University of North Carolina Athletics
LEE PACE'S EXTRA POINTS: Heels Continue Choo Choo Ride Over Duke.
November 19, 2001 | Football
Nov. 19, 2001
NOTE: Readers are encouraged to view this week's Extra Points in the convenient PDF Format. PDF Format contains all material seen below, as well as additional content that is only available through PDF, including The Inner Game. 
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By Lee Pace
The echoes around town awoke once again this weekend when Charlie Justice and his mates came back to visit the old campus, their "adjunct to heaven" as one octogenarian called it. "They were the best of times," said Bob Cox, a Justice teammate from those halcyon days of the 1940s. Choo Choo and train won 75 percent of their games over
the weekend in Chapel Hill a good one with 156 yards receiving and two touchdowns. |
"Wallace Wade was a sainted name in this state, but he never once beat Charlie Justice," Hugh Morton, the squire of Grandfather Mountain, notes with a twinkle the Tar Heels' 84-27 combined victory margin over Wade's Duke Blue Devils those four seasons.
A conclave of Tar Heels from that era had been planned for mid-September, but the attack on America and subsequent postponement of the SMU game Sept. 15 prompted organizers to reschedule the reunion for the Duke weekend. A hundred or so of them played golf on Friday, then assembled in the Hall of Honor museum area of the Kenan Football Center that night for a ceremony renaming the facility the "Charlie Justice Hall of Honor." Its new namesake was on hand, somewhat feeble of health but with the eyes Tar Heel head coach John Bunting remarked last summer are "still burning with pride, still burning with energy."
Justice cut the ribbon to a warm round of applause and then Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour put it all in perspective:
"We're in the most beautiful stadium in America, Kenan Stadium.
"We're in the finest football facility in America, the Frank Kenan Football Center.
"And we're standing in the Charlie Justice Hall of Honor. It doesn't get any better than that."
Unless you pound Duke for the 12th consecutive year, which the Tar Heels proceeded to do the following afternoon by a 52-17 measure. At intermission, the members of those Justice Era teams collectively presented the Educational Foundation with a check for $1 million, a down payment on an endowment earmarked to support the football program.
"This ties in the Justice Era players to our program forever," says Bunting. "They're a special part of our history. I sat around the table with several of them last spring and listened to their stories, and I was on the edge of my seat."
The establishment of the endowment--which, incidentally, welcomes the support of any friend of Tar Heel football--comes at an opportune moment, at a key juncture in the 114-year existence of football at Carolina:
* At a time when perhaps Florida State is ripe to be nudged off its perpetual roost atop the ACC standings,
* At a time when Maryland is revitalized and is poised to accept the very high-profile bowl bid--an Orange Bowl, for example--that has eluded the Tar Heels since Justice was taking snaps in the single-wing,
* At a time when N.C. State is attempting to keep up with the Joneses down Interstate 40 with a new video board and $28 million football complex,
* And at a time when Bunting is trying to instill the type of mental and physical toughness that marked his playing days at Carolina under Bill Dooley from 1969-71.
unting walked into the reception at 5:30 p.m. Friday still wearing his coaching togs after a 60-minute practice on the stadium field. "He looks like a coach, acts like a coach, and tonight, he's dressed like one," master of ceremonies Woody Durham said. Bunting told Justice and other All-Americas like Art Weiner, former coaches like Bud Carson and Dooley, and former teammates like Don McCauley and Gayle Bomar, that "it was humbling" to be in their midst. He said his program was improving--witness the school's first win ever over Florida State and a convincing victory at Clemson. And he acknowledged there were problems.
"We have got to become more mentally tough," he said, referring to his team's implosion the week before against Wake Forest, its loss of a 24-0 halftime lead and eventual loss of the game. "A game like that would never have gotten away in my day. Those guys would not have let that happen. I played with a group of tough guys--like are here in the audience tonight."
Bunting played with guys like fellow linebacker James Webster, the first coach Bunting hired for his new staff last December. Webster schooled his fellow assistant coaches on the history of the Victory Bell--Carolina's prize over a dozen years now thanks to its dominance of Duke. He got so revved up delivering a pre-game talk at the team hotel Saturday morning that he put his hand through a glass and had to be hospitalized with acute bleeding.
"He brought the Victory Bell up to the meeting room Friday night," Bunting said. "He talked about the importance and value of that bell. James Webster is one of the most important people in my life. He's an emotional man. That's why I hired him. He's very bright and conscientious and is very, very emotional. That's how I want our team to play."
Bunting saw some of the mental toughness he, Webster and the coaching staff covet from their players on Saturday afternoon. Carolina played well in all phases in the first half, then took a little shot early in the third quarter. Leading 24-10, the Heels went three-and-out to open the half and allowed a Duke TD, cutting the margin to 24-17. Instead of panicking, however, the Tar Heels marched efficiently downfield and scored. The defense held Duke on three-and-outs its next two possessions and the offense notched two quick TDs.
