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C H A P E L H I L L’ S T I M E L E S S A L L U R E
YOU PROVIDE THE OPPORTUNITY RAMS CLUB MEMBERS LIKE YOU GIVE THE GIFT OF OPPORTUNITY – for the best student-athletes to attend the best university, to compete in the best facilities, and to play for the best coaches at the highest level of competition in all 28 of our varsity sports.
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WELCOME
Letter from the Editor
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Coming Home: Find out why Michael Abernathy and other Rams Club members return to Chapel Hill on page 8.
PRODUCED BY THE RAMS CLUB EDITOR IN CHIEF ADAM LUCAS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS LEE PACE & SPEED HALLMAN PHOTOGRAPHY MAGGIE HOBSON DESIGN JUJUBE SPORTS PUBLISHING
We finally realized we were asking the question incorrectly. In various issues of past Rams Club magazines, we’ve asked you for your favorite tailgating recipes for those Saturday afternoons at Kenan Stadium. But the response was never quite what we hoped, and we never ran the feature. In planning for this edition of Born & Bred, we decided to ask the question differently. Instead of specifically asking for tailgate recipes, we wanted to know what you most look forward to on your gameday trips to Chapel Hill. And, specifically, we wanted to know what you most look forward to about returning “home” to Carolina. The responses from Rams Club members came in by the dozens. Tailgating was a big part—and we even received some tailgating recipes—but there were numerous other ways people celebrate coming back to Chapel Hill. You’ll read numerous examples of those answers in this issue, and we’ll include even more in a future edition (you can send yours—and please remember we love photos—to adam@ramsclub.com). It’s not just Rams Club members who feel like Chapel Hill is home. As you’ll read in the following pages, student-athletes grow to love this place, also. An unusually high number of them end up making a home in Chapel Hill, and we wanted this issue to show that the way members and student-athletes feel about “home” isn’t very different at all. Even if it’s not a permanent residence, making those regular pilgrimages back to Chapel Hill becomes an important part of everyone’s lives. It’s a nice reminder that when you help a student-athlete attend the University of North Carolina with your donation to the Rams Club, you’re not just changing the four years they spend in Chapel Hill. There’s a very good chance you’re changing the rest of their life, too. Who knows? Maybe one day they’ll even send us some tailgating recipes.
ADAM LUCAS Editor in Chief ramsclub.com
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“There’s a certain romanticism to waking up early and putting on that beautiful shade of Carolina Blue. It signifies that we are part of a special group, one with that distinctly Southern quality where everyone is family and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” —SPENSER DALTON, RAMS CLUB MEMBER AND UNC BASKETBALL LETTERMAN
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ON THE COVER: Quinshad Davis, Jeff Schoettmer and Shakeel Rashad are now part of the coaching staff on the same Kenan Stadium turf where they once made big plays as Tar Heels.
COVER BY MAGGIE HOBSON // MONTROSS PHOTO BY JEFFREY CAMARATI
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10 From Turf to Tailgate
A group of Tar Heel football lettermen use tailgating to foster the Carolina family BY LEE PACE
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14 Familiar Faces
Trio of assistants hope to add first-person wisdom to Tar Heel staff BY LEE PACE
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22 Home and Away
Pair of Tar Heel tracksters finds time for memorable study abroad experience BY ADAM LUCAS
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TAR HEEL TICKER p. 6
CAROLINA EVERYWEAR p. 18
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30 Family First
Achieving Roy Williams’ goal of maintaining the Carolina Family has required constant commitment BY ADAM LUCAS
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36 The Cobeys Come Home
Rams Club members Munroe and Becky Cobey have lived around the world, but knew where they eventually wanted to call home BY SPEED HALLMAN
FIRST PERSON
40 Full Circle
A Tar Heel national champion describes how his family decided to make Chapel Hill home BY ERIC MONTROSS
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GINYARD’S SECOND ANNUAL COMMUNITY DAY PHOTOS BY ERIN MIZELLE
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For the second summer in as many years, the Marcus Ginyard Basketball Camp hosted Chapel Hill Community Day. Ginyard’s free annual event uses basketball to connect youth with leading members of the Orange County community. Rising third to eighth graders learn fundamental skills, play games and compete in skills challenges, while also engaging with police officers, firemen and other local community figures.
COMING HOME
GAMEDAY 2018 IN CHAPEL HILL SEPTEMBER 15
OPENING DAY EXTRA YARD FOR TEACHERS FACULTY AND STAFF DAY
SEPTEMBER 22 FAMILY WEEKEND CHEER DAY
OCTOBER 13 RAMS CLUB DAY
NOVEMBER 3
HOMECOMING MONOGRAM DAY
Tailgate Guys offer premium reserved tailgate solutions on game days steps away from Kenan Memorial Stadium Tailgate Guys offer tailgate services for groups of all sizes, ranging from small family gatherings to large group events (20+) Tailgate Guys is a way for Carolina fans to help enrich game-day traditions on campus while also streamlining and simplifying the fan experience FOR MORE DETAILS AND PRICING:
call: (919) 869-5486 // email: unc@tailgateguys.com visit: tailgateguys.com/Home/UNC
NOVEMBER 17
MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY
NOVEMBER 24 SENIOR DAY
NEW FEATURES:
JERSEY MIKE’S AND HUNT BROTHERS PIZZA WILL BE BAKED ON-SITE. DJ HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE STUDENT SECTION AND WILL STAY AND PLAY THROUGHOUT THE GAME.
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WHY DO YOU RETURN TO CHAPEL HILL?
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My favorite part of Game Day in Chapel Hill is getting to be surrounded by my family and friends at tailgates. Ever since I was little, I was coming to Game Day with my brother and parents since both my mom and dad were UNC Graduates. As my brother and I got older, he got into UNC and joined the same fraternity as my dad when he was at UNC. Now that I am at UNC, my parents come up every home football weekend and we tailgate together with my brother at his fraternity surrounded by my friends, his friends and my parents’ UNC friends. My dad’s same crowd has been tailgating at his old fraternity for almost 30 years now! I look forward to football Saturday every week for this very reason - there is nothing better than game day football and tailgates in Chapel Hill!
-EMILY LAWSON CHAPEL HILL, N.C.
