The world of sports suffered a loss with the news of the death of Dean Smith; his life deserves a moment of reflection. As the basketball coach at University of North Carolina from 1961-1997 his teams won numerous ACC titles, and two national championships. The simplest way to communicate his meaning to the game is to recognize that he was one of the original five members of the National Basketball Hall of Fame, the others being Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, John Wooden and Dr. James Naismith.
More important than his greatness as a coach was his greatness as a human being. Larry Brown said, “He was the most decent man I ever knew.” Smith was a leader in desegregation in Chapel Hill and recruited the first black athlete at UNC. He was outspoken in his opposition to the war in Vietnam, to the death penalty, and nuclear weapons. In hearing of his death, Michael Jordan said, “Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than Coach Smith. He was more than a coach — he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father. Coach was always there for me whenever I needed him and I loved him for it. In teaching me the game of basketball, he taught me about life. My heart goes out to [Smith’s wife] Linnea and their kids. We’ve lost a great man who had an incredible impact on his players, his staff and the entire UNC family.”
What words would you most want said about you when you die? When others are talking about Dean Smith, they talk not about what a great coach he was, but what a great human being he was. His legacy is that which we hope for everyone in sports, and that is of “Winning More Than The Game.”
