Obama, other leaders pay tribute to Dean Smith

Nearly everyone in North Carolina and beyond, it seemed, wanted to pay tribute to former UNC basketball coach Dean Smith on Sunday.

Leaders far beyond the world of sports weighed in. Hundreds of tweets offered memories of the coach and sympathy for his family.

The highest-profile tribute came from President Barack Obama, who released a lengthy message Sunday afternoon. Obama said Smith taught America “that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jumpshot alone ever could.”

“He graduated more than 96 percent of his players and taught his teams to point to the teammate who passed them the ball after a basket,” Obama said. “He pushed forward the Civil Rights movement, recruiting the first black scholarship athlete to North Carolina and helping to integrate a restaurant and a neighborhood in Chapel Hill. And in his final years, Coach Smith showed us how to fight an illness with courage and dignity.”

Obama’s comments followed a tribute from Gov. Pat McCrory. “Ann and I were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Coach Smith,” the governor said in a statement. “Coach Smith is a legend on and off the court and his life will leave a lasting legacy at Chapel Hill and across the state and nation. May the skies shine Carolina Blue in your honor coach.”

Some noted that Smith’s passing came just a month after the death of ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, a UNC graduate and a friend of the coach.

“Dean Smith and Stuart Scott now game planning in Blue Heaven together,” tweeted retired N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr.

Others pointed to Sunday’s sunny weather. “No wonder God made the sky #Carolina blue in the #TarHeel state today,” Congressman Richard Hudson, a Concord Republican, tweeted.

Congresswoman Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat, highlighted his legacy beyond basketball. “Dean Smith served as a legendary mentor on and off the court,” she tweeted. “He was a tireless advocate and champion for civil rights. He will truly be missed.”

While Smith is well known for supporting racial integration, he also spoke out against the death penalty in recent decades. He was active in a group called People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. The group’s executive director, Stephen Dear, said Smith once even visited with a Death Row inmate at Central Prison who happen to be a Tar Heels fan. The coach later lobbied the governor not to execute the man.

“He seemed to feel a moral obligation to share his sense of how wrong the death penalty was,” Dear said Sunday. “I think it was rooted in his Christian faith. ... He was a man of such integrity that he knew he could do that. I know he paid prices for his positions.”

Congressman David Price also highlighted Smith’s faith, saying he’s known the coach “since my student days, when he was a beginning coach and an active member of Binkley Baptist Church, a fledgling congregation focused on social justice.” Price called Smith “a powerful force for good in the community.”

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis says Smith one of North Carolina’s “most influential figures” and said his “role as a teacher and mentor will continue to make a profound impact on many lives for years to come.”

N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore also issued a statement: “His legacy will forever live on through the Carolinians, both home and across the nation, that he touched.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2015 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Obama, other leaders pay tribute to Dean Smith."