I have been coming down to Chapel Hill since I was three years old. My Dad took me to my first game in October 1992 and I was hooked ever since. My Dad and I had a special bond and Chapel Hill and Carolina athletics was a huge part of our father-son relationship. I can still remember walking around Franklin Street as a young kid counting down the minutes to kickoff. The things that I love is the atmosphere, the beautiful campus, and the pure excitement of Kenan Stadium in the fall. I have been to nearly 100 games in Kenan and I get goosebumps every time I step into the stadium. My Dad passed away in 2008, but I still feel him with me when I am in Chapel Hill in the fall. I can only hope I can pass my experiences and love of Carolina sports to my children like my Dad did for me.
-BRANDON BURNETT DRY FORK, VA.
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Coming back to Chapel Hill allows me to reconnect with my alma mater. It is a period of time where I can decompress from the stresses of everyday life as a fire chief and medic and travel back to the fifties and sixties when as a younger man I spent Saturdays in the Old Kenan Stadium with the Mic Man and all the other symbols of Carolina Football. Most of my life has been lived in a rural western county, but Chapel Hill is my second home. Being there in the fall recharges my batteries and brings back great memories.
-G. M. TENNANT TRYON, N.C.
The start of UNC Marching Tar Heel pregame show when Marching Tar Heels quick step onto Kenan Stadium field playing ‘Here Comes Carolina!’ The tears of joy just well up along with a shiver down the spine. Never fails. Best pre-game show in the country. (Great band under the direction of great band director, Mr. Fuchs...hardest working man in Chapel Hill.)
-DON CHERRY ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.
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“ ““ “ Attending Game Day in Chapel Hill for me goes all the way back to the 1960s when Coach Bill Dooley was our football coach. I was the youngest of nine children. My dad who also attended UNC would drop my brother and me off in front of the stadium. He would tell us that he would see us in the game. Of course not long after that my brother and I started working odd jobs and we purchased season tickets. I think they were only $8 back then.
-STEVE GRIFFIN DURHAM, N.C.
What I most look forward to is taking my grandson Lucas to Tar Heel Town before a football game for activities and fun. The expression on his face while meeting Rameses was priceless!
-CRYSTAL BLACKMON FRISCO, N.C.
I always enjoy standing in front of the grad library and singing the fight songs with the band. The last part of “Blue and White” where the drums kick in ALWAYS makes the hairs on my arm stand up. I’m ready to suit up and go bust a wedge for the kickoff team right then!
-ROY COLLETTE KERNERSVILLE, N.C.
As strange as it may seem, the thing I look forward to the most is the Chapel Hill city limit sign. When I pass that sign, my whole attitude changes. This has been happening to me since August of 1970 when I began my UNC undergraduate years. It is not unlike Dorothy landing in Oz. Everything in Chapel Hill is magical to me. When I cross that line, time is transcended and it is like I am a young undergraduate once again. For every game, I now travel with three generations including two generations of Tar Heels, and a granddaughter who is a Tar Heel in the making. There is nothing that I do not enjoy and look forward to. I never tire of the sights, sounds, smell and the genuine love thousands of people feel for our University.
-MICHAEL C. ABERNATHY CHINA GROVE, N.C.
UNC sports is an important vessel through which I show my overall gratitude to the university. While gameday gives me the chance to cheer on my Tar Heels, it also gives me the chance to walk through campus one more time with my wife and kids. It’s a chance to buy a couple more sweatshirts at the Student Store. It’s a chance to get re-energized around service, giving back to the community, and being a more active member of the Tar Heel alumni community. Quite frankly, it gives me a chance to look up and say, “I’m so thankful and fortunate to be a Tar Heel.”
-ANTHONY LAW HIGH POINT, N.C.
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A GROUP OF TAR HEEL FOOTBALL LETTERMEN USE TAILGATING TO FOSTER
THE CAROLINA FAMILY
BY LEE PACE
ILLUSTRATION BY JASON MCCORKLE PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALGE CRUMPLER
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When Alge Crumpler retired from the NFL after the 2010 season, football players and even the occasional basketball player like a quarter of a century of donning his shoulder pads and cleats Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough. on game day and playing the game he loved from the pee-wee Crumpler hasn’t missed a home game since the 2013 season. His fields of Greenville, N.C., to a colossus like Gillette Stadium outside routine is to drive to Chapel Hill on Friday and set up camp near the Boston came to an end. Dean Smith Center. Then his wife and three It was time to embark on a new chapter in daughters fly in Saturday morning. If the his football life: Tailgating. Atlanta Falcons, the team Crumpler played for “Since the first day I put on pads, I was “Since the first day I put on pads, from 2001-07, have a home game, he tries to always part of the show,” says the Tar Heel get back in time for that kickoff. I was always part of the show. I tight end from 1996-99. “I never got a chance “For a couple of years when I was doing to partake and enjoy tailgating. It was never got a chance to partake and pre-game radio for the Falcons, it was pretty something I always wanted to do. There’s enjoy tailgating. It was something challenging,” he says. “I’d have to leave nothing like going into a stadium and smelling Saturday after the game or get up at 4 a.m. for I always wanted to do. There’s chicken, bratwurst and burgers on the grill the drive home.” nothing like going into a stadium and seeing dads playing with their kids in the Crumpler’s core group of tailgaters are and smelling chicken, bratwurst guys from his late-1990s era of Tar Heel parking lot. It looked like a lot of fun.” So by the 2012 football season, Crumpler football—among them Danny Davis, Octavus and burgers on the grill and had acquired a Fleetwood motor home Barnes, Dre Bly, David Bomar, Jason Peace, seeing dads playing with their and purchased his Tar Heel football season Kory Bailey, Anthony Anderson, and Billy Dee kids in the parking lot. It looked tickets in the Blue Zone. He even made the Greenwood. Since Willie Parker