This is only a sports story because Eli Evans was a HUGE Tar Heel fan.
Evans, a dear friend, died peacefully in New York on Monday. Very old grads know him from being UNC’s student body president in 1958 and a distinguished alum. I know him from belonging to the same fraternity and collaborating with Eli on rebuilding our house on East Rosemary Street in 1996.
Eli grew up in Durham, the son of long-ago mayor “Mutt” Evans. He earned his law degree at Yale, served in the Navy and wrote books about growing up Jewish in the South. He worked at the White House and was on Governor Terry Sanford’s staff before raising money for minorities at the Revson Foundation.
Like so many other alumni from generation to generation, we stayed connected through Carolina sports, especially basketball.
He loved those 1957 Tar Heels and would have enjoyed watching the new documentary “McGuire’s Miracle,” which came out earlier this year. By that time, Eli was suffering from dementia and lost most of his recall.
I say most because the last time I saw Eli, he pretended to know me and wore that warm, wonderful smile. But I could have been anyone. As I scanned the bookcase in his apartment, I noticed a copy of March To The Top, the first book I wrote and published about Dean Smith’s 1982 national champions.
That came 25 years after McGuire’s Miracle, and Alfred Hamilton, Jr. contributed a piece about the 1957 season, so I thought I would read it to Eli.
It must be true what they say about long-term memory being the last thing to go, because as I read the story out loud, Eli’s demeanor changed. He KNEW it and listened intently, like he was back in Chapel Hill for the Tar Heels’ magical ride to Kansas City and their triple-overtime wins over Michigan State and Kansas.
He loved his son Josh, who followed him to Carolina and became the chancellor of our fraternity through 2007, keeping the house going and vibrant until he graduated and returned to New York and chased his passion, acting.
On a visit to the Big Apple, I asked Eli how Josh’s career was going, and he said, “No big parts so far but he is doing a lot of voice-overs for commercials.”
“Oh, which ones?” I asked.
“Well, he’s the Bank of America llama.”
“He’s the Bank of America llama!” I exclaimed. “My favorite commercial.”
Josh and his wife Jenna will be in Durham Friday for Eli’s memorial service where many more stories will be recited as we say goodbye to our dear friend.
Like most everyone else there, I will miss him and love him forever.
Featured image via Art Chansky
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