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University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Catching Up With Ranzino Smith
July 28, 2003 | Men's Basketball
July 28, 2003
By Adam Lucas
Ranzino Smith harbors no illusions about exactly why he was a fan favorite during his four years playing for Dean Smith's Tar Heels.
"The fans knew that when I came in I was going to shoot it," Smith says with a smile.
Smith, who was named for former NC State star Sam Ranzino and still sports the familiar barrel chest, is being modest. He also was a fan favorite because he was a Chapel Hill native who became the first Chapel Hill High product to be recruited by Dean Smith. As a prep senior, Smith averaged 30 points per game and was selected Player of the Year in North Carolina and a McDonald's All-American. Chapel Hill High fans still talk about the game in which Smith--who was listed at a generous 6-foot-1--dunked over future Kansas Jayhawk Danny Manning. For his efforts, Smith was recently inducted into the Chapel Hill High School Hall of Fame.
It's hard to understand in today's era of global recruiting what it meant in the early 1980's to have a legitimate Chapel Hillian playing for the Heels. Fans weren't yet accustomed to knowing the full life stories of freshmen before they enrolled, and sometimes the first true glimpse of the latest Tar Heel rookies came when the annual basketball calendar was released. To have Smith, a certifiable Chapel Hill legend, don the familiar bell-bottomed warm-ups (kids, ask your parents) was a treat for the locals.
As a Tar Heel from the 1985-88 seasons, Ranzino wasn't quite as prolific, although his 42 percent mark from beyond the three-point line remains among the best in Carolina history, and his 82.4% mark from the free throw stripe is seventh best in the UNC record book.
That free throw proficiency was key during his freshman season, when he hit two crucial seconds in the closing seconds of a game against Auburn to seal a 62-56 win in the NCAA regional semifinals.
It was another era of college basketball, a time when freshmen who made huge contributions were the exception, not the rule. As such, Smith's scoring average steadily increased, going from 2 points per game as a rookie to six points a game as a sophomore to eight points a game as a junior, culminating in a 12 point per game performance as a senior.
It was also an era when Dean Smith boasted what might have been the best coaching staff in college basketball history, including a former freshman team player named Roy Williams.
"Coach Smith had the three best assistants in the country at that time with Coach Guthridge, Coach Williams, and Coach Fogler," Smith said.
After bouncing around pro basketball for several years, including being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and spending time in the CBA and overseas, plus a short stint with the ill-fated Raleigh Bullfrogs, Smith settled in Durham. That's where he lives today, as he is currently in his sixth year with the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab.
Smith, who can be spotted around town in an SUV with a license plate reading, "Ranzino," says he doesn't get recognized as much as he did a few years ago. He doesn't mind the loss of attention, however.
"I don't hear it as much anymore," he said. "That's good. I prefer it to be that way, because for so many years I heard it 24 hours a day. It's good to be able to sit back behind the scenes a little bit."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.