“Last night, America lost not just a coaching legend but a gentleman and a citizen. When he retired, Dean Smith had won more games than any other college basketball coach in history. He went to 11 Final Fours, won two national titles, and reared a generation of players who went on to even better things elsewhere, including a young man named Michael Jordan—and all of us from Chicago are thankful for that.”
“But more importantly, Coach Smith showed us something that I’ve seen again and again on the court – that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jumpshot alone ever could. He graduated more than 96 percent of his players and taught his teams to point to the teammate who passed them the ball after a basket. He pushed forward the Civil Rights movement, recruiting the first black scholarship athlete to North Carolina and helping to integrate a restaurant and a neighborhood in Chapel Hill. And in his final years, Coach Smith showed us how to fight an illness with courage and dignity. For all of that, I couldn’t have been prouder to honor Coach Smith with Medal of Freedom in 2013.”
“Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his wife Linnea, to his family, and to his fans all across North Carolina and the country.”
(Official Statement from President Barack Obama – February 8, 2015)
The words of President Obama, an avid follower and fan of college basketball, really help to capture the loss all of us who love the game, feel after the passing of college basketball’s “Michelangelo”. Coach Smith was unable to attend the ceremony at the White House in 2013 due to the on-set of dementia; ironically he was recognized at the same ceremony which recognized Pat Summitt.
Dean Smith passed away late Saturday night, surrounded by his family, at the age of 83. The winningest coach in college basketball history upon his retirement in 1997, Smith won 879 games as head coach at The University of North Carolina from 1961-1997. A graduate of Kansas, Smith came to Carolina as an assistant coach before taking the head job from Frank McGuire. He immediately sought change and was at the forefront in the integration of the Atlantic Coast Conference with the signing of Charles Scott in 1967.
When Dean Smith first arrived in the Deep South, he was immediately uncomfortable by what was viewed as common in Southern society. Smith chose to worship at the only integrated church in the town of Chapel Hill. He was front and center, working with church leaders, to usher black students into local landmark, Pines Restaurant, which purported to only serve whites. As you can imagine, this rankled many, but to Dean Smith it was not bold or radical, it was simply the right thing to do.
“If you know what’s right, you try to do what’s right.”
“Whatever you do, you’re there to serve.”
“We brag about the guy that makes the unselfish play.”
“As a coach, you’re in charge and I take that seriously.”
“So, it’s your last game, it’s either a loss or you’re a champion.”
“And off the court, we try to be a servant and help them reach their goals.”
These oft-uttered philosophies of Dean Smith could apply whether in the middle of a game or in a setting having nothing to do with basketball. Dean Smith always had everything in proper perspective. He was a coach, a leader, a second father, and a pioneer.
