Friday, March 27, 2015
Nicest Thing Ever
Even Damino will have to leave a nice comment on this post.
In his will Dean Smith left $200 to every varsity letterman, whom he coached, 180 in all. The executor of Coach Smith's will sent a check and a letter explaining the Coach's wishes.
The one below was sent to one of Billy's all-time favorite Tar Heels, Dante Calabria.
The letter reads, in part:
"Each player was important and special to Coach Smith and when he prepared his estate plan, Coach wanted to reach out to each of his lettermen. Accordingly, Coach directed that following his passing each letterman be sent a two hundred dollar ($200.00) check with the message "enjoy a dinner out compliments of Coach Dean Smith." Enclosed is a check in the amount of two hundred dollars ($200.00) with the notation "Dinner out".
180 lettermen, $200 each, equals $36,000. Pretty generous and very classy of the Coach who must have planned this long ago because his health and mental acuity declined rapidly in his final years.
I hope the UNC players receiving this benefit will follow the lead of the coach and do something better with the money than enjoy a dinner out. Maybe Michael Jordan could invite all the players to a dinner to remember their coach and donate $36,000 to charity in his name.
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2 comments:
Absolutely, it was a really nice gesture from by all accounts a very decent man. And I love your suggestion about paying it forward to charity.
I hate Carolina passionately, but in truth I hugely respect Dean Smith both as a coach and a person. He promoted racial integration in college hoops at a time when it was still unpopular, and he was someone who cared tremendously about helping others.
In fact I'd go one step further and say that in many respects I prefer Dean Smith the man over Coach K. I love Coach K as a coach, and think he too is a very decent man underneath the snarling, cursing and massive arrogance. But having read much about Smith and having watched K up close for years, something tells me that in person I'd like Smith a whole lot more.
We certainly have never seen a side of Dean Smith like the one you describe about Coach K. Though I think Coach K usually comports himself with class, especially compared to the often boorish antics of his peers.
Dante Calabria doing well for himself. He lives in a 4,000 sq foot house, in Wilmington, NC. I bet he watches sports on local news every night with our old fat stupid roommate.
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