retired from like a lot of fun.” drive from his home in Atlanta to Louisville the NFL and moved back to the Triangle area, for the second game of the year. he’s made several appearances. Marcus Wall “I bought a bunch of wings and got some drinks and set up shop from the early 1990s has stopped by; guys like Cam Sexton and outside Papa John’s Stadium,” he says. “One of my first guests was Matt Merletti from the late 2000s have attended. none other than Bubba Cunningham with a bunch of his guests. “Anybody and everybody I knew was welcome,” Crumpler says. We sat around and had a great time.” “We’ve never had a huge plan but always made it work out.” Since then Crumpler has been an avid connoisseur of the “We usually just shoot out some texts the week of the game Carolina football experience, and his RV and tailgate parties and and see who shows up,” says Davis, who lives in Raleigh. “You top-floor suite in the Blue Zone have been magnets for ex-Tar Heel never know who might come. We’ve had guys from the mid-
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80s to guys who were playing just a year or two ago. Everyone’s Stephen Ochs in 2018 to open a dog park and full-service bar and welcome.” restaurant on three-quarters of an acre in Atlanta’s Fourth Ward. Crumpler’s motor home has traveled to Clemson during the 2014 He still has a strong pull to Chapel Hill and Tar Heel football, season and to Charlotte for the 2015 ACC Championship game. and for the California home opener in 2017 organized a party One of his biggest parties was outside the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in the west end amphitheater outside Kenan Stadium that was for the 2016 season opener against Georgia. attended by more than a hundred lettermen—plus wives, dates “Oh, man, we must have had 200 people and children. Tailgate Guys set up the for that one,” Crumpler says. “We started early infrastructure and they catered the early and people just kept coming.” part of the gathering for the noon start with “When a guy finishes his football Bojangles’ followed by pizza from IP3. “Homecoming’s a big deal, too,” says Davis. “Doug Brown was a tight end in our era and career, whether he makes it in the “Being my first year out of the game, I he and his dad do a lot of cooking. They bring wanted to come back to Chapel Hill and see league or not, he should have a deep fryers and cook pigs and turkeys, and some of my old friends,” he says. “I sent out a it’s like Thanksgiving Day. We’ve had a couple network of fellow Tar Heels—guys couple of texts and guys said, ‘Great idea, can he can call for a job, for a contact, I bring so-and-so?’ It spread like crazy and we hundred people at homecoming.” Crumpler’s streak of not missing a home for a place to stay in a certain city. had about 120 guys RSVP. It was an awesome game in five years will come to an end in 2018 spot to tailgate and we had a blast.” They need to know it’s not just as his oldest daughter enters high school (his Reynolds is planning a similar event around about four years— girls are 14, 11 and 9). the Central Florida game on Sept. 15 and has it’s about a lifetime.” “I’ll have to cut back on my Chapel Hill bigger ideas to combine the camaraderie trips,” he says. “With a girl in high school and generated by tailgate party with a broader Friday night games and late nights, I don’t want to ask her to get networking function for ex-Tar Heels. up every Saturday morning and get on a plane. I’ll still come—just “When a guy finishes his football career, whether he makes it in not as often.” the league or not, he should have a network of fellow Tar Heels— That leaves another player like Garrett Reynolds to help take up guys he can call for a job, for a contact, for a place to stay in a the slack. certain city,” Reynolds says. “They need to know it’s not just about Reynolds, an offensive tackle at Carolina from 2005-08, played four years—it’s about a lifetime.” eight years in the NFL, five of them with the Falcons. He lives What better way to sustain that bond than a cold beer, a chicken permanently in Atlanta and now is an entrepreneur, joining friend leg and a football game in Kenan Stadium?
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FAMILIAR FACES
TRIO OF ASSISTANTS HOPE TO ADD FIRST-PERSON WISDOM TO TAR HEEL STAFF BY LEE PACE
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PHOTOS BY MAGGIE HOBSON AND SMITH HARDY
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The focus, resolve and brotherhood comes through in all caps, bold italics in the image captured by photographer Smith Hardy near midfield before the Tar Heels’ 2015 game at Virginia Tech. Co-captains Quinshad Davis, Jeff Schoettmer, Kendrick Singleton and Shakeel Rashad are attired in their all-white uniforms, their helmets in their hands as they near midfield for the pre-game coin toss at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg. The Coastal Division title is Carolina’s to take with a victory. A boisterous Hokie crowd is poised to usher longtime coach Frank Beamer out with a victory in his last home game as the longtime Virginia Tech coach. Everyone from Las Vegas to the White House to the Vatican is pulling for Tech. “That’s one of my favorite pictures ever,” says Schoettmer. “It encapsulates our whole season—we’re focused, locked in, confident. There was so much emotion around Frank Beamer’s last home game. But that didn’t phase any of us. We were on a mission.” “There were seventy or eighty of us, however many you travel with, it was us against the world,” adds Rashad. “Together, we were all we had and all we needed. That was the calm before the storm.” Some four hours later, Davis would leap over a Tech cornerback in the
Stadum. “I think Jeff, Shak and I can bring a little youthful energy. We’ve been where all these young guys have been. Hopefully, something we learned and experienced can rub off on them.” Chad Scott played running back for the Tar Heels in 2003-04 and returned home to Chapel Hill in 2016 to join Fedora’s staff as tight ends coach. He and safeties coach Tommy Thigpen are the two guys on the full-time staff who have that special pride of having suited up in Kenan Stadium. “It always helps to have guys who’ve played in the Carolina blue and know what it means,” Scott says. “The passion is genuine. This place is home. We all understand what it means to put that uniform on.” Schoettmer will work as a G.A. with the linebackers and Davis with the receivers. Rashad is a “quality control” assistant on defense, which brings a catchall job description of breaking down film, helping run the scout team and even signaling in play calls.
