Issuu

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ISSUE XXXI

O F F I C I A L

M A G A Z I N E

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T H E

R A M S

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FA T H E R ’ S D AY

TAR HEEL DADS

P.O. BOX 2446 | CHAPEL HILL, NC 27515 (919) 843-2000 | RAMSCLUB.COM @THERAMSCLUB

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Tar Heel dads are the best dads. On that, surely we can all agree. Tar Heel dads are the ones who take you to your first game. This used to mean standing on the sidewalk with two fingers raised in the air, hunting for tickets. Or, if you were even more savvy, letting the cute little kid hold the sign that says “Need two” to try and capitalize on the better nature of a fellow Carolina fan. Today, Tar Heel dads are the ones who log on and find the tickets on the shady side for that September kickoff in Charlotte. Then, of course, they’ll listen to the Tar Heel Sports Network on the way to and from the game, probably changing the station to get the best reception as you drive. Don’t try and tell them about the app that makes the entire process much easier. It’s not worth it. In all likelihood, they will also talk to the radio, as though Jones and Eric and Brian can hear them. This is how they did it with Woody. It’s OK. Tar Heel dads have a lucky shirt or hat. It is entirely possible that the clothing item has gone through the entire life cycle of fashion—from the peak of style to slightly out of date to now, when it’s vintage and cool again. Tar Heel dads not only wear the Carolina fuzzy ram hat… they wear the fuzzy ram hat and make it look good. Tar Heel dads have a favorite player, the legend of whom grows with every passing year. Tar Heel dads don’t leave games early. If you try, they’ll remind you about that one game when they left early and missed a big comeback. Now, they stay until the alma mater. Tar Heel dads, by the way, taught you the words to the alma mater. More importantly, they taught you the cool ending to the alma mater, the one with the Duke reference that was a little scandalous when you learned it. Tar Heel dads occasionally forget that you now love the Heels as much as they do. For example, a couple months ago my dad informed me that the 1982 championship game “was the one where Michael Jordan hit the famous

shot to win the championship.” Yes, I know. It’s sort of my job. But that’s OK, because he was there in the Superdome that night the Tar Heels won Dean Smith’s first title. So that gives him permanent rights to offer commentary on that game. I look forward to doing the same thing to my kids about the 2017 title game. Sure, they were there. But maybe I need to remind them about Kennedy Meeks’ big block. Tar Heel dads have sat in rain and snow and heat and old gyms and rickety stadiums to watch the Tar Heels. They will likely bring this up when you tell them about the current concession prices. This issue, then, is all about the Tar Heel dads—the ones who drove us to the games and bought the tickets and consoled us after losses and high-fived us after wins. Because Tar Heel dads, after all, are the best dads.

Adam Lucas Editor in Chief

PRODUCED BY THE RAMS CLUB // EDITOR IN CHIEF ADAM LUCAS // CONTRIBUTING WRITERS LEE PACE & ANDREW STILWELL// PHOTOGRAPHY JEFFREY CAMARATI & ANDY MEAD // DESIGN JUJUBE SPORTS PUBLISHING

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20 “I thought they were superheroes. It was so cool to be able to watch them. I remember pretending to be Hakeem Nicks, because he was always making big plays.”

— VANCE HONEYCUTT ON GROWING UP A CAROLINA FAN AND LOOKING UP TO TAR HEELS

the

IN MULTIPLE SPORTS — BACK BEFORE YOUNG TAR HEELS WERE LOOKING UP TO HIM

TAR HEEL FATHERS edition

ON THE COVER: We all know Anson Dorrance as a Carolina institution. His family knows him in a very diferent role — that of simply a dad and grandfather. COVER PHOTO: DORRANCE FAMILY

BORN & BRED

& EDITOR’S LETTER p. 3

F AT H E R ’ S D AY

10 His Own Way

Anson Dorrance is most familiar to Tar Heel fans on the soccer field, but he might be most relatable at home BY ADAM LUCAS F AT H E R ’ S D AY

16 Carolina’s Father Figure

Even as he battles a debilitating disease, a host of Tar Heels count Mitch Mason as one of their most important influences in Chapel Hill BY LEE PACE F AT H E R ’ S D AY

20 Tar Heel Born

Vance Honeycutt’s father never pressured him to succeed, and the result is a dynamic player who loves the game—and the Tar Heels BY ADAM LUCAS

F AT H E R ’ S D AY

26 Competitive Drive

TAR HEEL TICKER p. 6 F AT H E R ’ S D AY

28 The Next Generation

A unique father-daughter connection binds the Tar Heel men’s and women’s lacrosse programs BY ANDREW STILWELL

F AT H E R ’ S D AY

34 A Grandfather’s Foresight

Elizabeth Culton’s grandfather was instrumental in the beginning of Carolina women’s athletics, unknowingly paving the way for his granddaughter to one day excel BY ADAM LUCAS

FIRST PERSON

36 ‘The red balloon’

A father’s dedication helped Lachlan McNeil cross the border and become a college wrestler

Eric Montross’ son and daughter explain the significance of their family’s Father’s Day basketball camp

BY ANDREW STILWELL

BY ANDREW AND SARAH MONTROSS

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TA R H E E LT I C K E R TA R H E E L FAT H E R S

FAVORITE DAYS WITH DAD

We asked Rams Club members to share stories about their favorite memories with their Tar Heel dads

BORN & BRED

Beth Spruill Barr // Columbus, GA My dad, Jim Spruill, loved the University of North Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from there in 1964 and his medical degree in 1967. He taught me to love the University of North Carolina and Tar Heel sports. One of my earliest memories of my dad is when I was around three years old. I had horrible earaches back then. He would rock me in the rocking chair and sing the Carolina fight song to me until I fell asleep night after night. Growing up, whenever the Heels would play on TV, he would have to step outside and smoke a cigarette because he would get so nervous. Once he quit smoking, he would go outside and sweep. I also learned from him that referees need glasses and Duke can go to hell. By age six, I had decided I too was going to attend UNC. The day I graduated from Carolina, I do not know who was more excited, me or my dad. Twenty-eight years later, to our delight, my middle daughter was accepted to Carolina, and three years later, her younger sister followed. My dad was over the moon. This will be my first Father’s Day without him. He died this past March. I miss him terribly, but find comfort in the fact that when I step foot on Carolina’s campus, I’m in a place where my dad and I have shared so many wonderful memories. Dad, Happy Father’s Day. I love you.

Doug Fuller // Chapel Hill, NC My dad attended the University, I’m part of the Class of ‘79, and my daughter Katie Magnolia will be graduating in December. She shares our generational love for UNC and many of our cherished father-daughter memories center around celebrations of the success of our men’s basketball team. In these pictures, you’ll see her at the Smith Center to welcome home the 2005 national champions, and on my shoulders on Franklin Street celebrating the 2017 championship. I’m proud to be an alumnus of this great university and probably even prouder that she soon will be.

Eric Locklear // Winterville, NC One of my favorite memories is with my son, Elan Locklear. He’s been attending Carolina baseball and football games with me since he was an infant. He is now 28. One of our favorite games was the 2013 ACC baseball tournament in Durham when Carolina was playing NC State in an 18 inning game and Carolina won 2-1. My son and I were lucky enough to be on camera on television.

