N&O/Herald-Sun sports staff: Our favorite sports memories of 2019

2019 was another amazing sports year in The Triangle, for high schools, colleges, pros and beyond.

The sports staff of the News & Observer/Herald-Sun looked back at the year and picked their favorite moments.

CHIP ALEXANDER, HURRICANES BEAT REPORTER

Canes win Game 7 in 2OT

As the game grew longer, the Carolina Hurricanes seemingly grew stronger.

The Canes, in their first playoff appearance since 2009, had taken the Washington Capitals to a Game 7. They had taken the Caps, the 2018 Stanley Cup champions, to double overtime.

Someone was going to be a hero. Someone like Brock McGinn.

The Canes forward slipped inside Caps tough guy Tom Wilson and knocked the puck past goalie Braden Holtby. The suddenness of it was startling. And that Canes captain Justin Williams made the centering pass made it even more memorable.

Hurricanes 4, Caps 3 (double OT)

April 24, 2019

Capital One Arena, Washington

JONAS POPE, HIGH SCHOOLS BEAT WRITER

President Obama watches as Zion blows out his shoe

It was Feb. 20, the first UNC-Duke game of the year.

Duke was No. 1 in the nation, Carolina was No. 8. And that had nothing to do with the pregame buzz surrounding the annual showdown.

Former President Barack Obama was expected to be in attendance. Adding to the buzz was the Blue Devils freshman Zion Williamson, who had taken the college basketball world by storm. Forty-five minutes before tipoff a loud scream came from the corner of Cameron and Obama walked in.

Moments after the tipoff, Williamson blew out his Nike and injured his knee, a story that was talked about all across the country, and I was right there to see it.

JESSACA GIGLIO, DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR MCCLATCHY NORTH CAROLINA

A special football trip

My favorite sports memory this year was more than just a football game — it was a personal celebration.

In September 2018, I spent the weekend with my husband, Joe, N&O photojournalist Ethan Hyman, my kids and some family friends in West Virginia watching N.C. State play Marshall. From the drive to the food to the tailgate to the game, we had the best time — but my life was getting ready to change.

A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. I underwent eight months of grueling treatment that included a bilateral mastectomy to remove a 6 cm tumor and nine cancerous lymph nodes, 16 rounds of chemo and 34 rounds of radiation. On July 2, I finished. I could say I beat cancer.

When September rolled around again, I wanted to bookend my cancer diagnosis and remission with another football trip with the same group of people. We again went to West Virginia, this time to Morgantown, to watch N.C. State play the Mountaineers. So much had changed from the first football game to the second. I had very little hair. I was exhausted. But the weekend was fabulous. I ate, I tailgated, I watched football on a gorgeous day. Best of all, the trip gave me hope, normalcy and a sense of relief that the worst of the worst was behind me.

JOE GIGLIO, N.C. STATE BEAT REPORTER

Roy Williams’ amazing donation

We could all use a friend like Roy Williams.

When Hunter Morin lost his 5-year-old grandson, Luke, to a rare form of brain cancer in April, the North Carolina basketball coach wanted to help one of his best friends. Williams put together a Coaches vs. Cancer golf tournament in Pinehurst in June and had a goal to raise $1 million for the American Cancer Society and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The event raised more than $1.5 million.

But that’s not the end of the story. A few weeks after the tournament, an anonymous donor gave a $2 million gift to Williams’ group. So Williams ended up raising more than $3.5 million to help kids with cancer.

Incredibly, Williams was able to turn the worst kind of loss into a relative win. It won’t count towards Williams’ total, as he joins his Dean Smith on the NCAA career wins list, but it’s one, of which, his mentor would be most proud.

Andrew Carter, sports enterprise writer

Big deal for small school

I went down to Boiling Springs, to Gardner-Webb, in the middle of March. The school’s basketball team had just won the Big South tournament the day before and now it was NCAA tournament Selection Sunday.

After winning their conference tournament, the Bulldogs knew they were in. They were going to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. But where? And against whom?

You should’ve heard the noise in the student union when Gardner-Webb’s name popped up on the projector screen showing the feed from CBS. There were hundreds crammed in there, and for about 20 or 30 seconds, everyone went wild. Students. Fans. Players and coaches. It didn’t matter that the Bulldogs were a No. 16 seed. It didn’t matter that they drew No. 1 Virginia, which went on to win the national championship.

