William Thorpe: Scott event gaffe miscommunication

In response to the March 29 Barry Saunders column “A major ingredient left out of Chapel Hill’s Charles Scott Day: him”: It is true, as Saunders stated, that Charles Scott was never contacted and did not know about that event (an exhibition youth basketball game to be held on April 9 at Chapel Hill High School).

As coordinator of the event, I take full responsibility for this lack of communication. However I do want to correct a misperception that the column may have created: The failure to contact Scott was not intentional. In fact, I made sincere and persistent efforts to contact him, through close friends and longtime associates, starting in early February. Obviously, I did not have the right contacts and was unable to reach him.

Since 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Scott’s historic enrollment at the University of North Carolina, I wanted to tie the event into honoring Scott’s legacy. I expected to reach him eventually, and I anticipated that he would be happy to lend his name to the event when I did reach him, however I obviously miscalculated.

For this, I wish to extend my heartfelt apologies to him and to his family. I especially do not want the miscommunication to reflect negatively on the event. It will benefit UNC Walk for Health, a two-person organization that sponsors youth recreational activities and other events year-round to promote a life-long interest in maintaining physical fitness.

Bobby Gersten, UNC’s oldest living athlete (Class of ’42), and I co-founded this initiative to raise awareness of and provide practical solutions to chronic health conditions. Our overall purpose is to help fulfill the mission of the University of North Carolina, that is, to improve the quality of life for people in this society and solve the biggest problems on the planet. That mission remains crucial for local residents, despite the miscommunication over the event.

The length limit was waived to permit a fuller response to the column.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "William Thorpe: Scott event gaffe miscommunication."