1998 Tar Heel of the Year: John Hope Franklin
A Southern historian has his work cut out for him. The South can be a place of convenient distortion, of romantic tales of slaves content on the plantation. John Hope Franklin's South, he decided early on, would not be influenced by a victim's rage or a hometown gloss. He would dispassionately render a portrait of black and white.
Joe DeSimone - 2008 Tar Heel of the Year
The sought-after chemist invents revolutionary materials, most notably a class of nanoparticles that can take any shape. The tiny particles will likely make chemotherapy easier. In time, they might cure cancer.
The multipurpose nanoparticle
A printing press process that uses a novel substance developed in Joe DeSimone's lab at UNC-Chapel Hill can produce microscopic particles of any size and shape. The particles have almost limitless applications, which are being developed by his compan
Christine Mumma - Tar Heel of the Year
The director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence works to free those who are wrongly convicted -- and pushes for laws to prevent such mistakes.
The Goodnights: Tar Heels of the Year
Ann and Jim Goodnight, the state's wealthiest couple, emerge from well-guarded privacy and take more visible roles, shaping state art museum growth, spurring education reform and backing school construction bonds.
2005 Tar Heel of the Year - Self-Help's Martin Eakes
A self-described 'bleeding-heart conservative,' Martin Eakes heads the Self-Help empire out of Durham and puts his faith - and the nonprofit's money - in the belief that poor people are better borrowers than rich people.
Where are they now?
Here's an update on The News & Observer's previous Tar Heels of the Year.
2004: Howard Manning Jr.
Courtrooms to classrooms. Superior Court Judge Howard Manning has seen the worst of each, and he has noticed a connection. Almost none of the felons in his courtroom ever did much in school, and school never did much for them.
2003: Jim Goodmon
Visionary broadcaster, campaigner for civic improvement, leader of an ambitious renovation project in downtown Durham, he is undertaking some of the most significant tasks of a busy lifetime.
2002: Kay Yow
In 32 seasons as a women's college basketball coach, the last 28 at N.C. State University, Kay Yow has been at the forefront of a vast expansion of women's athletics and a broadening acceptance of women as athletes.
2001: Molly Broad
UNC System president inherited a system with aging buildings, lagging salaries and a flawed plan to keep the rising costs of college within the reach of blue-collar families.
2000: Larry Wheeler
Larry Wheeler is the godfather of the Triangle's cultural boom.
1999: Franklin Graham
Franklin Graham's globe-trotting has made Samaritan's Purse one of the fastest-growing charities in the world.
1998: John Hope Franklin
The South can be a place of convenient distortion, of romantic tales of slaves content on the plantation. John Hope Franklin's South, he decided early on, would not be influenced by a victim's rage or a hometown gloss. He would dispassionately render a portrait of black and white.
1997: Hugh McColl
Today, Hugh Leon McColl Jr. may be the most powerful person in North Carolina. As chief executive of NationsBank Corp., the third-biggest bank in the country, he has accumulated the muscle to build cities, to move markets, indeed, to transform the American financial landscape.
