While UNC fans may not care to remember all of the Tar Heels’ 87-84 win against Wake Forest Saturday night – particularly the part where the Demon Deacons nearly erased a 15-point deficit in the second half – the game was historic for one reason: it was the 500th Carolina victory at the Dean Smith Center.
The 21,750-seat arena, sold out for Saturday’s classic ACC contest, has been at the center of a years-long “will they, won’t they” debate. The UNC administration is eyeing a plot of land north of the main campus along Martin Luther King Boulevard known as “Carolina North,” raising the distinct possibility of the school building the new home of the men’s basketball program there. Those rumors have been met with public outcry from fans and former players alike, who point to the Smith Center’s history and its location on the UNC campus as reasons to stick around.
In December, the Raleigh News & Observer reported a group known as “Tar Heels Concerned for the Future of the Dean E. Smith Center and Carolina Basketball” sent an open letter to UNC chancellor Lee Roberts opposing any move off campus. Signees were not limited to men’s basketball program alumni, with notable signatures including former athletic director Dick Baddour, former UNC football superstar Drake Maye and major baseball donor Vaughn Bryson.
The News & Observer also reported the school hosted a video call with several former players to discuss the situation, which athletic director Bubba Cunningham described as “very good.”
All of that recent history hangs over the building as it prepares to celebrate its 40th birthday. The Smith Center first opened its doors on Jan. 18, 1986, hosting a memorable showdown between No. 1 UNC and No. 3 Duke. The Tar Heels prevailed 95-92. Connecting win No. 1 and win No. 500 is Jeff Lebo, who played as a freshman in 1986 and now serves as an assistant coach.
“I think that’s really cool,” said freshman Caleb Wilson, who was approximately 20 years away from entering the world the night the Smith Center opened. “Coach Lebo, he’s an O.G. He’s seen it all.”
Wilson, in his brief time as a Tar Heel, has electrified the Smith Center crowd dozens of times already and recalled memories of the program’s glory days. Saturday night’s sellout crowd appreciated his efforts, and Wilson returned the favor.
“When it gets filled like it was today, it’s kind of unbelievable,” Wilson said. “I’ve been to other college stadiums, and it just doesn’t feel like this.”
Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes went a step further.
“I think this is the loudest building in the ACC,” he said.
Jaydon Young, who grew up a rabid Tar Heel fan in Goldsboro, has fond memories of the building. And the Virginia Tech transfer picked a good time to have his best game in a UNC uniform, scoring 12 critical points off the bench to help Carolina stave off Wake Forest’s furious rally. Afterward, Young thought back to his earliest recollection of the arena.
“I came to ‘Late Night With Roy,’ probably third grade,” he remembered. “I’d just gotten in trouble at school. My grades were down. My dad brought me here, but he made me sit up top. And I’m just watching like, ‘I’m gonna be a part of that one day.'”
For players like Young and Wilson, the Smith Center is the only arena they associate with Carolina Basketball. Even older fans visiting from other schools will sometimes mistakenly come to the facility looking for the building where Michael Jordan laced up his Converses.
Head coach Hubert Davis has a bit of a longer memory. Davis first attended games in Carmichael Auditorium to watch his uncle Walter Davis star for the Tar Heels, but the fifth-year head coach was definitive in his appreciation for his current workplace.
“I love the Smith Center,” Davis said. “This is home.”
Davis’ entire UNC career, from player to assistant coach to head coach, has transpired with the Smith Center as home base. His name is etched outside on “Letterman’s Lane,” honoring greats of the program’s past. Every square inch of the place pays tribute to Davis’ two major mentors, Smith and Roy Williams. And Davis used part of his time at the podium Saturday night to pay tribute to the building itself.
“I don’t know the stats,” he said. “I don’t even know the stats of this game. I couldn’t tell you what was game number one, game number 250. But I can tell you more than 500 memories that I have here personally. Conversations with Coach Smith and Coach [Bill] Guthridge… it’s more than just wins. It’s about the relationships, the experiences that all of us as former players have had here that bind us to this place, to this university, and to the Smith Center.”
Whether or not Davis knew it, he was referencing one of the most famous pieces of text ever written about UNC. In an oft-quoted address commemorating the school’s bicentennial in 1993, journalist Charles Kuralt asked, “What is it that binds us to this place as to no other?”
After listing some of his favorite things about the university (including Dean Smith, saying, “We are proud of what he did last March”), Kuralt answered his own question. And amid the public fervor as the university prepares to make the decision to end all decisions, his final line feels especially prescient. You can probably hear it in your head right now.
“Our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be,” Kuralt said, “the University of the people.”
Featured image via Todd Melet
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