“THAT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICTURES EVER. IT ENCAPSULATES OUR WHOLE SEASON—WE’RE FOCUSED, LOCKED IN, CONFIDENT. THERE WAS SO MUCH EMOTION AROUND FRANK BEAMER’S LAST HOME GAME. BUT THAT DIDN’T PHASE ANY OF US. WE WERE ON A MISSION.”
end zone to make the game-winning catch for a 30-27 win in overtime en route to an 11-1 regular season and ACC Coastal Division title. “That was a game to win the ACC Coastal, it was Frank Beamer’s last home game,” Davis says. “My thought was, ‘Let’s ruin it for them and take the ACC Coastal home.’ “That was a fitting cap to my college career. It was a big deal for me and a big deal for the team.” Davis, Rashad and Schoettmer were seniors during that memorable 11-3 season. Each gave the NFL a shot, Rashad even latching on with the Houston Texans for an entire year in a reserve and special teams role. Now all three have returned to Chapel Hill and joined Larry Fedora’s staff in graduate assistant or quality control roles. “Memories, a lot of memories,” Davis says, looking around Kenan
John Papuchis, the Carolina defensive coordinator, was linebackers coach in 2015 when Schoettmer and Rashad were seniors. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for both those guys,” Papuchis says. “They were in the first group of guys I had the opportunity to coach here. They are true student-athletes, both really good in the classroom, leaders and good players on the field. They were both such smart players. We’re excited to have them back. They have a lot of pride in being Tar Heels and being back with us, they can pass that along to the next generation of guys.” Other former Tar Heels around the program
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include Jordan Marsh (OL, 2012, offensive G.A.) and Alex Marrs (OL, 2014, offensive quality control). A.J. Blue (RB, 2011-13) is entering his fourth year on the strength and conditioning staff. “This is a transition for all of us going from players to coaches,” Davis says. “It’s been great to be back in Chapel Hill with these guys. Having been to war with them makes the transition from playing to coaching a lot easier.” Davis, Schoettmer and Rashad were all starters on a 2014 Carolina team that posted a 6-6 record and was then roundly drubbed by Rutgers in a Detroit bowl game. The bitter taste of having a mediocre year and losing to N.C. State and Rutgers to end the year were prime motivators during the offseason and preseason in 2015.
“THIS IS A TRANSITION FOR ALL OF US GOING FROM PLAYERS TO COACHES. IT’S BEEN GREAT TO BE BACK IN CHAPEL HILL WITH THESE GUYS. HAVING BEEN TO WAR WITH THEM MAKES THE TRANSITION FROM PLAYING TO COACHING A LOT EASIER.” Perhaps their most important contributions as new staff members in 2018 are being young enough to connect to the current Tar Heels but having the credentials of having successfully done everything this year’s players have been asked to do. “There’s only so much a G.A. can help with in terms of Xs-and-Os,” Schoettmer adds. “I think I can help more with the mindset of the guys, imparting some of the things I learned in 2015 about how ultimately you have a good team. At the end of the day, it’s how about how hard you play for one another, how hard you practice, how hard you work in the offseason. You’ve got to ‘bring it’ every day.” Rashad has done his part to educate the players of the fine line between mediocrity and a championship season. “What we have to offer comes not just that season but all the seasons we had before,” he says. “We played on teams that struggled. That ’15 team was a super-talented team, but there wasn’t as huge a leap in talent from 6-6 to that team. We didn’t double in talent. It was all about how close we were, how hard we worked in the off-season. “I don’t think we realized it at the moment, but looking back you can see it.” Davis is working under new receivers coach Luke Paschall, who was an offensive G.A. at Carolina in 2012-13. So there’s plenty of familiarity with the coaches and the playbook. “I can tell the guys the little tricks I used, how to get open, how to read coverages,” Davis says. “They know I’ve been in their shoes. They know everything I say, I mean it. I’ve lived it all.”
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C A R O L I N A E V E R YWE A R Rams Club members like to wear their Carolina Blue, and they’ll wear it all over the US and the world. If you have a photo of you in your Carolina gear in front of notable landmarks in the US and abroad, send them our way to be a part of Carolina EveryWear!
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To have your photo included: -Send your photo digitally to bornandbred@ramsclub.com. -Identify everyone in your photo and the location of the photo. Here are the “Rules”: -At least one person in the photo has to be a Rams Club member -You must be wearing Carolina gear -You must be in front of a notable landmark (sorry, as cool as Kenan Stadium and the Smith Center are, they don’t qualify). SHOW US YOUR COLORS!
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1) Kurt Muller (96 years young!) of Chapel Hill with AD Bubba Cunningham; 2) Rufus & Toni Langley of Apex, NC, at Stonehenge; 3) Julie & Michael Garrison of Lexington, NC, with daughter Karen & son David in the Narrows in Zion National Park; 4) Jon, Andrew, June & Caroline Levine of Charlotte at Grand Teton National Forest in Wyoming; 5) Kathi & Fritz Willis of Morrisville, NC, with son Wright & daughter Sarah-Kate at Machu Picchu, Peru; 6) Greg Blake of Biscoe, NC, wiith his daughters Myranda Sieverding of Charlotte & Mallory Blake of Biscoe at the Atlantis in Dubai; 7) Hap & Monica Pierpan of Wilmington, NC; Kevin, Lisa & Sofia Fox of Asheville, NC; & Landon & Reid Pierpan with Annika Fox on safari at Kirkman’s Camp, Sabi Sands, Kruger National Park, South Africa with their guide Richard; 8) Dan Boone and son Graham Boone of Concord, NC, at Dodgers Stadium; 9) Jon Wallner of Greensboro with daughter Katharine at Zion National Forest in Utah; 10) Rob & Lee Merrill of Asheville with daughters Jessica Merrill & Jacqui Merrill Martin at Montjuic above Barcelona, Spain; 11) Richard & Terri Chaney of Kannapolis, NC, with friends Nancy & Don Skelton at the Bell Tower Pisa in Italy; 12) David Potts of Atlanta on the Mizen Head Peninsula in Ireland; 13) Brad & Bonnie Buie of Roanoke, VA, at a rondavel (house) in Lesotho, Africa; 14) Brad & Anne Fields of Wilmington, NC, at the 13,700-foot summit of Maunakea Volcano in Hawaii; 15) Emily Lawson of Raleigh with friends at Hollywood Studios in Orlando; 16) John Dawkins of Chapel Hill overlooking the Kremlin in Moscow; 17) Stephanie Morgan of Canton, NC, on her teachers’ study trip at Tiananmen Square in China; 18) Luz Cuaboy & Evan Gross of Fuquay-Varina, NC, at the top of Huayna Picchu with the Machu Picchu ruins in the background
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19 20 19) John Tobben & Brooke Riley of Indianapolis, IN, at Svartifoss Waterfall in Iceland; 20) Perry & Kelly Collette of Chapel Hill at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; 21) Jack Burris & son Quinn at Disneyland in Paris; 22) Sprite Barbee of Pinehurst with daughter Cragan at St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square in Moscow, Russia; 23) Frank Thigpen of Pinehurst on the grounds of the Louvre Museum in Paris; 24) James & Lynn Fell of Pittsboro, NC, at Dun Aengus, Inis Mor, Aran Islands in Ireland; 25) Mary & Nikole Nickerson of Mebane, NC, at the Bell Tower Pisa in Italy; 26) Lisa Langley Fey of Atlanta in the Amazon of Peru; 27) Allison Davis Chrisco of Belews Creek, NC, on the Kalepa Ridge Trail in Kauai, HI; 28) Jim Kitchen of Chapel Hill at Maletsunyane Falls in Lesotho, Africa; 29) Jan & David Rockwell of Hampstead, NC, at the top of Constitution Mountain on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands; 30) Gregory Parent of Atlanta at the Colesseum in Rome; 31) Tim Jones of Matthews, NC, with his famliy in front of El Penon de Guatape in Guatape, Colombia; 32) The Campione family of Durham at Antelope Canyon in Arizona; 33) Gwen Roulhac of Mebane, NC, at Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato in Guanajuato City, Mexico; 34) Student Ram Elise Hayes of Ararat, NC, with her family in the Redwood Forest of California; 35) Andre Toussaint at Haeundae Beach in South Korea; 36) Nancy Brown of WinstonSalem at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba; 37) Matt Wenstrom (UNC basketball letterman and ‘93 National Champion) of Parker, CO, with his family in Rome; 38) Tom & Jo Suttles of Hudson, NC, at the Tower Bridge in London
