UNC Basketball History
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Had my best seat ever at Carmichael for that one. Center court either Section B Seat 20 or Section C Seat 1. And was the first row above the walkway [Row 15?]. Had a very late final [Tuesday the 18th so was still on campus]. Great game.
That MSU box above is messed up. Here’s a correct one.
donbosco
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Don't know if you saw this on page 20 but check it out...maybe you'll see yourself!
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My best ever seat for a game in Carmichael was against Maryland in 1974 and I traded it away. A bunch of us waited in line for a long time to get seats. Once Dean Smith walked by, looked at us, and said, "We better beat Maryland." Anyway, by the time they handing out tickets, the closest spot still open for a group like us about 10 rows above the Maryland bench. When it was my turn to ask for a ticket, I instead asked if there any single seats located closer. And was told there was one seat left directly behind the Maryland bench. I got it. One of the guy in our group had flaming red hair and had dressed up as Bozo the Clown the previous Halloween. I showed him my ticket, explained where it was, and asked if he wanted to swap. He laughed and we swapped. On game day he put on the full Bozo costume and fortune smiled on us again. He was seated directly behind a Maryland player, who had bright red hair, named Jim O'Brian, and was widely called Bozo. The whole game the guy dressed up like Bozo was yelling stuff like, "Hey Butchy-boy" and other Bozo sayings. Nobody from Maryland ever looked back. But as I could hear him 10 rows up, I knew the players could here him. I'm not sure, but I believe the name of the guy who dressed up as Bozo was Win Quackenbush.
Watched the first couple of minutes and overhead scoreboard blocks the center court seats on the camera angle that goes high enough into the bleachers to get to my row. But thanks for the link.
donbosco
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On May 28, 1942 the first 240 of what would add up to over 18,000 airmen and other troops over the next three years, arrived in Chapel Hill to attend the Navy Pre-Flight School. Other military programs situated in campus brought Army meteorologists to study and over 300 officers from the Free French forces trained to UNC. Italian POWs cooked for the training soldiers. All told approximately 25,000 anti-fascist fighters passed through Chapel Hill during the war. Chapel Hill was truly a village in those days with a population of less than 4.000. The enrollment at the university was approximately the same.
‘The Daily Tar Heel’ recounts a great deal of excitement on campus about these developments. Carolina was most assuredly on board with crushing The Axis Powers. The content of ‘The Chapel Hill News’ and ‘The Daily Tar Heel’ in those days confirms that the town was also in “smack-around-a-Nazi” mode. The historical record is heartening.
There is also a story told in those two town newspapers not well-remembered today of the U.S. Navy B-1 Band. This musical troop of 44 was comprised of African Americans, many from N.C. A&T, breaking the military color barrier - or at least fracturing it permanently. Stationed at the Pre-Flight School these men were required to stay off-campus in the town’s Black section, living and dining in what is today the Hargraves Recreation Center just off Rosemary Street on Roberson. Read more here: Navy B-1 Band (G-135) They provided ‘Reveille’ in the morning and ‘Taps’ each evening and played multiple shows and dances in between on the base campus. The band was transferred to Pearl Harbor in May, 1944 for the remainder of the war.
Not lost on anyone was the sports perquisites that the Pre-Flight School brought to town. As part of the Big Picture complete with built-in War Marketing, the national mobilization effort targeted sports heroes for both their athletic prowess and their name recognition. The most famous pilot in training to attend the Chapel Hill base was Ted Williams. He was joined by his Red Sox teammate, infielder Johnny Pesky. Other Major Leaguers also joined the program and a top baseball team hit the field during training. They were called The Cloudbusters.
The armed forces fielded teams across the nation out if similar bases, many make-shift as was the case with Chapel Hill. Football and basketball squads hit the gridiron and court respectively. Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Pollard worked out at UNC along with future UNC coaches Ben Carnevale (26-11 at Carolina, 1944 to 1946 in 2 seasons) and Frank McGuire (164-58 at Carolina, 1952 to 1961 in 9 seasons with a National Championship in 1957).
The story of the Pre-Flight School and McGuire proved super significant. A good player coming up in New York City McGuire was already a blossoming hoops guru during his time stationed on campus. He never forgot his time in Chapel Hill and combined with his realization that his son, Frank Jr. could easily receive needed special medical care through UNC Hospital he returned to town and campus to coach Carolina in 1952, leaving a successful stint at his dream job in NYC at his Alma Mater, St. John’s.
At least as important as that National Championship in 1957 to the future of Tar Heel hoops It was McGuire that brought on a young and unheralded Dean Smith as an assistant in 1958. Like McGuire, Smith also had military basketball experience and had played in the Air Force where his team had won that branch’s European Basketball Championship. Smith went on to coach baseball and golf at The Air Force Academy while also serving as an assistant there to head basketball coach Bob Spear. Spear was a friend of Carnevale’s through meeting and collaboration while at the Naval Academy. In turn Carnevale had become friends with McGuire during their time in Chapel Hill at the Pre-Flight Academy. The three along with the U of Denver coach Hoyt Brawner shared a suite during the 1957 Final Four. Spear’s young assistant coach tagged along on that occasion and slept on a cot in that same suite. McGuire met Smith during that momentous long weekend.
Coach Smith remembered smarting a bit when McGuire’s Tar Heels defeated his own Alma Mater Kansas in that classic 1957 Triple-Overtime Final. McGuire was impressed by Smith’s mind for the game. That would pay off for us all when the following year (1958) young Dean Smith joined McGuire’s staff at Carolina. Now THAT’s a story of connections. Read up on The Pre-Flight School here: Pre-Flight School (G-140)
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