Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

How do you tell the story of who Dean Smith was?

Dean Smith, Roy Williams

AP Photo

AP

Dean Smith passed away on Saturday evening, turning Sunday into a constant stream of stories and memories celebrating the life of a man that was as good of a coach as you will ever find at the college level.

He was also one of the greatest men in sports.
READ MORE: Smith dies at 83 | College basketball world reacts

You don’t have to look hard to find stories about Smith doing things coaches are supposed to do -- act as a mentor and a teacher for their players -- and things they aren’t expected to do -- help the fight against racial segregation in 1960s North Carolina.

Dean Smith was a larger than life figure in the state, and it’s not simply because of what the Tar Heels were able to do with him at the helm of the program. Joe Posnanski of NBC Sports spoke with the sports editor of a paper in North Carolina to take a look at just how difficult it is to put into words a remembrance of a man that accomplished so much in his lifetime.