This week’s Hometown Heroes, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, are Roy and Wanda Williams.
After spring sports were canceled midway through the season due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Williamses anonymously donated over $600,000 to fund the scholarships for senior student-athletes who wished to return for one more season.
“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 in a video to spring sports coaches.
“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.
“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.”