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Pair of Tar Heel tracksters finds time for memorable study abroad experience BY ADAM LUCAS // PHOTOS BY ANNA EATON
Anna Eaton and Drew Pedersen both chuckle when asked for their advice on how to combine life as a student-athlete with spending a semester studying abroad. The two Tar Heel pole vaulters realize theirs is a unique situation. It’s virtually impossible for athletes in two-semester sports like basketball to spend a full semester overseas (Luke Maye did a short trip to South Africa this summer with the Kenan-Flagler Business School). But outdoor track and field is a one-semester sport, and both Eaton and Pedersen had long hoped to make travel a part of their college experiences. Their rigorous academic schedule includes multiple professional internships in the summers to gain work experience (Pedersen is interning at Nike this summer, while Eaton is interning at Valassis digital media), so a summer trip wasn’t an option. Spring semester
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travel would have interfered with track competitions. That left the fall semester. But college coaches have enough trouble ensuring the whereabouts of their athletes when they’re enrolled in Chapel Hill. Send them to Vienna, Austria—the destination where Eaton and Pedersen studied in the fall of 2017—and it becomes a little tougher. “Coach (Harlis) Meaders was very supportive,” says Eaton. “He didn’t want me to miss being with the team, but he’s also very invested in our personal growth as student-athletes, so he was supportive of the idea.” Eaton liked the idea of studying in Vienna because it has a good business school with credits that are easier to transfer back to Carolina, which can be very demanding about international classes. As a nice perk, Vienna is also centrally located in Europe, making it a
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great hub from which to explore the continent. Between them, Eaton and Pedersen visited ten countries in the fall of 2017. Their first priority, though, was figuring out how they could maintain their training regimen while also adjusting to daily life in a foreign language. There are administrators and advisors to help Carolina students who want to spend a semester in a different country. There are established procedures. It’s not quite as simple if you’re a college student who wants to study but also needs, for example, a pole vault pit and landing area for weekly workouts. “The academic side was easier to figure out,” said Pedersen, who like Eaton is a three-time
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“Coach (Harlis) Meaders was very supportive. He didn’t want me to miss being with the team, but he’s also very invested in our personal growth as student-athletes, so he was supportive of the idea.”
Academic All-ACC honoree. “Training was the hard part. We emailed coaches and clubs in Vienna to try and find a track club. After a few months of emailing and translating German emails, we found a coach who had access to a cool indoor facility.” The coach was Herwig Gruensteidl, and the track club was FerryDusika-Hallenstadion, an indoor arena in Vienna. The 7,700-seat venue is unlike anything in America. In addition to a complete track and field setup in the infield of the track, the stadium also had a complete gymnastics practice area and a banked cycling track that encircled the running track. “We could be training on the infield, and there would be a full gymnastics practice going on simultaneously while racing bicycles were going 50 miles per hour around this really steep wooden track,” Pedersen said. In addition to their formal training, the Tar Heel duo also found creative ways to maintain their conditioning. While their Carolina teammates were doing hill workouts in Chapel Hill, Eaton and Pedersen found a hill to run near Schonbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site that dates to the 1740s. It might have been an unorthodox approach to offseason training, but it worked. When Eaton and Pedersen returned to Chapel Hill for the spring 2018 semester, they did not notice a dropoff. “I felt like I came back very strong from the work I had been doing,” Eaton said. “I felt like I was in a good place. With pole vaulting, it’s hard
any time you take a break from actually vaulting. It’s a little bit of a challenge mentally to get back into it.” There was more flexibility with their training in Vienna because the academic classes were not as formal as a typical Carolina schedule. While stateside there is a set schedule of Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday classes, abroad the pair found a more random, and somewhat unpredictable schedule of both days and times. They quickly learned it was a good idea to train early in the week whenever time was available, because it was entirely possible classes might pop up later in the week.
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“I’ve always wanted to make the most of my time as a college student at Carolina. I know I’m not going to be an athlete my entire life. Having the opportunity to study abroad was a great opportunity to travel, while also opening up my horizons and helping me professionally.”
And, of course, they also wanted to leave time for travel to take advantage of that central Vienna location. Eaton raved about a trip to Greece, and Pedersen enjoyed a trip to Munich during Oktoberfest. But the most memorable trip was a December journey to Innsbruck, Austria, the fifth-largest city in Austria and the host of a pair of winter Olympic Games (1964 and 1976). Pedersen had a very specific reason for wanting to visit. In addition to teammates, the duo have been a couple since they began dating at Apex High. And Pedersen knew he might not get a better opportunity for a memorable proposal. “I had bought an engagement ring for Anna in August before we left,” he says. “I picked it up the day before we left.” Pedersen left the ring in the care of teammate Joey Souza. When Souza and fellow jumper Alexis Gannon met up with Pedersen and Eaton in Rome during Thanksgiving break, Souza passed the ring to Pedersen, who then only had to surreptitiously carry it around until the
Innsbruck trip. The elaborate planning worked, and Eaton was surprised. “People ask me now, ‘How did you not know that was coming?’” Eaton says. “I thought maybe at some point in our senior year of college, but not while we were over there.” The wedding is set for June 22, 2019, and the couple have already made plans to invite some of the international friends they met while in Vienna. A study abroad experience doesn’t have to include an engagement, of course. But both Pedersen and Eaton recommend finding a way to carve out some travel opportunities during college. “I’ve always wanted to make the most of my time as a college student at Carolina,” Eaton says. “I know I’m not going to be an athlete my entire life. Having the opportunity to study abroad was a great opportunity to travel, while also opening up my horizons and helping me professionally.”
