Did Al Wood desert Ralph Sampson on his recruiting trip? Yes, he did.
Inside Carolina reported a curious anecdote about Ralph Sampson’s recruiting visit to Chapel Hill back in 1979. According to the former Virginia All-American, he was being hosted by Tar Heel star Al Wood on his tour of campus, and when Wood saw something more important, he told Sampson that he would meet him back at the basketball office at Carmichael Auditorium. But Ralph got lost.
“How does a 7’4″ guy get lost?” Wood said with a laugh when I contacted him Tuesday night. “It wasn’t for long, but something else, or someone else, caught my eye on campus that day.”
Sampson and Wood were already friends, having roomed together at the 1979 Pan Am Games tryout earlier that spring. Sampson was interviewing Wood on his popular podcast, Center Court, when they recalled the story, and Wood confirmed Sampson’s statement that Coach Dean Smith was mad at him for abandoning the five-star recruit that day.
“But I think Ralph was going to Virginia all along,” Wood said. “He was just looking for a reason not to go there. And he never found one.” Sampson also visited Kentucky and Virginia Tech.
“Ralph wanted to stay closer to home so his family could see him play,” Wood added, “and once he committed to Virginia, I kind of let that incident go. I figured he was going there all the time.”
Sampson was a freshman in 1980, when UVa won the NIT. By 1981, Carolina had signed another center, Sam Perkins, who matched Sampson’s ACC Rookie of the Year honor and was also three-time first team All-ACC like the Cavaliers skyscraper.
And despite Sampson going to Virginia, UNC went to two Final Fours and won the NCAA championship in 1982, the year the Tar Heels beat the Wahoos in the ACC slowdown title game in Greensboro.
In five games Sampson and Wood faced each other, Virginia won three and the Tar Heels two. But the last of their match-ups was in the 1981 Final Four in Philadelphia, when Wood went off for 39 points and led Carolina to a 78-65 thumping in the Saturday semifinals. It was a UNC record for an NCAA tournament game that still stands.
And something the old friends and rivals always discuss whenever they talk.
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