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Why Eric Montross is beloved by so many who don’t know him.
I met Eric when he played for the Tar Heels in the early 1990s. It did not take a genius to figure out he is such a solid citizen and great individual, why so many people are praying or hoping for his recovery from cancer.
“Top 10 nicest people I’ve ever met,” is the refrain from those who are lucky to know him. Those who never met him still loved seeing him battle Duke in that then-vicious rivalry. The “Bloody Montross game” is one of those memories etched in our minds.
Montross was a key piece to Dean Smith’s coaching revival in the last decade of his Hall of Fame career. The Blue Devils had been to four Final Fours in the five years before Montross enrolled at UNC, when Mike Krzyzewski had his recruiting machine rolling and stole lifelong Tar Heel fans Danny Ferry and Grant Hill from almost-certain landings in Chapel Hill.
Two anecdotes underscore how Montross and his family were all in on Carolina from almost the jump. And both had to do with a strategically planned visit to Duke and Coach K, who used the Cameron bandbox as his chief sales tool in pressuring top recruits to commit before they left campus.
The Montross family had already been to UNC before Eric’s trip to Durham. When Coach K couldn’t get the handshake commitment, he probably knew the 7-footer would not be joining Laettner, Hurley and Hill as Blue Devils.
As the stories go, Eric and his parents had a later flight scheduled on Sunday and decided to cruise through Chapel Hill on their way to RDU, which everyone knows is not exactly the direct route to the airport.
When Montross committed to the Tar Heels some weeks later, Dean Smith said, “Confidentially, Eric wasn’t that impressed [by Cameron Indoor Stadium] because he had already played in buildings twice as big in high school,” such as Hinkle Fieldhouse at the Indiana state championships.
Smith was cordial to all parents whose sons he recruited but grew especially close with the Montross family. Eric’s father Scott had played college basketball and knew what straight shooters the UNC coaches were.
After Montross and George Lynch led the Tar Heels to the 1993 national championship, following Duke’s back-to-back titles, Eric could have been a first-round NBA draft pick. Scott Montross said, “And what, give up a chance to play another season for Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge?”
Montross is an extra-large example of how unfair life can be. The heartfelt and warm video message he released last weekend spoke a million words. Another reason why everyone, even some Dukies, are rooting hard for him.
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