Coaches Wearing Unique Shoes Tonight

By Adam Lucas

It will immediately become obvious tonight that something is very different about the footwear of the North Carolina coaches.

The Tar Heels host Wake Forest tonight at 7, and the staff, as usual, will be shod in the latest Jordan shoes. But these will be a little more colorful than normal.

Each coach tonight will be wearing a pair of shoes that were painted by patients from the Children's Hospital with a little assistance from this year's Tar Heel players. The project is designed to draw attention to the need for better research and care for the nation's youngest cancer patients, as childhood cancer receives only about four percent of the federal government's annual cancer research budget.

With that in mind, this is the first year of the painting project at Carolina, a collaboration between Shoes4Hope, UNC Health Foundation, and the Tar Heel basketball team. The shoes started as regular bright white Jordans, spread out across a meeting room in the Smith Center.

After a December practice, the Tar Heel players met with approximately a dozen patients from the hospital, each of whom arrived armed with brushes and some very colorful paint.

"I feel like I'm back in art class," said RJ Davis as he examined the shoes he was painting. "That's back when life was good."

But art class was never quite as serious as this. Several of the kids arrived with a color scheme already in mind and immediately began fulfilling their vision. The most entertaining table was hosted by two girls under ten, who ran a very, very tight ship. So tight, in fact, that Jae'Lyn Withers, James Okonkwo and Harrison Ingram were not permitted to paint on the actual shoes.

Instead, they had to do their painting on a paper towel as they attempted to display enough artistic talent to earn the approval of the girls at their table. "I don't know," Okonkwo said, "if I'm ever actually going to be able to touch the shoes."

He was correct. But that's OK, because enough artwork was done that the entire coaching staff will be outfitted this evening against the Deacons. Following the game, every pair of shoes will be auctioned to benefit cancer research (As a side note, a few Tar Heels may be wearing pink shoes on Monday night, as some players began breaking them in at Sunday's practice. That's not part of the Shoes4Hope program, and is instead related to the NABC's Suits and Sneakers for cancer awareness).

It was hard not to notice that each kid at the painting event was accompanied by at least one parent. With the families accustomed to dreading their trips to Chapel Hill for the latest round of treatment, this particular event provided a fun opportunity to turn on some music, throw a basketball game on the television, and hang out with some very tall co-artists who just happened to be pretty good at basketball.

"Having the UNC men's basketball team take time out of their busy schedules to paint shoes with the children was incredible," said UNC Health Foundation director of special events Allison Baranowski. "It provided a much needed break of not thinking about treatment, scans or cancer. The children who painted shoes are huge Carolina Fans and getting to paint and hang out with the men's team is not only uplifting for the children, but a happy memory that means so much to their families."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

James Okonkwo

Jae'Lyn Withers

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