THE WISDOM OF EXPERIENCE ANNA EATON
AS A TAR HEEL: POLE VAULT, TRACK & FIELD YEAR: SENIOR ANNA’S ADVICE FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES WHO ARE CONSIDERING STUDYING ABROAD:
“It takes some planning with your coach, but I would definitely recommend it. At minimum, try to do it over the summer. I think it’s important to see what’s out there in the world while you have the opportunity. It doesn’t have to be an entire semester. It can be any opportunity to go abroad, even if that means traveling with your team. It’s really great to have the chance to be immersed in another culture.”
DREW PEDERSEN
AS A TAR HEEL: POLE VAULT, TRACK & FIELD YEAR: SENIOR DREW’S ADVICE FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES WHO ARE CONSIDERING STUDYING ABROAD:
“I would absolutely tell them to do it. I didn’t really have a long-term plan to study abroad, it was more of an opportunity that I was able to take advantage of. Depending on what sport you play, it can be very difficult, and it’s important to be able to stay consistent with your training on your own. But if you can make it work, it’s one of the coolest things I have done in college.”
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BORN & BRED
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COMING HOME
FAMILY
FIRST
ACHIEVING ROY WILLIAMS’ GOAL OF MAINTAINING THE CAROLINA FAMILY HAS REQUIRED CONSTANT COMMITMENT BY ADAM LUCAS
PHOTOS BY MAGGIE HOBSON
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hen Roy Williams accepted the job as Carolina’s head coach in 2004, he knew there were two immediate tasks. First, of course, he had to win. The results have been indisputable, with three national championships and 424 victories—an average of 28 wins per season—in the past 15 seasons. Now those 28 victories per year might be taken for granted, but when Williams returned, Carolina hadn’t won 28 games in a single season since the Antawn Jamison/Vince Carter team of 1998. The Tar Heels had missed the NCAA Tournament for two straight seasons in 2002 and 2003.
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COMING HOME
So the coach knew he had to return the program to a level of State in the Smith Center, and then they gathered for a banquet. success that had perhaps become taken for granted (and, arguably, Six different alumni speakers addressed the crowd, dating as far has now once again become taken for granted) during the Dean back as Nemo Nearman from the class of 1950. Smith and Bill Guthridge years. This was the simple, fundamental There was laughter (Lennie Rosenbluth told his fellow players assignment that was understood by even that when he arrived in Chapel Hill from elementary observers. Roy Williams was New York, he noticed everyone had three brought to Carolina to win. names—Jim Bob, Susie Joe, etc. So he began But there were other coaches who perhaps “Everyone around this program is to tell people his name was “Lennie Shootalot could have won games for North Carolina, Rosenbluth.”) and there were tears, as Al Wood doing everything at a high level, and King Rice spoke honestly about how the even if not at Williams’ crisp pace. There was and it’s great to be around those Carolina basketball family had helped them no other coach in America who understood the second priority as well as the Asheville through rough times in their lives. types of people because they native and 10-year UNC assistant: Williams Williams had given his current team, shape you in such a positive way. the 2004 squad that included the core that had to find a way to restore the family When you’re trying to find a place would eventually become the 2005 national atmosphere to Carolina basketball. “There was some discontent,” Williams champions, one simple instruction before the to settle down, Chapel Hill will says. “It hadn’t been easy. The program had weekend began. “Don’t try to be cool,” he told always be a spot you think of.” lost 37 games in two years and everyone had them. “Don’t sit there and say, ‘When is this a different opinion.” old guy going to be through talking?’ In 15 or Everyone knows Williams learned plenty from Smith. But one of 20 years, you’ll be that old guy.” his first solutions to his task of restoring the Carolina Family was Now, here we are, almost 15 years later, and some of the something he took from his Kansas experience: he had a reunion. members of that 2004 team have been instrumental in once again On a February weekend in 2004, 219 Tar Heel basketball lettermen making Chapel Hill a place Tar Heel basketball players never seem returned to Chapel Hill. They attended the home win over Florida to want to leave.
