More on Dean Smith | Eastern North Carolina Now

    I check many "things religious" via the Internet. When a main story starts to go away, more often comes.

    Here is a much-needed word from Dean Smith's Pastor, Robert Seymour:

    I am particularly interested on Valentines Day that we look over last week in NC. We had the praises sung for Coach Smith, then the horror story of 3 students executed in Chapel Hill by a white guy who was obviously more than angry. Something about these two events in the same week speaks to me today --- a day for expressing love rather than hate.

    What could happen if every day were about love far --- more than hate?

    Hear the words of his pastor penned in an article by my good friend, Norman Jameson, former Editor of the NC Baptist "Biblical Recorder":

    Smith's pastor there, Robert Seymour, shared memories at the funeral of the man he counted as church member and friend. Seymour, 89, was pastor of the church from 1959 to 1988.

    "One of the most important things he ever said was, 'It's only a game,'" said Seymour, who attended most games, but admits to a lesser passion for basketball than his wife. "His legacy is that of a remarkable man who grew up in a devout Christian home and saw his work as a ministry. The members of his team felt they were lovingly cared for and Dean became sort of a proxy father to many of the boys who played basketball for him."

    Smith started at Carolina as an assistant coach and had to prove himself to skeptics who doubted that at age 30 he could take the reins from his renowned predecessor Frank McGuire.

    That didn't keep him from speaking courageously on social issues.

    Smith arrived in Chapel Hill just as the civil rights movement was starting to stir. Binkley Baptist was a local, regional and state leader in advocating racial justice and equal rights for blacks.

    "We asked Dean to take a major responsibility and he could perceive this as his church work," Seymour said. "We assigned him to go out and get the best black basketball player he could find and recruit him and get him to Chapel Hill, and he did."

    Recruited by Dean Smith, Charlie Scott became the first black basketball player at North Carolina and in the Atlantic Coast Conference. "He broke the racial barrier in the ACC," Seymour said.

    But that progress only cracked the barrier locally. "We had thought Chapel Hill was a liberal place," said Seymour. "We found that not to be true."