The contest went in seven minutes from Duke thinking it had a chance to the Tar Heels on cruise control at 45-17.
"We took a stand," Bunting said. "We were not able to do that the last two weeks. I'm happy that at 24-17 we could go down and score and then our defense get them three-and-out a couple of times."
"We finished strong, the way we should have last week," defensive tackle Ryan Sims added.
the field and had three TD passes and one brilliant touchdown run. |
Senior QB Ronald Curry returned Saturday after missing the Georgia Tech game with a hamstring injury and the Wake Forest game with a death in his family. He played very well--making a highlight-reel dash for an 11-yard TD ("Shades of Fran Tarkenton," Bunting noted), hitting receivers perfectly on the short screen passes with which he sometimes struggles, and making good reads on where and when to throw the ball. It's a shame Curry had to waste a year of eligibility in 1999 with his Achilles tendon injury at mid-year. He's just now settling into learning how to truly be a college quarterback, and he's only got one regular-season and one bowl game left. Curry still will nonetheless leave Chapel Hill with a passel of QB records, he notched the career total offense mark against East Carolina and on Saturday became Carolina's all-time leading passer. He has 4,871 yards, 188 more than Jason Stanicek.
"Ronald's a real happy guy, playing ball again," Bunting said. "I'm happy for him. I love being around Ronald Curry. He's a special guy, a special person. He's a very talented guy and has done a lot for this university."
Freshman Darian Durant joined Curry in alternating every two series and played well also, hitting 11 of 17 passes for 151 yards and one score. In case anyone's keeping track, the Tar Heels are 6-0 in games using both quarterbacks in this curious rotation.
"The two-headed quarterback's been a blessing in disguise," said Bunting. "It's helped our team, it's certainly helped Darian. We kind of lucked into it. He earned the right to play early in the season, and that's the way we do things around here--we give players opportunities."
Carolina now takes Thanksgiving weekend off before playing SMU in Kenan Stadium at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 1. The Mustangs are 3-6 after a 24-14 win Saturday at Tulsa and play this Saturday at home against Rice. A victory would make Carolina bowl eligible, but the ACC bowl picture remains fuzzy beyond Maryland's impending invitation to the Orange Bowl. The Gator Bowl gets the second pick of ACC teams, but Florida State, the team now in second place with one game left against Georgia Tech, would rather play in the Peach Bowl than go across the state to Jacksonville, at least according to a Peach Bowl official at Kenan Stadium Saturday. Whether the Seminoles are politically savvy enough to convince the Gator to select someone else remains to be seen.
Regardless, the Tar Heels have to play well and win against SMU or it's a moot point. "We're treating this game like a playoff game," Bunting says. "If you want to keep playing, you win the next one." Bunting is happy with a 5-3 ACC record in his first year. A bowl game of any level after playing a very difficult schedule and the extra month of practice that comes with it would be nice bonuses.
Meanwhile, he'll listen carefully for the echoes of Charlie Justice and the era that put Tar Heel football on the map. More than once Saturday, Bunting glanced up at the patio outside his office and saw Justice watching in the sun.
NOTE: Readers are encouraged to view this week's Extra Points in the convenient PDF Format. PDF Format contains all material seen below, as well as additional content that is only available through PDF, including The Inner Game. Download Free Acrobat Reader
Many Tar Heel fans enjoyed Lee Pace's six-part series chronicling the playing and coaching careers of coach John Bunting that appeared at TarHeelBlue.com last spring. Now those same stories are available with new material in a book that promises to be a collector's item in the future.
Born & Bred is now available. It is on sale at a variety of venues around campus and Chapel Hill, as well as in the TarHeelBlue.com FANStore and by mail order.
New chapters cover Bunting's coaching staff, his visit in May to Tar Heel legend Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, and efforts to improve the game-day experience in Kenan Stadium. In addition, there are sidebars on the 1980 Carolina championship team, led by Kelvin Bryant, and Bunting's key role in the 1982 NFL players' strike. Contact Lee Pace today at leepace@earthlink.net for ordering information.
Extra Points, now in its 12th year, is published 15 times a year, once following all Carolina football games as well as at the beginning of the season, the end of the season and at the end of recruiting and spring practice. Subscriptions $30 per year, payable by check or MC/Visa to:
Extra Points Publishing Co.
101-A Aberdeen St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Lee Pace, Editor & Publisher
919/933-2082, leepace@earthlink.net
Join The Foundation
Help sponsor the educations of Tar Heel football players--for as little as $100 a year. Membership to the Educational Foundation includes: Opportunity to purchase season football tickets and mini-season basketball ticket packages, access to the Ram's Room in Kenan Fieldhouse, tickets to annual Super Saturday lunch featuring John Bunting and Matt Doherty, invitations to annual functions featuring Carolina coaches, RamPage newsletter, donor card, car decals, much more!
For more information, call the Educational Foundation offices at 919/945-2000.
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