Mack Brown’s last win over Virginia was a day and Knight to remember.

The last time Carolina beat the Cavaliers with Brown as football coach was on September 27, 1997, the 10th and final season of his first stint in Chapel Hill. And the game had so much to recollect.

Coming off the bitterly disappointing loss at Charlottesville the year before, the Tar Heels began the game like they had a hangover. They let UVa’s true freshman tailback Antwoine Womack run wild in the first quarter, carrying six straight times for 72 yards as the Wahoos jumped out to a 17-3 lead in a packed but stunned Kenan Stadium.

For some reason, the Cavaliers went away from Womack, whose next carry came after his team had been outscored 24-3 and fallen behind 27-20. Key in that comeback was All-American cornerback Dre Bly’s interception and pick six in the shadow of Virginia’s goal line.

In the midst of the rally, as Carolina was about to take over at its own 26-line line, referee Jim Knight collapsed on the east end of the playing field. Several medical aids, including both team doctors and emergency care workers, immediately rushed to his assistance.

They later said that Knight did not have a pulse but were able to revive him with a defibrillator as an ambulance took Knight to UNC Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition. He survived cardiac arrest at 51 and returned to officiating the next season.

”If he was going to have a heart attack, he had it in a very good position,” said Dr. Greg Mears, the medical director of emergency services on duty that day. ”His survival chances at home would have been about 20 percent.”

It was a sobering moment for Brown, in the middle of what would be his best season at UNC. The Heels’ eventual 48-20 victory gave his nationally rated team a 4-0 record on the way to an 8-0 start.

“This is simply a game and we got proof of that today,” said the 46-year-old head coach. ”There are a lot more important things than a football game. Jim Knight is a great official and wonderful man. Our prayers and thoughts are certainly with Jim and his family.”

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