University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Shopping with a Purpose
December 16, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2004
By Adam Lucas
Seniors, it seems, sometimes get special consideration within the North Carolina basketball program.
At least, that's what Melvin Scott was hoping Thursday night at a local Wal-Mart, where the Tar Heels gathered for their second annual holiday shopping excursion, a ritual begun many years ago by Roy Williams with his Kansas teams. The task is simple: Jerod Haase secures a list of families needing some Christmas cheer from local organizations. Each player is given a specific family for whom to shop--for example, Sean May's quest was a mother and her two teenage children. Haase gives each player a detailed list cataloging the ages and gift requests of each family member, and the players are turned loose on Wal-Mart to make their selections. Each family also receives a Food Lion gift card.
The funds--players are supposed to spend $50 on each family member--come from Roy Williams and from the sale of autographed basketballs. The price ceiling is supposed to be strictly enforced.
But Melvin Scott desperately needed an exception. One person on his list had only one request: a bike. But the bike the Tar Heel senior fell in love with was $59, well over the spending limit. While Scott was pulling the bike off the rack, Roi Holladay, wife of assistant coach Joe Holladay, was dispatched to plead his case to Roy Williams.
The verdict came down: no. Williams likes his players to get at least one item of clothing per person, and purchasing the bike would've left no room for clothes.
Scott, meanwhile, was enlisting a Wal-Mart employee to fill the bike's tires with air to give it just the right ride for Christmas morning. When his coach's decision was relayed to him, he wasn't particularly concerned. After a quick huddle near register 22, during which Scott volunteered to foot the bill for an additional shirt (but was quickly overruled by Williams, who said he'd cover the overage), the bike was added to the Tar Heels' rapidly growing haul.
What swayed the head coach?
"Melvin said he could tell she really wanted the bike," Williams said. "How he could tell that, I have no idea. Knowing Melvin, he probably called her on the phone."
Some players, realizing they might need some shopping assistance, wisely brought girlfriends to help them. David Noel even called his mother for some sizing advice. But Marvin Williams and Jawad Williams, who were paired to shop for a family of five, eschewed female assistance. Marvin--naturally, being the freshman--was instructed to push the shopping cart.
A few minutes later, a strange sight could be seen over the tops of the Wal-Mart aisles: Marvin Williams had plucked a child's black cowboy hat off the rack and had perched it on top of his head. It didn't come close to fitting, of course, so at times only the black hat could be seen moseying down the aisles.
Spotting the ensemble, Joe Holladay needled him about the headwear.
"I think I look like someone from Oklahoma," replied the freshman, proving to be almost as quick with a line as he is chasing a rebound--Holladay, of course, is from Oklahoma.
The Williams pairing was one of the last tandems to check out. They couldn't compete for the title of best shopper of the night, however. C.J. Hooker took the early lead (ably assisted by Mindy Haase), checking in at $99.36 for two people, a scant $0.64 under the limit.
It looked like Hooker would win the Price is Right-style title of closest to the target without going over. But then Sean May, shopping for three people, came in just $0.30 under the target, appearing to seal the title...until Wes Miller and video coordinator Eric Hoots trumped him by falling only $0.45 under the limit for five people--just $0.09 per person, compared to $0.10 per person for May.
As the group headed into the parking lot, with the team's cumulative total spiraling well into the four figures, they were still arguing over the title of most effective shopper.
Scott wasn't involved in that discussion. He was still in the checkout line. Having secured the appropriate gifts for everyone in his designated family--including, naturally, the bike--he was doing a little personal shopping. He pushed two carts into the checkout line: one filled with items for his family, the other with a mammoth Cadillac Escalade remote control car, complete with "real spinners" and, according to Scott, "a system in the back."
That item went on his personal tab, not the team's tab. But he didn't think he'd bother to put it under the tree.
"This one is for me," he said with a grin. "I think I'm going to have an early Christmas."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.