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COMING HOME
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Jawad Williams, a junior on that 2004 squad, was one of the first to decide he wanted to make Chapel Hill home. He’s traveled the world during his basketball career, playing in the NBA and in a halfdozen different countries, most recently in Japan. But every single summer, although he’s a Cleveland native, he returns to Chapel Hill, where he now owns a home. “This is a great place to raise a family,” he says. “You get that sense of family and community here. Even on Franklin Street, you run into the same people, and they’ve known you almost your whole life. I’ve been here since I was 17 years old, and I’m 35 now. Things don’t change. The people don’t change. And you get used to that.” Fellow 2005 national champion Raymond Felton, a native of Latta, S.C., also established an offseason home in Chapel Hill. They became the first two of approximately a dozen non-North Carolina natives who have either bought or rented a home in the Triangle to enable them to be closer to the program in the summer. Combined with other Tar Heel natives like David Noel and Justin Watts who are regularly around the program in the summer, there’s never a shortage of alums around the Smith Center during the offseason. That has helped turn the annual current team vs. alumni game that’s part of the Roy Williams Basketball Camp into a must-see event. Earlier this summer, Harrison Barnes stopped by for a few days and played in the game, where he joined Kendall Marshall, John Henson, Tyler Zeller and Watts on the court. Looking at his teammates, Barnes couldn’t miss the fact that the nucleus of the 2012 team that was derailed by injury was back together again. “We’re running it back for 2012 one more time,” he said, and the alums, as you’d expect, thumped the current squad. Marcus Ginyard was also on hand for one of the camp games this summer. Like Jawad Williams, he’s played all over the world during his professional basketball career. And also like Jawad Williams, he’s bought a home in the Chapel Hill area to be as close as possible to Carolina during the summer. “People come from all over and spend some of the best years of their lives here,” Ginyard says. “You experience success at a high level, under the watchful eye of the best coaching staff in the country. Everyone around this program is doing everything at a high level, and it’s great to be around those types of people because they shape you in such a positive way. When you’re trying to find a place to settle down, Chapel Hill will always be a spot you think of.” Ginyard was a player at Carolina during the 2009-10 season, when the program celebrated its 100th anniversary. The year-long celebration included two events that brought together lettermen from across the generations, and showed a young Ginyard the importance of being part of the family. He also spent plenty of summer afternoons playing in the Smith Center pickup games, where alums and current players regularly mix and compete. “As a player, when you’re here in the summer and you see other people who decided it was important for them to be here, that puts it in your brain from an early age,” he says. “You know that you need
to be here in the summer and spend time with the younger guys and try to shed some light on them from your experience.” Those cross-team relationships have led to some very close friendships even among Tar Heels who didn’t play together. Deon Thompson and Marvin Williams, for example, are very close friends despite never being teammates. That can create some unique workout partnerships. One of the professional perks for returning alumni is constant access to the Smith Center. It’s one of the best facilities in the country, of course, and there’s always an open basket to get in a workout and an accommodating staff. Just as importantly, there’s also a constant stream of high-level players coming through the building in the summer, and they’re almost always willing to get up a few more shots with a Tar Heel brother. “We’re very lucky to have 24-hour access to the Smith Center,” says Jawad Williams. “I turn my music up loud, and I’m in there getting up shots. Sometimes it’s 1 a.m. and I’m still in there. I might be walking out and another guy is walking in, and that turns into another workout session or just sitting down and talking.” That’s the type of interaction that makes Roy Williams smile, and serves as reinforcement that—in addition to all those victories—his second stated goal has been achieved. The Tar Heels are winning at an unprecedented clip. And they’re doing it while maintaining a Carolina Family spirit that remains unique in college basketball. “Our family is pretty big,” the head coach says. “I wanted everyone to understand that whether they played for Coach McGuire, Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach Doherty, or myself, it is still their program. And it’s been a wonderful ride.”
AT H O M E I N CHAPEL HILL In addition to former players such as Sean May and Hubert Davis who have served on the Carolina coaching staff, the following players have either rented or purchased an offseason home in Chapel Hill in recent years: Wayne Ellington Raymond Felton Marcus Ginyard Tyler Hansbrough Isaiah Hicks Joel James Kendall Marshall
James Michael McAdoo Marcus Paige Justin Watts Jawad Williams Tyler Zeller Serge Zwikker
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THE
COBEYS COME
HOME
Rams Club members Munroe and Becky Cobey have lived around the world, but knew where they eventually wanted to call home BY SPEED HALLMAN
PHOTOS BY MAGGIE HOBSON AND THE COBEY FAMILY
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Home was originally College Park, Md., for Munroe Cobey. Becky Cobey hailed from Lenoir. They met at Carolina, and after graduating they made their homes, first singly and then together, in Lake Tahoe, Washington, New York and London. Now they are home for good in Chapel Hill. “Munroe and I always thought it would be a great place to live,” Becky said. “Prior to Munroe’s retirement we thought about Charleston, S.C. and Southern Pines. Because both of our daughters attended UNC, we knew it would be a place they would want to return to, so Chapel Hill was it.” They returned in 2006. As a North Carolina native, Becky followed a traditional path to Carolina as an undergraduate. “When I was in high school, no one did college tours, we just applied based on colleges we had heard of, or geography,” she said. “My father graduated from UNC and UNC Law and we watched Carolina basketball on TV, so I decided on Carolina. I never saw the school until after I was accepted.” “I’m not Carolina born and bred,” Munroe joked. “My wife is the only truly born and bred member of the family.” His path to Carolina was much less traditional. It started in Cole Field House, home of the Maryland Terrapins. When Munroe was in high school he asked his father, University of Maryland athletic director William W. Cobey, to introduce him to Dean Smith. “North Carolina played in the East Regionals (1969, in College Park) and Dad was still the AD at Maryland, so I went to all those games,” he said. Munroe was working on a school project about leadership, and he wanted to interview Coach Smith. His dad said they could ask. “We went down to Cole Field House and Dean was walking out on the floor with the team, and my father introduced me to him. I told him what I was doing, and Dean took me back
in the locker room and let Bill Guthridge take the team out to practice. You wouldn’t have that happen anymore. That made me a big Carolina basketball fan.” The Cobey family formed another connection to UNC around the same time, when Munroe’s brother Bill went to work as an academic counselor for Carolina football. He later served as assistant athletic director under Homer Rice, and was AD from 1975 to 1979. Munroe and Becky met at Carolina Coffee Shop, early in Becky’s freshman year. They dated as undergrads, and Munroe graduated in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in Speech. He spent a year and a half in Lake Tahoe, skiing all day and working as a busboy and waiting on tables at night. Working at Harrah’s Casino, he saw Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. perform, by his estimation, 30 to 40 times each. “You can’t do that forever,” he said, and he returned to North Carolina to earn an MBA at Wake Forest. Becky received her bachelor’s degree in American History in 1975 and joined United States Congressman Jim Broyhill’s staff on Capitol Hill. She had worked in his office the previous summer and witnessed history being made during the Watergate hearings. Becky later worked for an antipoverty group in Washington and earned a paralegal degree from George Washington University. They married in 1977 and Munroe pursued a career in finance, first with Bankers Trust in New York and London for 18 years, and then with Tudor Investment Corp., a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Conn.
