A truly great sports hero
Thursday, February 12, 2015
The passing of Dean Smith, legendary basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, was noted almost everywhere with lavish obituaries and reverential assessments. It is hard to understand, sometimes, why men of this caliber can’t be not only admired and praised, but also emulated and followed. Why aren’t there more Dean Smiths? Writers keep reiterating the theme that we will not see his like again. Why not? Why don’t all these people who ooh and aah over Dean Smith try to live as he did? Why do fathers not teach their sons to be more like Dean Smith instead of the latest Cristal-toting, foul-mouthed, wife-beating sports figures?
Many of the articles, including those in The New York Times which doesn’t ordinarily honor religious commitment, mentioned his regular churchgoing and his beliefs about human dignity which arose out of his Christian faith. Would that we would hear this more often.
Here is a tribute to Dean that you might otherwise miss:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/197385/dean-smith-passing-death-penalty-abolitionist#
