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In some ways, it was appropriate that the former Carolina highflyer was the last inductee into the class of 2024 to speak at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Carter was inducted with the late Walter Davis, the silky smooth Tar Heel star of the 1970s who died last year and was represented by his two daughters.
According to whom we learned to call “Vinsanity,” Carter may have been the last man chosen for the prestigious honor this year. Was it because he played for eight teams over his four-decade, 22-year career in the NBA? Or that he never won a World Championship? He even said he got advice from his college archrival who is an executive with the HOF.
“Grant Hill told me it’s going to happen, be patient,” said Carter, who can be as fast a talker as he was from end to end on the floor.
He almost had to hip-hop through his 28-minute speech in which he listed dozens of people to thank and help keep his head straight as he ascended to be the greatest leaper in the game this side of another Tar Heel named Michael Jordan.
What an All-Star special that would have been to see MJ and Vinsanity engage in an NBA dunk contest that both won as active players.
Vince did not name them all but was sure he had exactly 261 teammates, reeling off coaches and executives of every team he played for — beginning with his college coach Dean Smith, before being the fifth pick in the 1998 NBA draft.
“With Coach Smith, may he rest in peace,” he began, “it was all about being a student athlete, education first, Coach Smith embodied that. He was a father figure, you can ask any Tar Heel what he meant to us and we all sound like robots. He taught us so many things on and off the court.”
Carter went on to thank most of his teammates and all of coaches starting at Carolina, where he had such an uneven freshman season that Smith benched him in favor of Ademola Okulaja, a teammate and classmate who passed away in 2022.
He signaled out attending fellow Hall of Famer Roy Williams who had left UNC before Carter arrived and recruited him to play at Kansas.
“I won’t tell the whole story, coach, but you always supported me and I appreciate that. During my recruiting visit I think you got the idea that I wasn’t coming to Kansas. All I said was, ‘I’m going to be a Tar Heel and not go to Duke.'” Roy laughed with the rest of us.
Carter had his longtime hoop hero Julius “Dr. J” Erving and his cousin Tracy McGrady, another Hall of Famer, supporting him on the stage as he ended a long night in Springfield with a truly heartfelt oration.
Featured image via AP Photo/Jessica Hill.
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.
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