On Veterans Day, UNC has many to honor and remember.
The two biggest names associated with Carolina football and basketball served in the military: Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and Dean Smith.
Choo Choo has a statue outside the Kenan Football Center saluting the greatest gridiron player in Tar Heel history. Out of high school in Asheville, he served in the Navy and stayed sharp playing for the naval-training center team in Bainbridge, Maryland.
Like many on the GI Bill, Justice enrolled at UNC in 1946 and starred for Carolina under coach Carl Snavely at single-wing tailback, punter and passer, making consensus All-American and finishing second in the 1948 and ‘49 Heisman Trophy voting.
He retains almost mythical status, and his No. 22 is permanently commemorated on the Kenan Stadium turf with the sideline marker at the 22-yard line painted blue on both ends and sides of the field.
Smith was in the Air Force ROTC as a student at Kansas and a year or so after graduation in 1953 was drafted into active duty. He spent most of two years playing and coaching Air Force basketball teams overseas and applied to serve his last two years at the Air Force Academy in Colorado where he was an assistant to head basketball coach Bob Spear.
That was the beginning of the Carolina connection, as Spear recommended Smith to UNC coach Frank McGuire, who was looking to replace assistant Buck Freeman. Smith preferred the same position at his alma mater, but Spear encouraged him to work for a different program to learn another way to play.
Smith met McGuire at the 1957 Final Four in Kansas City, where the Tar Heels beat Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in triple overtime for the NCAA championship. Two seasons later, he joined the UNC staff and before his fourth season was elevated to head coach.
It is noteworthy that McGuire had left St. John’s to coach the Tar Heels after attending the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, where star professional athletes such as Ted Williams and Otto Graham missed MLB and NFL seasons training to fly in active duty.
Carolina holds a military appreciation day for one home football game each season and is unveiling its “Honor Our Military Wall” at the Kenan Football Center this week. In football and basketball, Window World sponsors a veteran who is invited to attend a home game and is introduced to the applauding crowd.
Among many other veterans who attended and played for UNC were Angus “Monk” McDonald and football coach Jim Tatum. Current assistant and special teams coach Mike Priefer was a helicopter pilot instructor in the early 1990s before going into coaching. Priefer grew up in Chapel Hill while his father Chuck was an assistant to head coach Dick Crum in the 1980s.
Surely, Carolina will do something extra for Veterans Day at Tuesday night’s home game against Radford, which tips off at 7 p.m.
Featured image via UNC-Chapel Hill/Jon Gardiner
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.
