Dec. 31, 2002

After spending four days last week in the heart of Times Square, I quietly welcomed 2003 in the comfort of my home. That's a dramatic change from last year when my son, Wes, was trying to get me from the Georgia Dome to the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta so I could celebrate the New Year and Carolina's victory in the Peach Bowl with my wife and several close friends. However, we were stuck in traffic when the clock struck midnight, and thousands of other Tar Heel fans were still on the MARTA.

There will be more hectic holidays in the near future, but through the years I have followed the Tar Heels to such holiday travel spots as Honolulu, Madrid, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Frankfurt. There have also been stops in Portland, Houston, San Francisco, Denver and Jacksonville.

My first holiday junket was one of the most memorable. It was my initial trip to Hawaii in December, 1972, for the Rainbow Classic. Actually, Dean Smith's Tar Heels stopped off on the way in Berkley to get a win over California before boarding a huge 747 for the Aloha State. It's the only time in Hawaii a Smith-coached team didn't stay in a beach hotel, but the leis, grass skirts, luaus and beautiful wahines weren't too much of a distraction. Carolina put away Utah, Washington and Louisville to win the first of its three Rainbow titles. Wes, who was almost seven at the time, made the trip with Jean and me. It was his first plane ride, he rode with the team in an open-air bus to the luau and he spent a lot of time with George Karl, Bobby Jones and Mitch Kupchak. He even went to lunch with them a couple of times, and when he returned home his friends immediately wanted to hear about the highlight of his trip. "Gosh, the sit-down McDonald's on Waikiki!" he exclaimed.

Two years later, Dean Smith made a second trip to the Christmas Festival in Madrid, Spain. Back in 1971 he had accepted an invitation from close friend Antonio Diaz Miquel, the veteran coach of the Spanish national team, to bring Carolina to the holiday tournament at the Real Madrid Sports Club. The Tar Heels whipped the host team for the title that year, but I wasn't there to broadcast the games. So I made my first trip abroad in 1974, but the Tar Heels weren't as fortunate this time. They lost to Real Madrid in the finals. And, I wasn't as fortunate either.

Going down the concrete steps in the small arena after the championship game I was trying to find somebody in the crowd when I missed a step. I fell hard, catching myself on my left elbow. I knew it was scraped under the sleeve of my jacket, and it stung. I hurried to the Carolina locker room and trainer John Lacey put some cold spray on it. It felt okay, but two hours later during dinner it began to throb. I slept with ice on it, but when I awoke the morning of our departure I couldn't bring my hand up to my face when I tried to shave. It wasn't hurting so I decided to wait until I got home to have it checked. Less than an hour after my arrival in North Carolina I was told I had a broken elbow. It was in a cast for the next four weeks.

I was able to celebrate Christmas on both trips just as I did later in Tokyo and Frankfurt. I have been flying home several times on New Year's Eve, and I have welcomed the New Year in such places as Honolulu, London, Houston, Los Angeles, Jacksonville and Atlanta. It was in LA on January 1, 1989, that I got to personally enjoy the Rose Parade.

My most memorable Christmas away from home and family came in 1984. The Tar Heels had been invited to the Suntory Bowl in Japan along with Wichita State and Arizona State. Then they were scheduled to stop off in Honolulu on the way home for the Hawaii Pacific Invitational. It would be played on the Naval base at Pearl Harbor.

The trip didn't get off to a very good start for me. For only the second time in many years of following the Tar Heels I overslept and missed an early morning commercial flight to New York. The team had flown to New York the previous evening, and trainer Marc Davis was carrying my passport. I couldn't miss the connecting flight to Japan, so I tried desparately to get on a couple of later flights, but they were delayed getting to Raleigh-Durham by bad weather. A private charter was my only hope.

When the executive jet landed at Kennedy it taxied right up under the wing of the big Japan Air Lines jet which would take us to Tokyo. As I was being escorted to the ticket counter, the bus carrying the team rolled up to the curbside check-in. Whew, it was that close!

Fourteen hours later, without a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska, our flight arrived in Tokyo. Then came a short hop down to Osaka, the site of the opening round. Carolina downed Wichita State in its first game, and then took the bullet train to Tokyo where it walloped Arizona State in the second round.

It would be six days before the start of the Hawaii Pacific tournament, so Coach Smith decided to let the players spend a few extra days in the Japanese city. On Christmas Day there was a lavish brunch for the players and members of the traveling party. The food was delicious, but the mood was really subdued. It was obvious the players were homesick on this very special day.

I had been visiting with Jack Petty and Larry Larson, a couple of good friends from High Point, but when I turned to talk with some others I didn't notice them slip out of the room. They hadn't said anything to me about what they had planned. Moments later there was a loud ho-ho-ho at the door, and into the room came Santa Claus.

Jack had packed the bright red suit in an extra bag along with some cookies which his mother, Bess, had baked, and here he was greeting the players and handing each a bag of cookies. The atmosphere quickly changed, and there were smiles, laughs and even a few Christmas songs from the Tar Heels.

One of the best Carolina fans ever, Jack has been gone a few years now, but I will always remember what he and Larry did in Tokyo to make Christmas Day, 1984, such a memorable occasion.

There are lots of other holiday stories from traveling with the Tar Heels, but I guess I'll have to save those for my book. I don't have any definite plans for it, but I will definitely get around to it when my days of following the Tar Heels are over. Hopefully that won't be for a few more years.