For one night, everyone shared this moment. Gardner-Webb was going to the NCAA tournament, and the Bulldogs and their community could dare to dream of the possibilities.

STEVE WISEMAN, DUKE BEAT REPORTER

Zion dominates ACC tournament

Zion Williamson’s infamous shoe fail and subsequent knee sprain cast doubt whether the national player of the year candidate would play another college basketball game.

The 6-7 manchild planned all along to return and the speculation — from both angles — ended at the ACC tournament in Charlotte.

Over three consecutive nights, Williamson displayed his dominance and Duke flexed its muscles as one of the nation’s best teams.

The freshman star made 13 shots without a miss in his return, scoring 29 points against Syracuse. The next night he tallied 31, including the game-winning basket, as Duke beat UNC 74-73 to avenge two earlier rivalry losses where he was unavailable.

He capped his comeback by playing all 40 minutes, scoring 21 points, in a 73-63 win ACC title game win over Florida State.

JONATHAN ALEXANDER, UNC BEAT REPORTER

Seeing Jay Bateman and his family

My favorite sports moment from 2019 was on Dec. 27, after UNC beat Temple in the Military Bowl.

I saw UNC defensive coordinator Jay Bateman walking on the field with his wife, Heather, and their two children, Bea and CJ. They were hugging.

For those who don’t know, I wrote a story on Bateman and his son CJ, an 8-year-old with has autism. I learned a lot about children with autism. I learned that they learn differently than people who don’t have autism, and that they can be successful in life.

When I saw them, they shook my hand and thanked me for telling CJ’s story. That meant a lot to me. You never know the type of impact your stories can have on people.

LUKE DECOCK, COLUMNIST

Duke barely escapes UCF

The best game I saw all year wasn’t the Duke-North Carolina semifinal in the ACC tournament, as good as it was. The biggest shot I saw all year wasn’t Brock McGinn’s double-overtime series winner.

Of everything that happened in 2019, from Zion Williamson’s shoe explosion to the Carolina Hurricanes’ playoff run to the Carolina Panthers’ collapse, for sheer in-the-moment drama nothing topped Central Florida’s second-round near-upset of Duke.

There were so many intertwining threads, from the physical battle between Williamson and 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall to the emotional battle between Mike Krzyzewski and protege Johnny Dawkins, with Dawkins’ son Aubrey taking UCF’s potential game-winner. It bounced off the rim, Duke escaped a historic upset and an entire basketball nation exhaled. Games like that, early in the tournament, are easily forgotten. This one was not.

MATT STEPHENS, EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR MCCLATCHY NORTH CAROLINA

Crazy weekend covering the state

As a transplant coming here from Denver (the Colorado one), there was a weekend in early November that helped illustrate exactly why I was so excited to take this job.

I went from editing a Hornets story about Kemba Walker’s return to Charlotte on Thursday night, to jumping on a train to the Triangle and watching Duke blow out my alma mater, Colorado State, on a Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium, before hopping on a plane to Wisconsin to cover the Panthers and Packers at Lambeau Field.

The overall sports scene in North Carolina is hard to beat, and I’m grateful to be a part of chronicling it with our incredible N&O team.

TODD M. ADAMS, DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR MCCLATCHY NORTH CAROLINA

Finding out about our Editor of the Year

I’ve only been back in North Carolina for a couple months, but two weeks ago I had a “sports” moment that made me very happy.

I’d just returned from Charlotte, where I was interviewing a job candidate for the open NASCAR job there. I was getting ready to sit down at my desk when I noticed a new framed certificate at the station next to mine.

It said — News & Observer Editor of the Year: Jessaca Giglio.

The award was voted on by the N&O newsroom, and I can’t think of a better recipient. After a series of buyouts, Jessaca did an amazing job running the sports department as its only full-time editor for most of the year. And she did so while battling a serious health issue.

She has been incredibly patient in helping me settle back in here. And she, along with Luke DeCock, who also picked up a bunch of editing duties, deserve an abundance of credit for keeping the N&O’s sports boat afloat during a difficult time

This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 1:16 PM.