched his coaches show every Sunday. I'll never forget how he would comment over the video highlights of the previous week, always with particular emphasis on the extra passes that led to easy shots....not so much the shots themselves.

I remember him once on his show citing Maxwell Maltz and his book, Psychocybernetics which I had recently read. Whoa... I knew he was a genius, but as a Psychology student I was even more impressed.

Brent McSwain

My two young nephews had attended Coach Smith's basketball camp in 1983. We went with my wife's brother and sister, parents of the two cousins, to watch their final game and see them get their certificate from Coach Smith. Many of the parents brought, like we did, several family members along to the event. As the game ended and the certificates were handed out, many asked to have a picture taken with Coach Smith. We had two children, a boy and a girl, who were barely 4 and 2 years of age and of course had not attended the camp but were excited to see their cousins playing.

Coach Smith must have been starving as someone on the staff came by and gave him a sandwich to eat from which he would take a bite and graciously chew, talk and get into a pose with another young man. As the event was ending and Coach Smith was still not done with his sandwich, I, a NCSU alumnus, asked Coach if he would be so kind as to let me get his picture with my children. He said, “hang on just a second” and took another quick bite of sandwich, turned around and in his suit, asked me my son's name, got down on his knees with my little almost two years old boy smiled and let me take the picture.

I have never forgotten it and it warms my heart each time I see it. On this warm summer day, a page was turned and the real man, not the legend, was there with my family. We are truly saddened by the loss and send our deepest sympathies to his family.

John Clarke

I met Dean Smith as a student at UNC. We invited him to Stacy dorm to give us a preview of the 80-81 team. He accepted and spent well over an hour with us, answering every question, shaking every hand and explaining he had this freshman named Sam Perkins who looked pretty good in practice. I was struck by his humble, gracious, genuine and caring outlook on his role as coach of the UNC men's basketball team and on life. Dean Smith's legacy as a coach, and more importantly, as a person will live on for a very long time.
Tol Broome

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