Frances Spransy Harper // Berkeley Lake, GA I have been a Tar Heel for as long as I remember, and I am in my eighth decade. My Dad played football at Carolina in the early forties until he was drafted in 1941. I have memories of many football and basketball games over the years but my most outstanding memory dates back to 1957. Dad and Mom piled all six of us kids into our car and we took a wild ride to RDU to meet the Tar Heels as they returned from winning the National Championship in Kansas City. . In those days you met the planes on the tarmac and there was a huge crowd as Lennie Rosenbluth, Joe Quigg, Danny Lotz, Pete Brennan, Tommy Kearns, Ken Rosemond and the rest of the team came down the plane steps. There was such a huge crowd that police ultimately had to escort the players from the airport.

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TA R H E E LT I C K E R 4

Caroline Conner // Burlington, NC My dad and I will always tell you that April 2, 2022 was one of the best nights of our lives, as I’m sure many other Tar Heel fans would too. We drove 12.5 hours to New Orleans to be in the Superdome that Saturday night. It was one of the best decisions we ever made! Seeing the Heels beat Duke in the Final Four to send Coach K into retirement with an L was one of the best moments a Tar Heel fan could imagine. I will never forget screaming with joy and hugging my dad when Caleb Love made the game-ending shot over Mark Williams and RJ Davis grabbed the final rebound to seal the win. Celebrating with Carolina legends like Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough was pretty awesome too! Carolina basketball has always been something we shared, but this was different. It was so special to see what was perhaps the greatest Final Four game in UNC history with my favorite person. Daddy, there is no one else I can imagine spending that night with other than you. You are the reason it was the best night of my life. You are the best Dad in the world and I love you so much! Go Heels! Jonathan Marshall // Charlotte, NC My wife and I took our boys, then aged 7 and 5, to their first football game at Kenan in September of 1997. Already working on the brainwashing, my wife asked them if they wanted to go to Carolina when they grew up. They assured her they did. I chimed in to support that but offered that if they were accepted and got scholarships to the school the Heels were facing that day, Stanford, it would be okay. The veto from my wife was immediate. Those boys graduated from UNC in 2012 and 2014 respectively and I could not be more proud. Robert Watson, Jr. // Winston-Salem, NC I am a third generation Tar Heel graduate, and after my precious daughter was born, I vowed to teach my young child about Jesus and Carolina, in that order. When she was four years old- in 2007- I took her to her first Carolina basketball game in the Dean Dome. It was a total surprise to her. All she knew is that we had on our favorite Carolina outfits and we were headed on a trip together. When we got there, we shared a drink and more than a few cheers. Plus, she got her first pompom, which she promptly waved all over the place. What a perfect evening- a Daddy/ daughter date and a Tar Heel victory!

BORN & BRED

TA R H E E LT I C K E R 5

Johnny Carroll // Concord, NC My six year-old son Jordan and I travelled from Concord, NC to Indianapolis to watch our Heels play in the 1997 Final Four in the RCA Dome. Little did we know at the time but we would be watching the last UNC game coached by Coach Dean Smith.

Heather Cox //Bennett, NC My Dad taught me to love UNC from as early as I can remember. Growing up, game tickets weren’t readily available, as there was not a StubHub or other online ticketing system like we have now. Once in a while, he would come across someone selling tickets to a home game and snag them for us. We would stand, cheer, and “coach” from our seats; always staying until the fight song was played at the end. We never missed watching a game, even setting alarms during the Maui Invitational when UNC would play in the early morning hours.

As I got older, I was excited to be able to take my Daddy to a few games, especially this one on March 10, 2020. We waited in line at the Greensboro Coliseum all day, waiting for the doors to open as the UNC game was general admission. Our patience paid off and we ended up scoring third row seats! We had never been so close to the court, and enjoyed every single second. Little did I know this would be the last game I would enjoy with my Daddy. He passed away almost exactly one year later. I’ve continued on our traditions, and am now a UNC student myself. I’ll graduate in May 2024 as an “official Tar Heel,” knowing that my number one fan is cheering me (and the Tar Heels) on from Blue Heaven.

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FATHER’S DAY

TAR HEEL

FATHERS

HIS OWN WAY

Anson Dorrance is most familiar to Tar Heel fans on the soccer field, but he might be most relatable at home BY ADAM LUCAS

PHOTOS BY THE DORRANCE FAMILY

here is a story that Anson Dorrance loves telling. This is not unusual. Anson Dorrance is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of Carolina athletics. That he, himself, happens to be the author of one of the greatest stories in Tar Heel history—how he oversaw the construction of one of the most dominant dynasties in sports history with UNC women’s soccer—is mostly a happy coincidence. This particular story, though, has nothing to do with soccer. We’re going to let Anson tell it, because when you’re in the room with him, you can’t help but let him direct the conversation. Within ten minutes of sitting down with him recently, he touched on the following topics without prompting and in response to a simple question about parenting: The architectural background of he and wife M’Liss’s home in Chapel Hill, 1960s music, famed ballet choreographer Eliot Feld, leadership, his 70th birthday celebration and pickleball. That’s a normal conversational arc with one of the greatest coaches in the history of American team sports. So, yes, we’re going to let him tell his story. But as you’re listening to this story, keep this in mind: it may not have happened exactly this way. We’ll get to that. Here’s Anson: “The most impactful book I have ever read is Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. That led to what in my opinion is the most important of my 13 core values. In the book, Frankl writes, ‘The last of the human freedoms is to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances and

ANSON AND HIS DAUGHTER, NATALIE 10 B O R N & B R E D

HIS OWN WAY

ANSON AND HIS DAUGHTERS, NATALIE & MICHELLE

ANSON AND HIS SON, DONOVAN

to choose your own way.’ So one of my core values is that we choose to be positive. “I was down in Florida with my family on a cruise. We’re in one of the ports, and one of the activities is snorkeling. You have to put on the masks and flippers, and of course they’ve already been used by several other people that day, so there is still sand in the mask from the previous user. “As our family puts our stuff on, there’s a family next to us, and every single one of them is whining about something. And all of a sudden, my daughter, Michelle, looks over at me and says, ‘The last of the human freedoms.’” This is the perfect Dorrance family story, right? It is the real-world application of the values that have driven Anson—and the Tar Heel women’s soccer program—to greatness. It is the elder Dorrance passing down those lessons to the next generation, and the next generation applying them to real world situations. It is… Probably not true. “I know he loves that story,” says daughter Michelle, now the founder and artistic director of Dorrance Dance. “But that’s not how it happened. We were on a vacation, which was rare for our family to have everyone together. And we were snorkeling. And I was sitting next to him, and that other family was complaining a lot.” But? “But it was him who leaned over to me. He looked at me and said,

‘The last of the human freedoms.’ I didn’t say it to him. It was him, even in that moment, making sure we took a lesson from the situation. And that was definitely part of my core belief system. I knew he valued toughness and never whining. I remember falling down in our side yard and not wanting to stop because I wanted to be tough. A few minutes later, he looked at me and said, ‘You should do something about that,’ because I had blood coming down my leg. “I completely knew about his values. But that story didn’t happen that way, even though I love that he wants it to have happened that way.” It’s a great story no matter how it actually unfolded. And it’s very much a Dorrance family story. For almost five decades now, we have known Anson Dorrance as a Carolina soccer coach, as a champion, and as an institutional Tar Heel. We have very rarely known him as a father, as just a regular old dad to son Donovan and daughters Natalie and Michelle. Is that even possible? It is realistic for The Anson Dorrance to be a regular old dad? How does someone who has shaped the lives of so many of our country’s best women’s soccer players—including Mia Hamm, the most iconic female athlete in Carolina and women’s sports history—shape the lives of his kids? Exactly the same way. All three of his children immediately reference Man’s Search for Meaning as an important part of their childhood, and all three can

