Roy Williams recruited Jacob Stallings away from his father.
The former Carolina catcher, who recently set the Major League Baseball record for 224 consecutive games without a passed ball, made a decision back in 2007 that had pitted UNC versus the school where his dad, Kevin Stallings, was coaching basketball.
And it wasn’t an easy choice, given that Kevin Stallings was the head coach at Vanderbilt, which also has an outstanding baseball program that sent several players into the big leagues, such as pitcher David Price and current Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson.
The backstory is that Jacob was born in 1989, when his father was on the staff of Kansas rookie head coach Roy Williams, the long-time assistant to Dean Smith. Roy watched Jacob grow up in Lawrence, until his dad left to begin his own head-coaching career at Illinois State before moving on to Vandy, where he coached the Commodores for 16 seasons.
By that time, Jacob had grown into a 6-foot-5 high school All-American baseball prospect being recruited by schools across the country. Naturally, most of those schools figured he would stay home in Nashville and play for Vanderbilt.
Except for Williams, a life-long baseball fan who was also good friends with then-UNC Diamond Heels coach Mike Fox. Roy called his close coaching colleague and let him know that he was going to help Fox and Carolina recruit Jacob.
Kevin Stallings wasn’t surprised, knowing Williams’ affection for his son and his love of Chapel Hill. Still, he wanted to see Jacob play as much as possible and told Roy, “Game On!”
Williams called Jacob regularly during his senior year in high school and the college baseball recruiting period, while Fox’s program was amid its historic run to the College World Series. Since the basketball Tar Heels had just won the 2005 NCAA championship, Williams told his young friend about the thrill of playing for such a title in Omaha and that he would have that chance if he attended Carolina.
Stallings chose the Tar Heels and, just as Ol’ Roy predicted, played in two College World Series and went on to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates before landing in Miami as the Marlins’ Gold Glove catcher.
In this case, blue blood was thicker than water.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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