Dean Smith died Sunday at the age of 83. Smith was the head men's basketball coach at the University of North Carolina for 36 seasons, from 1961 until 1997. He retired with 879 wins, a 77.6 percent winning percentage, two national championships and 11 Final Four appearances.
Smith was also a good guy. During his tenure at North Carolina, his players' graduation rate was 96 percent. And he promoted desegregation by recruiting the Tar Heels' first black player, Charlie Scott, and by urging businesses in the Chapel Hill-Raleigh-Durham area to treat blacks the same as whites. Lots of them listened.
In honor of Dean Smith, here are some of his quotations.
"If you make every game a life-and-death thing, you're going to have problems. You'll be dead a lot."
"I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised."
"We need to understand that children start following athletics at the age of nine or ten. These beer ads are highly appealing them. When beer companies say their ads aren't directed at young people, I find it hard to believe. Do you think the kids don't like the lizards on the Budweiser spots."
"Ask yourself this question. If aspirin were the leading cause of death on college campuses, do you think chancellors, presidents and trustees would allow aspirin commercials on basketball and football telecasts? They wouldn't, not for a minute."
"The focus should be on the players. I'm here a long time. You can call me in the summer. Our seniors will be gone."
"Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots."
"I always mean what I say. But I don't always say what I'm thinking."
I wish I could steal that last one.