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FATHER’S DAY

quote verbatim from the book. But life as a Dorrance wasn’t just repeating life lessons from a book. “He is,” says Donovan, “a wonderful father. He was very loving and supportive.” The Dorrance kids have gotten to know their father in multiple seasons of his life. When they were young, he admittedly wasn’t physically present very often. There wasn’t time. There was his job as the head coach at the University of North Carolina, and his job as the head coach of the United States Women’s National Team, and his side gig as a worldwide and constantly in-demand soccer icon. There were still plenty of perks, of course. Hamm and multiple other Tar Heels were Dorrance family babysitters (Natalie, who by coronation from all involved receives the coveted honor of most competitive Dorrance, was known as “Mad Dog Dorrance”), and they remain close with numerous players from that era of Carolina soccer. But the reality is there was a time period when their father was always working. He jokes—or maybe it’s not really a joke—that there was one 365-day period when he had one specific Thursday afternoon off. That was it. Natalie played high school soccer. On one occasion, he attended one of her games strictly because he was recruiting a player on the opposing team. “And I had to mark her!” she says now with a laugh. “To some extent, they may have resented soccer,” Anson says. “And maybe right now I’m trying to make up for that period. I know the time I spent building my career was an incredible investment, and hopefully my kids could sense the love through that.” But when he was present, he was completely present. He has attended countless dance performances and chorus concerts—M’Liss owns a ballet studio in Chapel Hill, Michelle has long been one of the world’s foremost tap dancers and Donovan is a musician who often collaborates with Michelle. Anson would tell you he knows nothing about dance; the other members of his family would say he frequently makes incisive observations even if he doesn’t know every technical detail. M’Liss and Michelle constantly tell him the best seats are center section, about two-thirds of the way back in the orchestra. That allows the viewer to have the full view of the stage and the artistry the dancer is trying to project. Anson, needless to say, is not a typical viewer. He would rather sit as close to the front as possible, off to one side. That enables him to see into the wings, where he can see the dancers before and after they enter or leave the stage. In the same way he’d rather watch a team

train than play a game, he wants to know what’s happening that isn’t part of the show. He was, in many ways, the model parent when any of his children played a sport. Michelle played a year of soccer at NYU; any time during her soccer career that he watched her play, he sat quietly, observing. “I think her coaches usually liked it when I came,” he says, “because the other parents would usually be quiet if I was quiet.” His kids knew he was extremely unlikely to yell at them. But he was frustratingly, agonizingly, extraordinarily difficult to argue against. Around the age of 14, Michelle decided she wanted a nose ring. This was still startling in the Chapel Hill of that era. M’Liss was vehemently against it, and told her, simply, “Talk to your father.” To Michelle, this was great news. She perceived her father as being—as most teenage daughters do—more openminded than her mother. Surely he would understand. The resulting interaction was so impactful that Michelle remembers every detail of it today. Where it happened, what was on the walls in the family home where it happened… everything. They were passing in a hallway and she made a passionate case to her father about why she needed a nose ring. He would get this. He would understand her. “I knew you would understand,” she told him. He stopped in the hallway and listened. He paused for a moment…then another moment. “Huh,” he said. “I never thought you were the kind of person that would need something like that to feel different.” Michelle just laughs. “I was like, ‘Damn it!’” she says. “He trapped me. There was no way I could get it at that point. It was terrible.” “I had a former player tell me one time, ‘Anson, I thought after I played for you, I could play for anyone. But through your criticism I could feel your love,’” he says. “That went right to the middle of my soul. That was the nicest thing anyone could have said to me. I am a harsh critic. I know the standard of the highest level, and if you want to get there, I will tell you if it’s not good enough. But through that, hopefully you’re sensing my genuine care as a human being. All of us can benefit from a critic. The one who helps you the most is a loving critic. The reason they’re criticizing you isn’t to win an argument or put you down but to make you better. All of us have to find our loving critics. Hopefully, our kids felt the love.” As those kids grew older, sometimes they were the ones teaching their father how to show the love. All family members point to the pandemic as a way the entire family reconnected. With no one to

“

“ALL OF US CAN BENEFIT FROM A CRITIC. THE ONE WHO HELPS YOU THE MOST IS A LOVING CRITIC. THE REASON THEY’RE CRITICIZING YOU ISN’T TO WIN AN ARGUMENT OR PUT YOU DOWN BUT TO MAKE YOU BETTER. ALL OF US HAVE TO FIND OUR LOVING CRITICS. HOPEFULLY, OUR KIDS FELT THE LOVE.”

BORN & BRED

HIS OWN WAY

ANSON AND HIS GRANDCHILDREN, FINLEY, JACKSON, & HUNTER spend time with other than each other, they learned something that might be surprising for many families—they actually liked spending time together. Anson and Donovan are frequent pickleball partners in Chapel Hill. Sometimes they plan their games, sometimes they just run into each other on a local court and immediately team up. Being Anson Dorrance’s pickleball partner is not easy. He is playing for fun—but for him, the fun is in the competition. And the winning. So being his partner requires meeting a very high standard. Maybe that’s putting it too nicely. “He is bloodthirsty,” Donovan says. His father’s competitiveness required a quick coaching session from the son. “When we were first getting into pickleball, he was being too much of a coach and not enough of a dad,” Donovan says. “There was a car ride home when I told him I needed him to be my dad and not Coach Dorrance. When I was playing soccer, he was great about giving me tips but never overstepping. In pickleball, he really wanted me to make the correct decisions and anytime I didn’t, it disappointed him. I was hearing some sighs. “We talked and I told him, ‘Dude, it’s just pickleball.’ It doesn’t have

to be a high quality performance competition. And since then, it’s been so much fun to play.” But this is how you know Donovan is definitely a Dorrance. He simply can’t resist adding, “And at this point, I’ve surpassed him as a player.” That sound you hear is probably Anson going out to the pickleball court to practice. Anson and M’Liss have three grandchildren—Natalie has four-yearold twins and a 14-year-old son, Finley. Anson is currently teaching the grandkids how to play chess…the Dorrance way. “It’s funny to watch them,” Natalie says. “It’s a hard game to learn, with all the strategy and thinking ahead. What’s nice about it is that he teaches them as he beats them to a pulp. He’ll show them something about the game, and then destroy them using that strategy.”

The source of many of the family’s favorite Anson stories come from the annual beach week. In most families, this is the time for rest and relaxation. And it’s true that during that week at North Topsail Beach, it wasn’t unusual to find Anson out on the deck, serenely surveying the beach.

