Dean Smith

I read today that former North Carolina Basketball
Coach Dean Smith has been diagnosed as a victim of
the Alzheimer Disease. Friends and family say he has
good days and bad. On the bad days he does not
remember those closely associated with Smith for
years. The 79 year old coach was born in Kansas and
lettered all four years he played for Topeka High School.
He was named to the All-State Team as a senior and
even played quarterback on the football team. Smith
attended the University of Kansas on a basketball
scholarship and was a volunteer coach after graduation
at Lawrence. The United States Air Force held his
attention for four years, but then he returned to coaching.
In 1958 Frank McGuire hired Smith as an assistant coach
at North Carolina, and in 1961 when McGuire was caught
cheating by the NCAA, the school fired him. Smith was given
the head coaching job and told to run a clean program. It
was never even in suspect in the 36 years he was in charge
of the basketball operations at Chapel Hill. Smith recruited
the first black basketball player for North Carolina when he
brought Charlie Smith to NC. Even though Smith led the
Tar Heels to 2 National Championships and 11 trips to the
Final Four, one of his greatest sources of pride was his
players academics. Under Smith, 97 per cent of the NC
basketball players received their degree. The rivalry between
North Carolina and Duke University is one of the best in all
of college basketball and they are two of the cleanest-run
programs in all of the N.C.A.A....and today even the Duke players
are wishing the best for Dean Smith.