WINSTON-SALEM – I’ve known Dean Smith since his early days at Carolina in the 1960s.

Dean was really all about his players – their wellbeing and their future.  So I got to know him best through discussing career opportunities for his players.  At Sara Lee Corp., we hired a number of them:  Rich Yonnaker, Charlie Scott, John Virgil, and Dave Colescott, who still works for Hanesbrands today and has done very well.

But my most interesting career conversation came when Dean called me one day and said, “Paul would you consider interviewing a Duke player?”

I said, “Of course, Coach, if you want me to.”

He said, “The kid’s name is Kenny Dennard, and I like him a lot, but it would also really help my recruiting if I could say the Duke players were coming here for job opportunities.”  Kenny was a really bright kid.  We offered him a job, but as I recall, he went to work for the U.S. Space Agency in Huntsville, Alabama.

That was Dean – always competitive, but in the end always helping someone else.  As I have heard over and over the past few days, he was much more than a coach – he was a man who cared deeply about others and had the courage to always try and do what was right.

Another wonderful gift Dean had was that if he met someone he never forgot them, or he never forgot a detail about a game – even a golf match.  It didn’t matter – Dean did not forget.  And that is what was so tragic about his illness.  It robbed him of this remarkable and rewarding trait.

Dean Smith was not only a great leader, he was a great man.

Paul Fulton
Former President, Sara Lee Corp.