Dean Smith
Born: Emporia, KS 1931
Graduated: Topeka H.S., 1949/ University of Kansas, 1953
Dean Smith grew up as the son of public-school teachers. He graduated from Topeka High School and went to the University of Kansas on an academic scholarship. He played varsity basketball and baseball and freshman football for the Jayhawks. He was a member of Jayhawk basketball teams that won the NCAA title in 1952 and finished second in 1953.
Smith was an assistant coach at Kansas to Phog Allen and Dick Harp, then served in the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant. While in the service, he played and coached basketball in Germany. Smith served for three years as an assistant basketball coach and one year each as head baseball and head golf coach at the United States Air Force Academy.
In 1958, he joined the staff at North Carolina serving as an assistant coach for three years before becoming the Head Coach in 1961.
• Smith coached Carolina to the 1982 and 1993 NCAA Championships
• In 36 seasons at UNC, Smith's teams had a record of 879-254. His teams won more games than those of any other Division I men's basketball college coach in history, a record broken in 2007 by Bob Knight and surpassed again in 2011 by Mike Krzyzewski.
• One of only two men (Bob Knight) to play on and coach an NCAA Championship team
• His teams played in 11 Final Fours.
• Coached the USA to the Gold Medal in the 1976 Olympics
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in 1983 and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.
In 2006, he was named to the inaugural class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (along with James Naismith (KSHOF 1961), John Wooden, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell).
In November 2013, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S.
Smith shared his knowledge of the game with a talented group of assistants. Many of his assistants went on to head coaching jobs, including Larry Brown, Roy Williams (KSHOF 2022), John Lotz, Kenny Rosemond, Eddie Fogler, Randy Wiel and Bill Guthridge (KSHOF 2005).
Smith died at age 83 on February 7, 2015.