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FATHER’S DAY

It was the picture of your average beachgoer, relaxing by washing the waves crash against the sand. Except… “He was trying to decide which of the neighbors to recruit for beach soccer,” Michelle says. “He’d look at a neighboring house and say, ‘That looks like an athletic kid, let’s ask them if they want to play.’ He is always competitive. But it has also empowered me to seek out things that are challenging, and it’s one of the reasons I love to try things I can barely do in my dancing. It’s a thrill. The trial and failure and success just because you believed you could is insane.” Those beach trips featured more than just soccer. “As a competitor, he had total disregard for his body,” says Donovan, who still sees that competitiveness as his father’s frequent pickleball partner. “One time at family beach week, he was playing pickup basketball with some other dads. Of course it turned all macho with lots of contact. Dad was guarding this guy heavily, and somehow Dad’s tooth went into this guy’s head. Here we are at the beach, the place everyone goes to supposedly relax, and Dad gets his teeth knocked out playing basketball.” Not much has changed. On a recent spring weekend, the family was gathering to celebrate Finley’s 14th birthday. “How do we sharks-with-blood-in-the-water Dorrances celebrate this?” Anson asks. “We’re having a paintball war.” The original plan was that the adults were not going to participate in the paintball war, leaving it for the younger attendees. But, well, it looked like fun…and there was competition…and one team had to win and one team had to lose…and before you knew it, there was Anson Dorrance strapping on a paintball mask and proudly displaying the welt on his neck from taking enemy fire. The teams ended up being—much like pickleball—Anson and Donovan against the world. In one of the games, Donovan’s strategy was simple: sprint immediately to get the flag and try to surprise the other team with aggressiveness. Anson loved it. He immediately referenced the 1981 Australian war movie “Gallipoli,” because one of the less appreciated of his characteristics is of a great curator—he has a story or reference for almost everything. As he and his son went through the postgame summary immediately after the battle, Anson was beaming. “I was being completely reckless,” Donovan says, “and he loved it. He loves that kind of energy and aggressiveness to try and win.” It is not always easy to be a Dorrance. Anson is…well, Anson. M’Liss is a fixture in the Chapel Hill and dance communities. Michelle and Donovan have performed on a national and international level. When they are together, there are a lot of big personalities in the room. But it is Natalie who prompts the biggest smile from Anson on this day. He has talked for an hour about a wide range of topics. It comes back, as it always does, to competition. He is excited that

BORN & BRED

ANSON AND WIFE, M’LISS Natalie has recently taken up tennis. “She has completely run through her entire set of friends,” he says. “They can’t play tennis anymore with her because she is too good.” Last month, Natalie pointed out to him that her combined tennis winning percentage is higher than his career winning percentage. This galls him, of course. And you can be certain that he will quietly keep track of those respective percentages and will let her know if he passes her. But it also makes him exceedingly proud. So proud, in fact, that he delivers the ultimate Dorrance compliment, one that only his family would truly understand the meaning behind. “Natalie,” he says with the pride of a conventional parent telling you about a child’s job promotion, “is my little ass-kicker.”

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FATHER’S DAY

TAR HEEL

FATHERS

CAROLINA’S FATHER FIGURE

Even as he battles a debilitating disease, a host of Tar Heels count Mitch Mason as one of their most important influences in Chapel Hill BY LEE PACE

PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI & ANDY MEAD/UNC ATHLETICS

ver the last 12 years of Tar Heel football, there have been two head coaches, more than two dozen assistant coaches and some 300 scholarship players. There have been the heights of winning 11 straight games in the 2015 season and shellacking Miami with 778 yards offense to end the 2020 season and land an Orange Bowl berth. There have been the depths of being buried in an avalanche in a 59-7 lambasting at Virginia Tech in 2017. One constant through it all has been Mitch Mason, who was hired in 2012 by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Coach Larry Fedora’s behest to serve as the team chaplain. His salary and benefits paid for by private donations to FCA, “Mister Mitch” and “Chap” as he’s known in the halls of Kenan Football Center has been the Godfather to the program and the man behind the scenes with a smile, a hug, a pat on the rear and a relevant verse of scripture or motivation. He’s watched his own two children evolve through grade school into high school and beyond. Daughter Sydney just finished her sophomore year at Clemson and son Riley will enter High Point University this fall. Mason remembers he and his wife Chondra leaving their daughter at Clemson two years ago and him breaking down in the car leaving town. “I prayed leaving Clemson, ‘Dear Lord, I know there will be someone there for her that will support her and encourage her like I’ve tried to do for these guys,’” he says. Meanwhile, he tends to his flock of Tar Heel football players. Mason has counseled a Tar Heel player on dealing with his mother’s cancer diagnosis. He consoled another whose younger sister was assaulted and was in the hospital. He soothed another player whose parents were splitting up. He’s in regular conversation with Tar Heel receiver Tylee Craft, who’s one year into a battle with a rare form of lung cancer, and dispatches frequent text message to Craft imploring him to “Keep swinging!”

BORN & BRED

Mitch Mason

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FATHER’S DAY

“I come from a big family and liked Carolina because it felt like a first we wondered if it was Covid. But because it’s none of those, it’s family,” says Bug Howard, a Tar Heel receiver from 2013-16. “Mitch almost impossible to treat. That’s the issue. We’re putting band-aids made me feel like I was ‘home’ all the time. If you had no one else to on these bullet wounds.” talk to, if you didn’t want your dad or your girlfriend to see you cry, Over three years, Mason has been dogged with migraines, seizures, Mitch was there. He’d shoot straight—not always telling you what you difficulty walking and using his hands, occasional fainting and memory wanted to hear, but telling you what you needed to hear.” loss. Of late the burden has expanded into gastrointestinal issues; Mason remembers once taking a call from the mother of a Tar Heel nervous system disorders are affecting his ability to enjoy food and who told him her son had had four men of influence in his life. One, digest it. He takes 22 medications a day, beginning with eight pills as his father, had walked out on him. Another, the Carolina assistant soon as he climbs out of bed with Chondra’s assistance. Doses that were coach who recruited him, had left for another job. Now a third, his once prescribed at 250 milligrams are now perhaps up to 500. Doctors high school coach, had just died. have used a spinal cord stimulator to help his mobility problems. “You’re the fourth,” the mother said. “Please don’t let him down.” The physical issues are obvious. Zach Rice was one of the most The emotional ones are mammoth highly coveted high school players in as well. the fall of 2021. The offensive lineman His neurologist grabbed him by the from Liberty Christian Academy in shoulders one day and said, “I need you Lynchburg, Va., could have signed to understand, the man that you were is with any D-1 program in the country, dead and gone. He’s not coming back.” but he chose Carolina because he and It’s indeed sobering to have to draft his mother Mary felt it was the best a will in your mid-40s (he turns 48 in combination of football, academics and June) , to teach your kids to drive your mentorship he could find. Mister Mitch stick shift because the day is coming was a part of the Carolina equation. when you’ll not be able to yourself, to “Having someone there to feed try to mow your lawn but run out of Zach positivity, messages about God, energy. encouraging him and supporting him, Yet Mister Mitch exudes a level of that was important,” Mary says. “Mitch grace and acceptance rare for someone being there gave me some peace of with so many obstacles. He smiles BUG HOWARD mind. As a single parent, I’ve valued any walking down the corridors at Duke, man who can pour good values into my son. When you’re not there proudly wearing his Carolina gear and fending off catcalls. “Aw, don’t to take care of your child and you’ve got someone telling him what help that Tar Heel!” is a common refrain. he needs to hear in a loving, kindly and Godly way, you appreciate it “I mess with them and they mess with me,” Mason says. “I tell them, so much. ‘I’m at D-U-K-E and the team we play is d-o-o-k.’ Everyone laughs. But “Mitch has always got a smile and a gentleness and a peace about they have been awesome—even if they do give me a hard time.” him. I’m amazed, I’m in awe. I so respect him and appreciate him. He’s He uses social media to practice what he’s preached over 25 a rock star in every sense of the word.” years since accepting Christ in May 1998 following an All-America That awe has taken on a new dimension the last three years as playing career as a defensive back at Missouri Western State. On Mason and a battalion of doctors have attempted to diagnose and any given day you might see him on Twitter under the handle @ treat a rare nervous system disorder. TarHeelChaplain: Mason first noticed some pain in his back in February 2020. He “Always remember, God is good even when life isn’t. Keep the faith vomited at odd times and found his mobility limited. The staff at and finish your race!” UNC Hospitals dug deep for a diagnosis. He consulted specialists in “God doesn’t give us life so we can spend it complaining. Keep it Birmingham and Atlanta. Doctors at Duke Medical Center eventually positive or keep it moving!” diagnosed his affliction as Idiopathic Small Fiber Neuropathy, a nerve “Do something nice for someone and try not to get caught!” disorder for which there is no known cure. One day he posted a photo of Chondra piloting his wheelchair The modifier idiopathic is the nut as it means “no known cause.” at the hospital and said how nice it was to have a wife “push me “The hard news is, it’s irreversible,” Mason says. “It’s not cancer, it’s around.” He added a laughing emoji and #WheelchairUp hashtag. not an infectious disease, it’s not some autoimmune condition. At “The more people we can have in our program who have overcome

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“MITCH MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS ‘HOME’ ALL THE TIME. IF YOU HAD NO ONE ELSE TO TALK TO, IF YOU DIDN’T WANT YOUR DAD OR YOUR GIRLFRIEND TO SEE YOU CRY, MITCH WAS THERE. HE’D SHOOT STRAIGHT—NOT ALWAYS TELLING YOU WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR, BUT TELLING YOU WHAT YOU NEEDED TO HEAR.”

