University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina People: Mean Joe Bray
June 14, 2000 | Football
June 14, 2000
Confronted with the irresistable force of a change agent, glaciers move faster than major southeastern universities.
That was certainly true of Carolina when this internet thing started back in the early 1990's. Middle school students were designing their own web pages and was UNC ahead of the curve? Shoot no. Carolina had to be pulled along with its hind quarters low and its legs splayed out like a dog being dragged to the vet, and the man yanking the hardest at the leash was Mean Joe Bray.
Mean Joe is absolutely, positively one of the nicest, most even-tempered men on the planet (thus the nickname) and, near as I can tell, he loves four things with incredible passion: his family (wife Dina and daughter Christy), jogging (he is fanatical), black and white Andy shows, and UNC Athletics.
His main job is working with the computer systems that allow Carolina students to register for classes and check grades electronically, but somehow over the last half a dozen years he has been able to find the personal time to almost singlehandedly make sure that Carolina athletes and coaches have a positive, global presence on the web.
In fact, the genesis of the web site you are reading now was Joe, at home and on his own time, painstakingly transcribing Tar Heel football and basketball records into HTML code. When you click here to find out how a Carolina olympic sports team did the night before, chances are better than 50-50 that that's Joe. Haven't played the new Finley Golf Course yet and want to take a quick on-line tour? You can. Joe again.
Oh, the official site is much more than just Mean Joe Bray of course. Now there is a whole staff of hard-working folks that help keep it updated and all of those people deserve thanks. But Joe was the Mother Hen of the bunch, out early, clucking around and tilling the soil and planting the seeds just for the love of the place when everybody else was still in a meeting trying to decide when to have the next meeting to decide what, if anything, to do.
When someone gives as unselfishly and as quietly as Joe has given over the last 7 years, there is a tendency to take that effort for granted. That's just human nature, I guess. But it isn't right. He deserves thanks.
Mean Joe definitely doesn't want any publicity and when he reads this article he'll be mad at me for pubbing him up, but here's a simple idea that I believe has merit. Next time you see his byline on a story, just drop him a quick email to let him know that you know that Carolina is a better place because he's on the job.
