Dean Edwards Smith was born on Feb. 28, 1931, in Emporia, Kan. Although he played varsity basketball and baseball at the University of Kansas, Smith is most known for his career as head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
After graduating from college and assistant coaching for a year at his alma mater, Smith joined the U.S. Air Force and eventually coached baseball and golf at the Air Force Academy.
In 1958, Frank McGuire, head basketball coach of UNC-CH at the time, hired Smith as his assistant coach. After a recruiting scandal led to McGuire's forced resignation, Smith moved up to become head coach. Smith only had one losing season at the university, his first season as head coach in 1961-62, during which the Tar Heels went 8-9.
Michael Jordan and the other 1981-82 players proved that Smith really had turned the program around when they won him his first national championship, maintaining a record of 32-2 for that season. Smith went on to win another national championship in 1993 and experience 11 final four appearances altogether during his time at UNC-CH.
In addition to coaching winning teams on the court, Smith is known for always running a "clean" program, which is what he promised to do when he replaced McGuire. He has seen 96.6% of his players receive degrees and was a huge help with the desegregation of college basketball, notably with his milestone act of recruiting Charlie Scott, the university's first scholarship African-American basketball player.
Smith retired in 1997 because he felt he was not able to coach with the same enthusiasm as he had in his younger years. He gave countless funds and hours of his time to charity following his successful career. After developing dementia, he died on Feb. 7, 2015, at the age of 83 in the town that gave him his famous career, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Sources:
http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209647792
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dean-Smith
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/basketball-coaching-legend-dean-smith-born
