Former UNC star and current Elon women’s head basketball coach Charlotte Smith joined The David Glenn Show on Wednesday to share memories of Bill Guthridge, discuss “The Shot” and talk about the basketball figures who influenced her the most.
Smith will be inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on Friday.
Playing for the Tar Heels from 1991-95, Smith’s time at UNC overlapped with the final decade of Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge’s coaching careers. Guthridge passed away on Tuesday night.
“Think about everything that Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge have accomplished, and they still were both so humble and just everyday people and just so gracious,” Smith said. “They took time to get to know people and took time to speak to people. That was what stood out to me the most.”
The niece of NC State great David Thompson, Smith had a great relationship with her uncle. So how did she end up in Chapel Hill?
“My Uncle David took me on an unofficial visit to NC State at one point,” Smith stated. “I actually remember meeting Jim Valvano and Kay Yow on the visit, but for whatever reason, I was not recruited by NC State.
“Luckily, Coach (Sylvia) Hatchell’s brother, who was a great scout, somehow discovered me, and he told Coach Hatchell about me. It was a pretty easy sell because, I’ll tell you, I was a diehard Michael Jordan fan. I loved Michael so much that I squeezed my feet in shoes that were a size and a half too small just to play in them to say I wore the Air Jordans.”
During the conversation, Smith also talked about her transition to coaching and whether or not she can still play. Click below to hear the full interview: