UNC’s Roy Williams and his wife, Wanda, donated more than $600,000 in May to fund scholarships of spring sports seniors whose seasons were cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic but will be returning to Chapel Hill to compete in 2020-21.

“Student-athletes have begun to come back to campus for voluntary and now team workouts, so it’s an appropriate time for us to announce that our spring sport seniors will also be able to return for another year thanks to Roy’s and Wanda’s generosity,” said UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham.

“Only a handful of people at the University knew what Roy and Wanda had done to support our students. He called me in March the day the NCAA canceled all spring championships. He didn’t want those students to miss that experience and wanted to fund those scholarships for next year. I still get chills when I think about his phone call and the impact it would have for dozens of our students.”

Roy and Wanda had initially asked to keep the donation anonymous, but agreed to have UNC make it known at this time.

The ACC canceled spring sports on March 17, ending promising seasons for UNC men’s and women’s lacrosse, baseball, softball and many other programs. Over the summer, the NCAA agreed to allow senior student-athletes an additional year of eligibility to make up for the lost season.

“Roy and Wanda have donated millions of dollars to UNC, the athletic department, the Rams Club and individual sport programs over the years but have always chosen to do so without fanfare or publicity,” said John Montgomery, executive director of the Rams Club. “However, we felt this was the proper time to announce our appreciation for all they have done to support their alma mater’s academic and athletic pursuits and student-athletes across all 28 of our sports programs, and thank them for an extraordinarily generous contribution to allow our seniors another opportunity at competing in the spring.”

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