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My best Carolina-Duke story of all time.
Since we have passed the official 50-year birthday of Walter Davis’ miracle shot, here is a tale you have never heard but is the absolute truth.
When Sweet D’s banker went in to tie game, the students sitting in the bleachers behind the visitors bench stormed the court and trampled the three rows of Dukies sitting in those seats. One of those unlucky Blue Devils was the wife of Duke Sports Information Director Richard Giannini, who remains a good friend.
When the chaos subsided and the Tar Heels won in overtime, after Duke had blown the famous 8-points-in-17-seconds lead, Richard went in for the funereal post-game press conference. He came back out looking for his wife, Gayle, and was told she was taken to the UNC emergency room with an injured shoulder.
Richard yelled an obscenity and, in anger, kicked the first row of those bleachers where Gayle and her fellow fans had been overrun. He was helped to the locker room, and the Duke trainer said he probably had a broken foot.
When we found out, my bride and I drove over to Richard and Gayle’s home in Durham that evening. We found them both sitting by the fire, Gayle with her shoulder in a sling and Richard with his elevated foot in a cast. We all had a good laugh, but ours was a lot less painful than theirs.
Richard went on to work for the NCAA and eventually was the athletic director at Southern Miss, where Larry Fedora coached football at the time. After the Butch Davis debacle, Richard called and suggested UNC hire Fedora.
“Wait a minute, YOU are saying WE should hire YOUR coach,” I said.
Richard explained, “Larry is having his best season ever (11-1) and we are going to lose him to a bigger school, and I’d love to see him at Carolina.” Turns out, UNC’s new AD Bubba Cunningham was already on it, having arrived from Tulsa, which was in the same conference as Southern Miss at the time.
Richard and I talk every so often, and those two stories usually come up. He may call tonight and ask about the big game tomorrow at Cameron.
I will give him my opinion that, to win, the Tar Heels must be dominant on the backboards and shoot well from outside, sort of the same formula they used in the famous 2022 upset in Coach K’s last home game.
And I will add the old “pressure” theory. Keep it close enough that if the visiting team makes a run in the last five minutes, “game pressure” will revert to the home team, which is favored and supposed to win. Exactly what happened two years ago, when nobody stormed the court and only feelings got hurt.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Nice story. I love the students enthusiasm for their team. Sorry anyone gets hurt in the celebration.