BORN & BRED

CAROLINA’S FATHER FIGURE

so much as Mitch has and still stay positive helps us so much,” Tar Heel Coach Mack Brown says. “Their stories are invaluable. Mitch puts everything in perspective when he comes to practice with a smile on his face. You’ll quit griping about little day-to-day things in a hurry.” Mason had to distance himself from the program for much of 2020 because of Covid and the medical team trying to develop a treatment protocol. But by the 2021 season opener at Virginia Tech, he had returned to his regular day-to-day interactions with the staff and players, albeit his schedule riding the crests of his personal upsand-downs. “These guys don’t realize how much they minister to me, how much they feed me,” Mason says. “We talk about seizing the moment, taking advantage of the opportunity. You don’t know how much time you have. None of us know. A lot of things I took for granted I can no longer do. “I’m still here because I love these guys and I gave my word to their parents when we were recruiting their sons that I would be there to help them grow into men.” One of the defining moments of Mason’s ordeal came on the last Saturday in October 2021. The doctors warned it was coming at some point, a level of pain so severe it would render you still, balled up, breath fleeting, eyes blurred. That moment came as the Tar Heels were leaving the field at Notre Dame Stadium after pre-game warmups. Mason was walking up the stairs from the tunnel to the locker room when, suddenly, his illness exploded to a new crescendo and hit him like Defcon 5. “My hips felt like they cracked and my pelvis went out,” Mason says. “I could not move.” Players were emotionally jacked as they passed him, some of them yelling, “Yo, Chap, we got this!” not realizing the spasms of pain shooting through Mason’s midsection. He needed help to make it to the locker room, where team doctors attended to him. He remained there throughout the game. Later, he was able to make light of it. “Don’t worry about me,” he told the players. “I got enough meds in me, I’m so high I make Snoop Dogg jealous. I’ve got some heavy hitters now.” Mason looks back at the moment. “At that point, I said, ‘If I’m going down, I’m going down swinging. I’m going down on my own terms.’” That led to the decision early in 2022 to buy a Cam-Am Ryker motorcycle, a three-wheeled affair that’s somewhere between a small car and a two-wheel motorcycle. He tootles around his neighborhood and drove it to Durham in early April to attend the Durham Bulls season opener and deliver the invocation. Mason smiles and bursts out in animation telling the story of having to sell his wife on the idea, but the cycle ticked a box of his neurologist suggesting he do something he’d always wanted to do. At this stage, the little things matter, and the sun and the wind on an open road and a hearty laugh go a long way to deaden the pain.

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FATHER’S DAY

TAR HEEL

FATHERS

TAR HEEL BORN Vance Honeycutt’s father never pressured him to succeed, and the result is a dynamic player who loves the game—and the Tar Heels BY ADAM LUCAS

PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

s he was growing up across the highly competitive youth baseball fields of Salisbury, N.C., Vance Honeycutt was always very aware that his father, Bobby Honeycutt, had played college baseball. But this isn’t one of those horror stories when the high-achieving father stands behind the batting cage shouting instructions to his son, or forces him to listen yet again to stories about the 1989 Tar Heel baseball team that went to the College World Series, a squad on which the elder Honeycutt was a member. Instead, Vance understood his dad’s connection to the game because of a very different—and very welcome—reason. “It’s not like he talked about it all the time,” Vance says. “But I always knew he had a different way of going about the game of baseball as opposed to some of the other parents of guys I played with. Starting in Little League and as I got older, his advice was always different. “The difference was that he always understood that the game is

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hard. He knows hitting is hard and if you fail seven out of ten times, you’re in the Hall of Fame. He instilled that into me at a young age.” Of course, Honeycutt has spent most of his Carolina career making the game look deceptively easy. He was one of the most exciting freshmen in the game in 2022, a third-team All-America pick and consensus Freshman All-America. Considering the circumstances, he made one of the best catches in Boshamer Stadium history in the ninth inning of a one-run elimination regional game, robbing Georgia of a game-tying home run by leaping to grab a ball that was soaring over the center field fence. Even as his offense has been occasionally inconsistent as a sophomore, those types of dazzling catches have become a regular feature of his game in his second year in Chapel Hill. And keep in mind that finding flaws in his offense is like looking for loose bricks on the sidewalk around the Old Well. Even in a “down” year, he’s leading the ACC in walks, third in stolen bases, and in the top ten in

TAR HEEL BORN home runs … all while being one of the two Tar Heels (along with Mac Horvath) every opponent highlights on the scouting report. Making those types of highlight reel plays is the fulfillment of a childhood dream for the younger Honeycutt. Bobby and his wife, former Tar Heel track athlete Leah Ann, brought their family— Vance has two older sisters, Kayla and Julia—to Chapel Hill at every opportunity. Family and friends had Carolina football parking passes in the RV Lot across from the Smith Center; Vance spent many Saturday afternoons tossing a football around the tailgate parties (and later become a state championship-winning quarterback at Salisbury High). Eventually, he would take his fandom up Ridge Rd. to Boshamer Stadium, where he attended numerous Carolina baseball games with his father. “We were always on campus,” Bobby says. “All our kids, including Vance, knew we were a Carolina family.” It wasn’t unusual for those trips to Chapel Hill to include hanging out with some of Bobby Honeycutt’s former Tar Heel teammates. As so often happens, a winning team—the 1989 Tar Heels were Carolina’s only Omaha entrant for almost 30 years—has a way of staying in touch, and Honeycutt still counts a half-dozen members of that squad as some of his closest friends. But while Bobby Honeycutt was very clear with his son that cheering for the Tar Heels was non-negotiable, he was more openminded when it came to Vance actually playing sports. “It was important for me as a dad not to pigeonhole him into one sport,” Bobby says. “I made a promise to myself that if he was interested in other sports, we’d give him the opportunity to be exposed to those sports.” So while other middle schoolers were playing on multiple school and travel baseball teams, the future Carolina center fielder was playing rec baseball so he’d have time to play other sports. As a result, even in his initial high school years, Vance wasn’t a part of the elite travel baseball circuit that—until this spring’s rules adjustments— sometimes saw players commit to a college before they had played a high school game. But Salisbury is a town with deep baseball roots. So as Vance hit a growth spurt in his sophomore year, his high school coach, Mike Herndon, connected the family with the South Charlotte Panthers, one of the most prestigious and competitive travel programs in the Eastern part of the country. It wasn’t always easy. Vance wasn’t as big as some of his teammates, many of whom had already committed to play college baseball. But his athleticism and skill level were indisputable. And eventually, a growth spurt began to put his size on par with his talent. Bobby Honeycutt remembers one afternoon standing around the batting cage at a travel tournament, watching the Panthers take some pregame hacks. His son was creating some of the loudest swings of the day, and the implications were clear. South Charlotte

