University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Go Out and Do Something
February 25, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
NOTE: This column originally appeared in the February 24 issue of CAROLINA, the official magazine of Tar Heel athletics.
Carolina celebrated the tremendous life of Dean E. Smith with a memorial service on Sunday afternoon. An estimated 10,000 fans, friends, former players and family filled the building that bears his name.
Along with Carolina chancellor Carol Folt, former voice of the Tar Heels Woody Durham hosted the program. On the stage were players from each era of Smith's career: Billy Cunningham, David Chadwick, Mickey Bell, Phil Ford, Brad Daugherty and Antawn Jamison; Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams, former UNC president Erskine Bowles and Reverend Dr. Robert Seymour of Binkley Memorial Baptist Church. Former Georgetown coach John Thompson was scheduled to speak but could not attend due to illness.
Over the past two weeks, there have been countless remembrances of Coach Smith from former players, coaches and those who knew him well. But until Sunday, the public had not heard from the Smith family. Scott and Kristen Smith, two of Smith's five children, were not listed in the program, but took the stage just before the benediction. Smith's children didn't know him from a recruiting visit, a timeout huddle or an away-game trip– they knew him as 'Dad.' Scott and Kristen implored those in attendance and watching at home to live in a way that honors their father. “What better way for everyone here, and even the people that are not here, to honor him going forward,” Scott Smith said, “than by helping people in need and treating everyone equally, because it is the right thing to do?”
In remembering her father, Kristen Smith referenced the mission of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “'The university serves all people through teaching and public service and embraces an unwavering commitment to excellence,'” she quoted. “Dad was first and foremost a teacher, both on and off the court, and he saw opportunities for him and his teams to serve.” She referred to Matthew 25:40, in which Jesus instructs his followers to care for the least of their brothers and sisters, in recalling her father taking his teams to visit prisoners, some of them death row inmates. Kristen again invoked the university mission, saying, “'The university is to teach a diverse community, foster the success and prosperity of each rising generation and enhance the quality of life for people, all people, in this state.' We believe that my dad did all of these things, as part of the university and as part of the greater human race.”
The Smith family expressed its gratitude for the support, condolences and memories that have poured in over the past two weeks. But the family's message was not only one of thanks; it was also a call to action. Kristen mentioned a neighbor that had not known Dean Smith well but was inspired to bring breakfast breads to the family. “She said, 'I was reading everything about your dad, and I thought, I need to hop to it, acknowledging that Dad's example challenged us all to go out and do something.”
Go out and do something. Dean Smith did more than coach winning basketball, he did something with his life. As a college basketball coach, Smith was in a position to influence change. We do not all have that particular podium, that position that carries such influence, but we do have the ability to go out and do something. “We hope that you'll think of something that Dad did, a value he exemplified, a characteristic you admired in him, and try to strive to do the same thing,” Kristen said. “If you can do that, it will be the greatest way to honor him and his memory.”
“He would want us to forgive others and show compassion to everyone,” Scott Smith said of his father. “He will live on in each of us as we emulate the values he exemplified: loyalty, morality, humility, faith, trust and especially, unconditional love.”
We all can't win basketball games and national championships as Dean Smith did, but we can extend a hand to a neighbor and care for the least of our brothers and sisters. Find a way to live out the values articulated by Dean Smith. More than winning games, that is what Dean Smith did. And it's what we can do to honor him.
