Rallying together
The Final Four provides the opportunity for alumni to reminisce about UNC-Chapel Hill and the Carolina family through a common thread that spans decades — Tar Heel basketball.
More than 2,000 miles away from Chapel Hill, Carolina Blue is taking over the Arizona desert.
Multiple generations of Tar Heels, from recent graduates to members of the Class of 1966, are gathering in Phoenix this week to cheer on their alma mater in the Final Four.
But in the days leading up to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s men’s basketball team’s 20th appearance in the national championship semifinals, it’s more than just basketball in Phoenix.
The Final Four provides the opportunity for alumni to reminisce about UNC-Chapel Hill and the Carolina family through a common thread that spans decades — Tar Heel basketball.
“It really rallies everyone together,” said Jeni Culbertson, a longtime member of the Nebraska Carolina Club. “Everybody gets together and cheers for North Carolina and enjoys that true Tar Heel spirit.”
With reunions, pep rallies and viewing parties throughout the rest of the week, there is no shortage of Carolina spirit in Phoenix.
And while alumni traveled to Arizona to see Carolina take on Oregon on Saturday night, the festivities are an opportunity to celebrate the University as a whole.
“It’s a point of pride,” said Ron Logan, who graduated from Carolina as an undergraduate in 1966 and then the UNC School of Law in 1971. “We’re really proud of the school. It makes it easy to root for the Tar Heels when you love the school — when you really have a great school that you attended.”
Basketball, he said, is just an exciting way to focus that passion for the University.
“It a point of mutual interest that we all share,” he said. “We shared an experience in Chapel Hill — we have the same professors and sometimes lived in the same dorms — but you can’t follow a dorm. Following the Tar Heels creates excitement around our connection to the University. “
AJ Solomon, who graduated in 2016 and then enrolled in a master’s program at Arizona State, agreed. Carolina basketball, he said, is one of the biggest threads that ties generations of alumni together.
“It’s the history and the tradition of the program,” he said. “It’s the fact that you can talk about Carolina basketball and have a light in your eye and you can meet somebody who graduated 30, 40 years ago and they still have same great memories of the team.”