owner Don Hutchens approached him. “See,” Hutchens said, “I told you he was going to get bigger.” Prospect camps are a legitimate recruiting tool in college baseball. Honeycutt attended two—one at the College of Charleston, where the Cougars are coached by Bobby Honeycutt’s former Tar Heel teammate, Chad Holbrook. And the other at Carolina. There were other players on hand in Chapel Hill with bigger reputations according to the national scouting services. But none made a bigger impression than Honeycutt, who caught the eye of former Carolina head coach Mike Fox with his unique blend of ability and potential. “After that camp, Coach Fox motioned us into the lobby area at Boshamer Stadium and started talking to us,” Bobby says. “His comments about Vance way exceeded our expectations. I remember getting in the car after that, and it was a really good father-son moment. We looked at each other and said, ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’” “We got in the car and I was super pumped up,” Vance says. “I was smiling the entire car ride home.” After that, Vance’s career path accelerated. He soon received an official scholarship offer from Carolina, which he of course accepted. His success on the field led to attention from pro teams. Bobby

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FATHER’S DAY

handled most of the discussions with scouts as his son finished his high school career, and the family made it clear that Vance wanted to be a Tar Heel. Still, the San Francisco Giants picked him in the 20th round. It was a futile selection; Vance wanted to spend his 18-to-21 year-old years improving while enjoying campus, not while riding a bus in the minor leagues. He will eventually have another decision to make. On track to be within a few credits of graduating by the end of his junior year, he will almost certainly be picked again in the 2024 draft. Before that happens, however, he wants to make a few more memories. Of all the highlight reels he has filled during his Tar Heel career, his favorites remain team accomplishments—winning the 2022 ACC Tournament and winning the 2022 Chapel Hill regional. The ultimate team achievement, though, would be making it to Omaha as a Tar Heel. And as his father well knows, the calendar just happens to fall such that earning one of the eight slots in the College World Series almost always coincides with Father’s Day. “Quietly, I have thought about it,” Bobby says. “My former teammates and I have talked about it amongst ourselves of how cool it would be for all of us to go back to Omaha. I haven’t been back on any of Carolina’s other trips. It would be very special to go back in the next two or three years.”

BORN & BRED

TAR HEEL BORN

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HEELS DEALS

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RAMSCLUB.COM @THERAMSCLUB

FATHER’S DAY

TAR HEEL

FATHERS

COMPETITIVE DRIVE

A father’s dedication helped Lachlan McNeil cross the border and become a college wrestler BY ANDREW STILWELL

PHOTOS BY THE MCNEIL FAMILY

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COMPETITIVE DRIVE

here’s often a common bond that can be found between father and son when it comes to hobbies and talents. However, while his dad, Calum, wrestled for Great Britain in the 1992 Olympics, Lachlan McNeil didn’t gravitate immediately to wrestling, at least at first. “I think [wrestling] was always something my dad wanted me to do, but he never pressured it,” said the younger McNeil. “We played a lot of sports -- soccer, football, did gymnastics, played rugby – the problem was, growing up in the Middle East and in Abu Dhabi, there was no wrestling club.” Connecting with a former collegiate teammate shortly after moving to Abu Dhabi in 2009, Calum helped start the first wrestling club in the Middle East, in order to teach children the basics of wrestling in a low-key, fun environment. “In wrestling, there’s a fantastic message that usually comes across to the kids as it relates to discipline,” Calum said. “They work hard and develop a work ethic, and it goes above and beyond the sport.” The McNeils moved from Abu Dhabi to Toronto, Canada in 2011. Equipped with the basics, Lachlan began competing in wrestling, and almost immediately found success. However, eventually, the opponents became a bit repetitive, due to a relative lack of participation in the sport in Canada. “Wrestling in Canada, at the middle school level just isn’t the same as wrestling in the United States,” said Lachlan. “In America, there’s a high number of wrestlers who compete at a certain level, but in Canada, there are not nearly as many. “We’d wrestle in six or seven tournaments a year, and it’d always be the same kids,” he continued. “You’d wrestle the same guy four or five times a year. In America, you might wrestle a guy one time and never see him again because of how many people are competing.” While Lachlan was seeing continued victories and was developing his skills on the mat, Calum wanted to keep his son humble. It was time to find new competition. “If I kept beating the same kids in Canada, it was basically a ‘big fish in a little pond’ situation,” Lachlan said. “My dad wanted me to go to the ‘big pond.’ If I got really good, I’d get really good, but at least I know where I stack up against the rest of the world, or at least against the Americans.” Thus began multiple drives across the Canadian border into the United States to compete and get better. Starting with 4-6 hour roundtrips to compete at tournaments in upstate New York, it wasn’t uncommon for the McNeils to take multiple trips a month to the United States, especially during the winter season. “It wasn’t 100 percent by design that the trips got more frequent and longer, but Lachlan and his brother needed to understand that maybe they weren’t as good as they thought they were,” Calum laughed. “My dad just wanted us to continue to improve. That was the biggest thing,” Lachlan said. “It was never about being the best or us

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“HE WOULD DRIVE US TO TOURNAMENTS AND DRIVE US TO CAMPS. MY DAD WOULD LITERALLY DO ANYTHING FOR US. THE ONLY REASON I’M IN COLLEGE WRESTLING RIGHT NOW IS BECAUSE OF MY DAD AND THE COMMITMENT HE MADE.” winning, but as a dad, he just wanted the best for me.” Those drives meant a lot to both father and son, and the hard work was reciprocated between the two. “He would drive us to tournaments and drive us to camps. My dad would literally do anything for us. The only reason I’m in college wrestling right now is because of my dad and the commitment he made,” said Lachlan. “There are a lot of other Canadians who had the talent to wrestle over in America, but if you don’t get the exposure, and you don’t get the tournaments, you’ll never get that chance. My dad was the one willing to make a lot of sacrifices for me to get down here.” “Reflecting on it, it was hard work to make those drives, but it was a great way to connect with the kids,” Calum said. “Back then, they weren’t old enough to have phones, and we were in the car for six hours. We just had way more communication and that helped a ton with our overall connection.” “I remember saying if you’re going to be all in as it relates to learning the sport and getting better, then I’m going to be all in as well.”

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TAR HEEL

FATHERS

THE NEXT GENERATION

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THE NEXT GENERATION

A unique father-daughter connection binds the Tar Heel men’s and women’s lacrosse programs BY ANDREW STILWELL

PHOTOS BY THE HARDEN, FELTER, MARTIN, PARADINE, & OLMERT FAMILIES

any former Tar Heel student-athletes are often able to reconnect and reminisce over former glory and successes in their playing days donning Carolina Blue. But, for a select number of Carolina men’s lacrosse letter-winners of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, there’s an additional bond over which they can connect: their daughters, who like their dads once did, currently play lacrosse for the Tar Heels. On this season’s Carolina women’s lacrosse roster, there are six student-athletes and one manager whose fathers played on the national championship teams of 1986 and 1991. The family connection isn’t lost on either generation. “It’s honestly amazing knowing that for a lot of my own teammates, our dads are friends, and all played together. It’s really cool to see that we’re all able to keep the family tradition of being a Tar Heel,” said freshman midfielder Kaleigh Harden, whose dad, Boyd, was a twotime All-ACC selection as a defenseman for the Tar Heels in 1985 and 1988. “Just knowing our dads were in our same position at one time is amazing to think about. Not many people get to live that experience.” “I’m just thrilled that my daughters get to compete at the highest level and compete against some of the best competition in the country,” Boyd added. “The benefit is that we can relate to them because of this massive overlap between fathers and daughters. It enables us to take a step back and be more reasonable in the expectations that we have of our daughters because we know what’s required to succeed at this level.”

