So Long Dean Edwards Smith, Rest In Peace ...

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Stories like this have nothing to do with why Dean Smith is loved by his former players:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...on-integration

In 1966, Scott became North Carolina's first African-American scholarship player and one of the first black athletes to sign at a major school south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Smith's father, Alfred, had integrated his Kansas high school team in the 1930s, and the Tar Heels coach was only following his old man's lead when he walked into a segregated Chapel Hill restaurant in the company of a black pastor and black student in the late 1950s to ensure they received service. Smith spoke up on behalf of black friends trying to cope with real estate agents who were steering them away from white neighborhoods, and four years before he signed Scott -- and right after he took the North Carolina job -- Smith tried to make Lou Hudson the first black player in the ACC. (Hudson reportedly didn't meet the school's academic requirements and enrolled at Minnesota.)

Another story from his life...

Dean Smith stood before the Governor of the State of NC and argued against the death penalty. He pointed the Governor and each of his cabinet members and said, "You're a murderer, you're a murderer, you're a murder..." and lastly he said, "...and I'm a murderer." Whether you're for or against capital punishment, I would think most would admire a man who would take such a stand, who would make such a statement.