Dean Smith Biography

Dean Edwards Smith was an American men's college basketball head coach born on February 28, 1931, and died on February 7, 2015. He coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning recognition as a coaching legend. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories, which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time, and a 77.6% winning percentage. His career total of 879 wins stood until 2005, when Pat Summitt achieved her 880th victory. Smith played college basketball at the University of Kansas, where he won a national championship in 1952 under coach Phog Allen. While at North Carolina, he helped promote desegregation by recruiting the university's first African-American scholarship basketball player, Charlie Scott, and advocating for equal treatment for African Americans. He lettered in basketball all four years at Emporia High School and Topeka High School, earning all-state honors as a senior.