TAR HEELS BORN AND BRED

With their fathers as former Tar Heels, it would make sense for their daughters to grow up rooting for Carolina and immersed in the sport of lacrosse. “I was practically born with a stick in my hand, because both

my parents played lacrosse in college,” freshman midfielder Darcy Felter, whose dad Wilson was an attackman on the 1991 national championship team, said. “I grew up in Carolina Blue, and that was mostly because of my dad. Carolina was always my dream school, and I would blow out candles on my birthday cake wishing to come here.” “I grew up going to UNC all the time,” added sophomore defender Adair Martin. “I have so many photos from when I was younger with Jenny, her husband Dan, who was my dad’s teammate, and their son Ryan, who is on the men’s team now. Carolina just felt like home.” Redshirt junior defender Mason Paradine and sophomore goalkeeper Lucy Catherine Olmert both grew up around Carolina Lacrosse, as both their dads (Greg Paradine, class of 1993, and Pat Olmert, class of 1989) played and then were members of the Tar Heel lacrosse coaching staff while they were growing up. “I grew up around campus, coming to both men’s and women’s games,” Mason said. “We moved away from Chapel Hill when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, and part of me always wanted to come back and play at Carolina.” “Carolina was definitely a place I always wanted to go, because not only did my dad play and coach at Carolina, but my mother, grandfather and uncle all went to Carolina as well,” added Lucy Catherine. “I grew up Tar Heel born and bred.” However, while some of the women’s players were immersed in Carolina Lacrosse culture from a young age, it took a while for some others. “Growing up, we came to a lot of Carolina football games, but I didn’t really go to a Carolina lacrosse game until the men and women both made it to the national championship in Philadelphia in 2016,” said sophomore defender McKenna Harden. “Growing up, I actually didn’t really even know that my dad played lacrosse at Carolina until

ALEX MARTIN WITH DAUGHTER ADAIR ramsclub.com 29

FATHER’S DAY my freshman year of high school, but when he brought me to that national championship game, I just remember feeling there were so many people tailgating and supporting Carolina as alumni, I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of.”

LESSONS LEARNED

With fathers who grew up playing the same sport at the same university, the members of the Carolina women’s lacrosse team have the unique perspective of being able to receive relevant fatherly advice that’s a lot different than many other father-daughter relationships. The lessons learned and advice are actually a two-way street. “The most valuable advice I’ve been given from my dad relates to leadership and how to raise my teammates up through both my actions and my words,” said Darcy Felter. “He’s also taught me to focus on what I can control rather than what I can’t control. With him having gone through a similar situation as a freshman on a really good and established team, those kind of words and advice can really help.” “Darcy has taught me so much about loving the game,” her father Wilson added. “She just exudes a passion and love for the game that brings out so much joy in me. I think she’s taught me to love the game again.” The Harden sisters gave similar answers when asked the best piece of advice their dad had ever given them. “One thing that he’ll always say is, ‘Hard work pays off when talent doesn’t work hard enough,’ and ‘Make sure that you’re humble but hungry in pursuit,” said McKenna. “Even though, yes, he was successful individually on the lacrosse field, he didn’t care about that because he would rather be a good teammate and good person to the people around him. That’s why they had such great chemistry as a team.” “My dad is someone who always tells us to compete,” Kaleigh added. “He’s always drilled ‘be a good teammate’ in our minds because he focused on that when he played. He’s influenced me as a person and a player to be competitive on and off the field, but to be a good teammate and a good sport as well.” Their dad, while clearly making an impact on his daughters, feels their impact on his own life as well. “It gives me chills to think about, because that’s the benefit of being a parent that you never really appreciate until you become one,” Boyd said. “What I’ve learned from my daughters is that women can truly do anything that they want to. It gives me incredible pride to see my daughters persevering through all the obstacles and hurdles with their teammates. I’m thrilled to recognize how powerful this next generation of female athletes has become.”

LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

When comparing rosters of the current women’s lacrosse team with the men’s teams of the past, you’ll notice a few last names playing the same position as their dads did during their playing careers. Alex Martin and Greg Paradine, both members of the class of 1993,

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PAT OLMERT WITH HIS DAUGHTER LUCY CATHERINE AND FAMILY played on the same defensive line, and three decades later, both their daughters—Adair and Mason—are defenders for the women’s team. Thirty-five years after Pat Olmert set the UNC record for career save percentage that still stands today, his daughter Lucy Catherine is also a goalkeeper, maybe a bit to her father’s chagrin. “I started playing goalie my eighth-grade year when our team needed a goalie, and no one else wanted to do it,” she said. “It just stuck after that. My dad was one of my biggest coaches prior to college.” “I told her not to! She disobeyed an order!” recalled Pat with a laugh. “She goes ‘I’m going to play goalie,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not!’ Mainly, I wanted to protect her because sometimes goalies can become a bit shell-shocked really fast, and then the sport’s over, and they have no chance.” Another comparison that can be made between the fatherdaughter pairs are national championship rings. While the success and culture of excellence that has long been around Carolina lacrosse for decades has stayed constant, the rings have gotten a bit bigger as time has progressed. A few of the father-daughter pairs have had friendly family comparisons. “Adair’s ring is 10 times bigger than mine, and that’s the way it should be,” said Alex Martin. “When their rings were presented to the team, I was such a proud dad in my Carolina Tar Heel tie, and we went inside the Loudermilk Center to pick it up. Of course, I was wearing my ring, so we took a photo.” “It was pretty hilarious,” Adair added. “His is a pretty normal ring

GREG PARADINE WITH HIS DAUGHTER MASON

THE NEXT GENERATION

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FATHER’S DAY that he actually wears a fairly decent amount. I cannot wear mine, unfortunately. It’s a little too flashy!”

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“I THINK I CAN PROBABLY SPEAK FOR ALL THE GIRLS WHEN I SAY HOW SPECIAL THAT BOND IS, BECAUSE NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE GET TO EXPERIENCE THAT. GOING TO THE SAME SCHOOL AS OUR DADS, BOTH WINNING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS WHILE WE WERE AT UNC, IT’S JUST AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE THAT I’M ABLE TO SHARE WITH BOTH MY DAD AND MY TEAMMATES.” MASON PARADINE CAROLINA FAMILY

Speaking highly to the “family” culture that both lacrosse programs practice and preach, the dads from the ’86 and ’91 national title teams are still in regular contact more than 30 years after they last put on a Carolina jersey. “I knew the guys I played with, and know the guys I coached, and it’s all the same team – we’re one big family,” said Pat Olmert. “It’s a great bond. You want to know what’s going on in their lives. You want to know what’s going on in their kids’ lives. And now, boom, here we are, my buddy’s daughters and my daughter are on the same team.” “We’re actually organizing a fall weekend with golf, lacrosse, and football,” Wilson Felter added. “We lost touch just like everybody does with work and raising kids, but it seems like now, we’re coming out of that and really connecting a lot more. It’s an amazing group.” The family aspect extends to the current women’s team as well. “I think I can probably speak for all the girls when I say how special that bond is, because not a lot of people get to experience that,” said Mason Paradine. “Going to the same school as our dads, both winning national championships while we were at UNC, it’s just an incredible experience that I’m able to share with both my dad and my teammates.” “It’s wild to see my teammates and their daughters together,” said Greg Paradine. “It’s something special to see their kids and my kids growing up together. We get to relive those old memories back at their lacrosse games today. It’s an incredible tribute to the coaches that we had, as well as to Jenny and her program.”

