After 50 years, Charlie Scott is finally getting his just due.

This basketball season marks the 50th anniversary of Scott’s enrollment at UNC as the first black scholarship athlete. Recruited by Dean Smith out of Harlem and Laurinburg Institute, Scott broke one of the most significant color barriers in the history of this state and went on to make three-time All-ACC, two-time All-American and win an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City.

In my opinion, the university has not done enough to recognize the courageous path that Scott blazed for not only other black athletes in Chapel Hill but also for thousands of minority students who have since attended and graduated from Carolina. When Scott arrived at UNC in the summer of 1966, he was one of 54 African-Americans in a student-body of 13,000. And both the university and town were not especially welcoming to Scott, who had a great career playing for the Tar Heels but not a great experience as a student.

UNC is now doing something to honor Scott, who will be among those having an academic scholarship named for him in the Carolina First campaign. He was also in the first class of UNC Trailblazers recognized several years ago. And there is a special display at Wilson Library citing Charles Scott and the Integration of Varsity Sports at UNC. The two glass cases are worth viewing.

Among the pictures and artifacts is a significant quote from Henry Foust, Class of 1979, who said, “ . . . back in the late sixties, a player came to Carolina named Charlie Scott, and I watched. I loved basketball and I remember having this thought in my head. ‘Hey, Charlie Scott’s black and he’s going to Carolina. Maybe I can go to Carolina.’” Over the decades, UNC has regularly been voted one of the most popular colleges for all minority students to attend.

In my book “Game Changers,” Scott’s struggle for acceptance and his sensational exploits on the basketball court are chronicled. In this day and time, as racism seems to be rearing its head again in America, Scott’s story not only deserves to be honored but studied very closely as not to be repeated a half century later.

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