Each time Larry Brown encountered someone in North Carolinas vast basketball fraternity this season, he spoke of the importance of a large gathering of former Tar Heels visiting Dean Smith after the Final Four. Time, Brown knew, was running short.
Then came Roy Williams early Sunday morning phone call.
Dean Smith, the coaching innovator who won two national championships at North Carolina, an Olympic gold medal in 1976, and induction into basketballs Hall of Fame more than a decade before he left the bench, has died.
And a few hours later, Brown still was struggling to compose himself while sharing stories about the man, who even at Browns age of 74, he still refers to only as Coach Smith.
Brown, the Hall of Fame coach who played for and coached under Smith at North Carolina, knows as well as anyone that highlighting Smiths accolades, the 11 Final Four appearances and two national championships, the 879 victories and 13 A C C tournament titles, does not begin to tell the story about impact of the coaching icon who died Saturday night.
It is a legacy of selflessness and humility. Eighty-three years of caring and giving.
We will never have another one like him," Brown told you ess A Today Sports on Sunday. He is the most decent man I have ever met, without question. I try every day to be like him, and I always fall short.
Smith was a private man who shrunk from adoration and extended his hand to help any of his former players or coaches at any time. He never forgot a name. He had the unique ability to treat all of his former players the same regardless of playing status.
Whether you were Michael Jordan or James Worthy or the freshman manager, you are all part of his family, and that family was his team, Billy Packer, the former long time CBS analyst who broadcast both of Smiths national title game victories, told. It not only took place for the moment, or the year or the era, it lasted for a lifetime. Nobody that I have ever been around did that to the degree that he did.
For Brown, not a day passes when he does not think about the lives Smith has touched, including his own. The wallpaper on Browns cell phone is a picture of Smith cutting down the nets after winning his first national championship in 1982.
He lived his life the way he expected us all to live our lives, Brown said. He is the greatest teacher I have ever been around.
President Obama on Sunday recognized Smith in a statement as not just a coaching legend but a gentleman and a citizen.
Rest in Peace Dean Smith, we will all Miss you.
#deansmith
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Please watch: "The Duggars in Emotional Homemade Video, say goodbye to Jill and Derick as they leave US"
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