UNC men’s basketball has a storied history of alumni on the U.S. Olympics team, with ten winning gold medals. And while the first player from the program to earn gold is a major figure in the sport, it’s someone that may not jump to mind at first for Tar Heel fans.
Reagan Allen profiled former coach and player Larry Brown in this report for Media Hub, sharing Brown’s Olympic experience…and his continued ties with UNC.
There are many words to describe Larry Brown: All-Star, hall-of-famer, and even Olympian. But his basketball career officially took off when he labeled himself a Tar Heel. Brown came to UNC in 1960 where he played under legendary coaches Frank Maguire and Dean Smith. He said they mentored him on and off the court.
“Everybody — I always felt — was jealous about the relationship that Carolina players had toward one another,” said Brown. “They all wondered why our family was so strong. And I think it started with Coach McGuire and Coach Smith.”
The two coaches helped Brown navigate college life and enhance his skills on the basketball court. After his time at Carolina, Brown was selected for the USA Olympics team and immediately started practicing with new players and a new coach.
“We had a unique experience,” he described. “We went over to Pearl Harbor to practice for 30 days, and we stayed in the Marine barracks and actually shared bunk-beds. We’re the first college team that was ever really an underdog, and we ended up beating the Russians and winning a gold medal. That was something, that was pretty incredible.”
Brown’s time as part of the Carolina men’s basketball program helped prepare him for the big stage. However, he said that there were differences between the two.
“Naturally, when you represent your country, it’s a whole different dimension,” said Brown. “[But] when you put on a Carolina jersey, and your part of the program and all the tradition here and what’s going on before you and after you, it means so much.”
Larry Brown shows off his Olympic ring from winning the 2000 gold medal as an assistant coach. Brown is the only Tar Heel to have earned a gold medal as both a player and a coach. (Photo via Margaux Hunter/UNC Media Hub.)
Phil Ford, longtime friend of Brown and a Tar Heel alumnus, credits UNC for instilling positive values and shaping his own basketball skills.
“It’s a different set of values when you’re playing at Carolina,” he said. “I always wanted to be a Tar Heel. So, when I got the opportunity to come here, I just wanted to play in Carmichael Auditorium.”
He joined the list of Carolina alumni who’ve won gold in Montreal at the 1976 Olympics.
“Coach Brown won a gold medal, Charlie Scott won a gold medal,” said Ford. “And the Olympics wasn’t something that I was looking at when I chose North Carolina. But when Coach Smith was going to be the coach of the Olympic team, it was really the back of my mind that’s something that I would like to do.”
Later, the two players-turned coaches-worked together in leading the Detroit Pistons, with Brown winning an NBA Championship as their head coach in 2004.
“When I was with Coach Brown,” Ford said, “it was just a sea of knowledge out there for you to grab. It was just an honor for me to be on his staff and an honor for me to sit beside him on the bench.”
David Hanners was assistant coach to Larry Brown for the Detroit Pistons and has worked closely with him and Coach Smith. He said he sees similarities in how they led their teams.
“Their love for their players, other respect for the players, their knowledge of the game, their curiosity about the game,” Hanners listed. “They were both, in my opinion, two [of the] best coaches that have ever coached.”
These days, Brown’s tie to Carolina is stronger than ever with three granddaughters in attendance at UNC.
“I don’t know how many people in my family have gone here,” Brown said. “I’ve got a couple granddaughters left, and I’m hoping that they might be lucky enough to come here. I think when you represent your country you represent your family as well and they take as much pride in it as you do.”
Featured photo via Margaux Hunter/UNC Media Hub.
Stories from the UNC Media Hub are written by senior students from various concentrations in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media working together to find, produce and market unique stories — all designed to capture multiple angles and perspectives from across North Carolina.
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