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While living in New York, Connecticut and London and raising a family, the Cobeys didn’t get back to campus often but they kept up with the Tar Heels as much as possible. Getting UNC news during the London years—1992 through 1999—was a challenge. “That was tough and there wasn’t a whole lot of great internet back then,” Munroe said. “We weren’t around when they won the national championship in ’93 for basketball. You kind of got the news the next day, but we kept up. I’ve always kept up.” “Once we moved back from London we did a couple of trips back to Chapel Hill to see some games—mainly football—but we were also introducing our daughters, who really hadn’t been exposed to Chapel Hill, to Carolina.” The exposure paid off, and now both daughters are Carolina graduates. Mary graduated in 2005 and lives in Oregon, and Elizabeth graduated in 2007 and lives in New York City. The Cobeys have one grandchild, and two more grandchildren are on the way. Now that Munroe and Becky have made their home in Chapel Hill, they’re enjoying the benefits of living next to a university. “We knew that a college town has lots of things to offer, especially if you love all the sports, but we’ve also gotten involved in Carolina Performing Arts and PlayMakers,” he said. “We enjoy so many aspects of Chapel Hill. There is always something going on. It feels like there’s a minimum of four or five nights a week where there’s some activity that we go to, whether its performing arts, PlayMakers, a speaker that’s being brought to campus or a sports activity. That’s pretty much every week while school’s in session. There are lots of things to be involved with and we really enjoy having the opportunities that a college town has to offer.” They’re also giving back to their alma mater through extensive volunteer and philanthropic involvement. Munroe chaired the Arts and Sciences Foundation board and serves on the Educational Foundation and Lineberger Cancer Center
boards. Becky has served on the board of the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation and the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council. She launched the campaign for the Delta Delta Delta endowed Professorship, and serves on the boards of visitors for the UNC Children’s Hospital and UNC Lineberger. She recently joined the Women’s Campaign Cabinet to work on the Campaign for Carolina. They attend a wide range of Tar Heel athletic events and support Rams Club initiatives including football and baseball facilities, operating endowments in women’s soccer and golf, and scholarships. They endowed two scholarships and they look forward to attending the annual Scholarship Dinner and meeting scholarship recipients. “We’ve had some great student-athletes assigned to us,” Munroe said, citing tailback Gio Bernard and pitcher Matt Harvey as examples. “Meeting them at the Scholarship Dinner and getting to know them there is always one of the highlights of the year.” “I love meeting our scholarship players and their teammates,” Becky said. “It amazes me that they are such dedicated students and seem like normal 18 to 21 year-olds who just happen to be gifted athletes. I know facilities are important to compete for the top athletes, but I’m much more interested in supporting scholarships.” What has changed and what remains the same since they were undergrads? “Chapel Hill is now almost unrecognizable from what it was in 1975,” Becky said. “The old campus looks the same, but not much else.” She misses the Porthole but takes comfort that Sutton’s and the Coffee Shop remain. “We live relatively close to the campus, and I enjoy walking through campus. It always brings back some great memories,” Munroe said. “I was in the ATO house when I was an undergrad, and basically that walk from the ATO House to the Pit is unchanged: Through the sundial and up through campus past South Building, and through the quad to Wilson Library.”
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“I love meeting our scholarship players and their teammates. It amazes me that they are such dedicated students and seem like normal 18 to 21 year-olds who just happen to be gifted athletes.”
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“We enjoy so many aspects of Chapel Hill. There is always something going on. It feels like there’s a minimum of four or five nights a week where there’s some activity that we go to, whether its performing arts, PlayMakers, a speaker that’s being brought to campus or a sports activity. There are lots of things to be involved with and we really enjoy having the opportunities that a college town has to offer.”
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FIRST PERSON
G
‘Full Circle’
Growing up in the heart of Big Ten country, outside Indianapolis, Ind., the University of North Carolina was unfamiliar to me. My father played basketball at the University of Michigan from 1965-69, at the end of the Cassie Russell era. My mother’s father also played for Michigan from 1935-38 and is enshrined in the Michigan basketball Hall of Fame, having earned honors as a three-time member of the first team All-Big Ten as well as being named as a first team All-America in 1938. So it should come as little surprise that my first real exposure to Carolina would take a while. It came on a steamy summer day, inside my high school gymnasium in Indiana, where we met to play pickup. As my truck slowed to a stop in the parking lot, I was greeted by one of my closest friends, who was quickly approaching my rolled down window. He announced there was a famous coach here to watch me play. As I entered the gym and my eyes acclimated to the indoor lighting, I saw Dean Smith sitting in a corner on a folding metal chair. We couldn’t talk, but the message was clear...I wanted and needed to learn more about the Tar Heels. My “18-year-old perspective” prevented me from being wowed by just about anything, so upon arrival to Carolina’s campus for my official recruiting visit, I wasn’t in awe of the fact my parents and I would be having dinner with Hall of Fame Coach Dean Smith and his long-time, devoted assistant, Bill Guthridge. But that evening as Coach Smith spoke, I was stirred by his deep passion for the University and the reverence with which he spoke about the educational opportunities that would be afforded to me as a scholarship student-athlete. I was not motivated to leave a stable and loving home for college, but there was a strong, gut feeling Carolina was the right place for me. This decision led to four years that challenged me in the classroom and on the court. Aside from the inevitable life lessons you are taught while attending college,
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the value of self-discipline and hard work were reinforced, through on-court and classroom successes. Also during the four years, I would meet the love of my life and establish lifelong friends. These bonds strengthened the desire to remain close to Carolina. When professional basketball led us to the Boston Celtics after graduation in 1994, it was the summer visits to Chapel Hill for off season workouts and the annual telegram from Coach Smith on the first day of NBA training camp, which continued to endear this place to our hearts. After playing for six teams over the course of ten years in the NBA, we moved back to Chapel Hill looking for a place to call home. Initially drawn by the familiarity of the place, we uncovered a dynamic, open-minded community, anchored by the University and full of opportunities for our young family to establish roots. In 2003, Carolina chose to embrace me again, this time as an adult, baptizing me into what it meant to represent this place without wearing a jersey. Opportunities to serve our Children’s Hospital, the GAA, broadcasting our basketball games and working for The Rams Club began to again positively bend the direction our lives. Since that hot summer day in 1989, Carolina has inspired and served me. Today, as a member of The Rams Club staff, I have the privilege of fundraising for our next generation of scholarship student-athletes, offering to them, the same chance offered to me: the chance to walk through the doors of our University and soak up the opportunity within. Things have certainly come full circle.
ERIC MONTROSS
Men’s Basketball, 1990-1994 Illustration by Jason McCorkle
CAROLINA INSIDER PODCAST HOSTED BY JONES ANGELL AND ADAM LUCAS
POWERED BY
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