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Born on February 28, 1913 in Emporia, Kansas
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While at North Carolina, Smith helped promote desegregation by recruiting the University’s first African American scholarship basketball player, Charlie Scott, and pushing for equal treatment for African Americans by local businesses. He was also a leader, in desegregation.
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Smith helped promote desegragation, by recruiting the first African American for his team, he was a leader in the change for desegragtion
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It took Smith seven trips to the Final Four before winning his first national title, and then it took him nine more years to return, and two more to get another national championship.
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Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories. He really knew how to coach a team, no matter, what race.
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His first major successes came in the late 1960s, when his teams won three consecutive regular-season and ACC tournament championships, and went to three straight Final Fours.
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It took Smith seven trips to the Final Four before winning his first national title, and then it took him nine more years to return, and two more to get another national championship. smith controlled the effort, by never giving up, no matter how many times they had to go back.
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Smith is also known for running a clean program and having a high graduation rate for his players, with 96.6% of his athletes receiving their degrees. He wasn't going to make his players focus only on sport, he made sure they had future plans to look back upon.
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His first major successes came in the late 1960s, when his teams won three consecutive regular-season and ACC tournament championships, and went to three straight Final Fours. Unfortunately, this run occurred in the middle of UCLA's run of 10 titles in 12 years; in fact Smith lost to UCLA's John Wooden in the 1968 title game. He thought of it and got his team to the final fours.
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Dean Smith's first national championship occurred in 1982, when the team was composed of future NBA players such as Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins.[18] After winning the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina had a record of 32-2. H lead North Carolina to a great victory
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Since retirement, Smith has used his influence to help out in various charitable ventures and political activities. He didn't just give up, he went on helping out in other events, to make the world a better place.
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Even in retirement, some believe that Smith still has a large influence on the current North Carolina basketball program. For example, in 2003 Smith talked to Roy Williams regarding his decision about whether or not to replace a struggling Matt Doherty as head coach
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Smith initiated a change by recruiting the first African American on his team, and many others followed
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Dean Smith spoke at many events, but the most amazing one was, his retirement speech.