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WILSON FELTER WITH HIS DAUGHTER DARCY

BOYD HARDEN WITH DAUGHTERS MCKENNA AND KALEIGH AND WIFE KERI

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TAR HEEL

FATHERS

A GRANDFATHER’S FORESIGHT

Elizabeth Culton’s grandfather was instrumental in the beginning of Carolina women’s athletics, unknowingly paving the way for his granddaughter to one day excel BY ADAM LUCAS

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A GRANDFATHER’S FORESIGHT

ne of Elizabeth Culton’s earliest memories comes from a University of North Carolina gymnastics meet. “I have wanted to be a Carolina gymnast ever since I was eight or nine years old,” she says. “I would come to the meets growing up, and I vividly remember sitting in the stands watching them and wondering if I would be good enough to be a gymnast at Carolina. I genuinely didn’t know.” There were two halves to that equation. Culton wanted to be a gymnast. She’d been doing gymnastics since she was little, eventually training at Bull City Gymnastics in Durham while she attended Jordan High and Trinity Academy. The other half: Culton wanted to be a Tar Heel. Both her brothers attended Carolina. Her parents, Julian and Cathy, attended Carolina. It was a deep legacy but not necessarily an unusual one; once a family develops some Carolina blue traits, it tends to take over the entire family. But Culton’s family tree was different, and had an even deeper Tar Heel tie. Her grandfather, Bill Cobey, was the UNC athletic director from 1976-80. Cobey had a decorated career that included serving as a United States Congressman, working in state government, and holding several political positions. But he was best-known in Chapel Hill as the former athletic director at Carolina. Before taking over the head position, he had worked at Carolina since 1968. That included a role as assistant athletic director when Carolina established the first seven women’s varsity programs—including gymnastics—during the 1971-72 school year. Soon, with the adoption of Title IX, Cobey was appointed as Carolina’s Title IX officer. “At that time, I don’t think in my wildest dreams I thought Carolina women’s athletics would develop into the program it is today,” Cobey said in 2022. “Certainly, we sought excellence, but what has happened has exceeded all expectations. We went about building women’s athletics with a purpose just as we had competed in men’s athletics. We wanted to be the best.” Once he took over the head post, Cobey oversaw the football transition from Bill Dooley (who won the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 1977) to Dick Crum (who won the ACC title in 1980). In basketball, of course, he inherited a basketball coach named Dean Smith who was on the verge of building some of his most powerful teams. The 1977 squad is among the best in school history that didn’t win the national championship, and just as Cobey departed, the Tar Heels were about to make back-to-back national championship game appearances—falling short to Indiana in 1981 and winning in 1982. But there’s no better Tar Heel credential than this one: Cobey is the athletic director who hired Anson Dorrance, who immediately set about making Carolina women’s soccer the greatest dynasty in college sports history and catapulted women’s soccer to the international stage.

Elizabeth Culton, of course, was over two decades from being born when her grandfather was serving as the Tar Heel athletic director. But in addition to laying the groundwork for her eventual success as a UNC gymnast, his tenure helped infuse the family even more deeply with Carolina passion; Elizabeth’s older brother is named Cobey. “Carolina games were always on in our house,” she says. “I remember sitting in the living room watching them as early as seven or eight years old, and my brothers and family have always been big Tar Heel fans.” Which made it even more special to watch Elizabeth embark on her decorated gymnastics career. She was the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Rookie of the Year in the Covid-shortened 2020 year, an AllAmerican as a sophomore, the EAGL Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a junior, and—fittingly—an Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award selection as a senior. She was part of the transition from longtime head coach Derek Galvin—who originally offered Culton the chance to be part of the program—to current head coach Danna Durante, who has guided the Tar Heels to an NCAA team regional berth two years in a row. And Culton is well aware that somewhere in Carmichael, there might have been a girl looking at her the same way she used to idolize the Tar Heel gymnasts. “It’s amazing,” she says. “Sometimes I have to take a step back and recognize how amazing it is, because life is really busy. But when little girls ask for autographs or pictures, I absolutely see myself in them. It’s a really great feeling.”

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FIRST PERSON

The red balloon

Most moments in life are uncertain, but the release of the big red balloon that marks another successful year of Eric Montross Father’s Day Basketball Camp is not one of them. Gazing into the Carolina blue sky on Father’s Day Weekend, we remember Jason Clark, a 15-year-old cancer patient at UNC Children’s Hospital that our dad befriended his senior year of college. Jason’s vision of enhancing UNC Children’s Hospital to positively affect patients and their families guides our dad’s camp. Father’s Day weekend has always been a particularly special holiday in our family. For us, this weekend represents love, joy, community, and hope. Friends and family flood our house as we spend countless hours packing camp bags and running around in preparation. Campers and their father figures travel from near and far to spend two days learning basic basketball skills from current and former men’s and women’s basketball players. We have crawled, toddled, walked, run, and Andrew even attempted to dunk (which ended up viral on Instagram with the caption “tag someone with no hops”) on Roy Williams Court. From “Montross’ kids,” to campers, to volunteers, to coaches, we both agree being known as Montross’ kids is our favorite label. The man many know as “Bloody Montross’’ or “Big Grits” is who we call dad. Sure, he was a decent basketball player who won a national championship, but he is so much more to us. He is someone who nerds out on wildlife, plants fields of corn and clover in his free time, and carefully shapes wood into gifts on his lathe. He is a dad who genuinely enjoys connecting with every person he encounters and making them feel like an old friend. A dad who goes out of his way to learn about and advocate for the needs of sick children by fostering relationships with hospital janitors, patients, families, social workers, nurses and physicians. A dad whose selfless and kind demeaner has transformed lives around him, including ours. Admittedly, we did not fully appreciate all that camp represents until we aged out as campers at 13. Years later at 23 and 25, we are still learning. What started as an avenue to raise money for the Jason Clark Teen Lounge and Game Room has transformed into much more. Camp has funded colorful murals that stretch along the walls of UNC Children’s, creating a warm environment for patients, family members, and staff at every turn. It has supported the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation (which aims to assist adolescent and young

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adult cancer patients and their families), enhanced the child and adolescent mental health programs at UNC, and purchased medical simulation mannequins and other hightech equipment. Camp represents much more than a simple sports competition. The weekend brings families together as young kids look forward to a mini sleepaway camp in a dorm room, while father figures pack their bags with Advil and NyQuil to get through the night on college mattresses. Both parties anxiously await bussing to the Smith Center to meet their college basketball idols and shoot hoops on Roy Williams Court. In the bleary first morning of camp, all eyes gravitate towards the big screens, mesmerized by Jason’s story and the history of camp. Kids squirm, (im)patiently waiting to dribble a basketball, while dads struggle to keep their tears at bay. The importance of UNC Children’s and camp’s mission becomes clear. Through all the dad jokes and lectures, this we hold certain: our dad is a wonderful man. We feel so grateful to have grown up with him as our role model, standing side by side, year after year, as the big red balloon drifts away each Father’s Day weekend.

ANDREW AND SARAH MONTROSS

Eric and Laura Montross’ son and daughter

CAROLINA INSIDER PODCAST HOSTED BY JONES ANGELL AND ADAM LUCAS

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