Dean Smith

A legend in the world of college basketball, Dean Smith coached the Tarheels of the University of North Carolina for 36 years. Known as "the genius of Chapel Hill" he saw his team through 11 Final Four semi-finals and led them to two national championships. Although he won fame in the South, Smith was a son of the Great Plains, born in Emporia, Kansas. Both his parents were schoolteachers; his father also coached high school basketball. Young Dean Smith played basketball, baseball and football, both in high school and at the University of Kansas, which he attended on an academic scholarship. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he joined the coaching staff of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and in 1961, at age 30, was named head coach. In the 1960s, Smith helped end racial segregation in college basketball, recruiting his university's first African American scholarship player. In a game often beset with scandals, Smith earned a reputation for running a clean program, with 96.6 percent of the student athletes in his charge completing their degrees. Smith's players excelled on the court as well, dominating Atlantic Coast Conference year after year. Smith won his first national championship in 1982, with a team that included Sam Perkins, James Worthy and Michael Jordan. Later that year, he joined the Academy of Achievement at its Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he warned the students against misplaced values and the need for external validation. Smith led North Carolina to a second national championship in 1993. At the time of his retirement in 1997, he held the record for victories in men's basketball.