We know about Roy Williams, but do we really remember Larry Miller?
Two very deserving Tar Heels will be entering the College Basketball Hall of Fame in November, a coach already in the Naismith Hall, and a player who was one of the best to ever suit up here.
I’ve got to give it to my old friend Jim Delany, the retired commissioner of the Big Ten and as loyal a UNC alum as there has ever been for his alumni leadership and generosity. Jim and his wife Kitty gave a $1 million gift to Carolina, which he loves more than ever now that he’s been away for so long and is back often at his Haw River retreat in Chatham County.
He is still under heavy demand these days from various athletic directors, college presidents and commissioners trying to figure out what to do with the spiraling industry of college sports.
Delany could be a bulldog in TV negotiations and with coaches who violated the Big Ten written oath of sportsmanship first.
Recently, he turned that, should I say, salesmanship toward the College Basketball Hall of Fame. He could not believe that Miller was still not in, since “Mills” may mean more to Carolina basketball than any player besides the late Lennie Rosenbluth of the 1957 Tar Heels and Charlie Scott, the first black scholarship athlete at Carolina.
No. 44 was tough as nails on and off the court, turning around the program that had been flagging in Dean Smith’s early years as a head coach. As a 17-year-old, Miller had the strength to hold off a scholarship offer from Duke, which had been to the 1963 Final Four behind Art Heyman and returning in ’64 led by Jeff Mullins.
Blue Devils head coach Vic Bubas was sure he was getting Miller, who had like a thousand more career points than the next player at Catasauqua High School in Pennsylvania. But Larry saw something in Smith and believed in him. What teenager would have such guts?
Miller, an undersized forward, won consecutive ACC Player of the Year honors and led UNC to its first two Final Fours under Smith. He had floppy hair, drove a hot convertible around campus and the coeds loved him. Miller was key to the famed class of 1969 coming and Scott jilting Davidson to come here.
He wasn’t a great pro but still owns the ABA record for most points in a single game, 67, with the Carolina Cougars. That’s just some of what Delany told the College Hall of Fame committee, which said mea culpa and put “Mills” where he belongs, right next to Ol’ Roy.
Featured image via The Morning Call
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Right on about Larry Miller! Those of us who saw him play know how deserving he is.
Paul Thompson, UNC 1968
Re: Miller’s ABA scoring record ….. was that with Carolina Cougars (as you report) OR with the Anaheim Amigos ??? …or LA Stars ???
Great player. Best when the game was on the line.
He was a stud and a team leader.