Eric Montross saved a dying kid one time. He taught the North Carolina player what the word really meant.
In November 1993, Eric Montross was the big guy at North Carolina, both in a physical and figurative sense.
He was the 7-foot center for the Tar Heels and the captain of the team that won Dean Smith’s last national title earlier that year.
Everyone knew Montross as an All-American because of his flat top and soft-touch hook shot.
It was a big deal for him to play college hoops. Jason Clark, on the other hand, went to Durham’s Jordan High School but was too sick to go.
He was getting care at UNC’s Memorial Hospital for stomach cancer. Jason was a big sports fan, like a great deal of 15-year-olds. He loved this Tar Heels the most. He looked up to the basketball guys at UNC like heroes.
Then, in November, one of his heroes showed up. The picture shows Montross coming into Jason’s hospital room.
A 1994 story in The News & Observer says that Montross brought “some shoes and odds and ends.”
This wasn’t a one-time visit, though; it was a meeting among one of the most famous college players in the country and a teenager who needed hope.
Instead, it was the start of a good friendship. In a 1997 story published in the Greensboro News & Record, Jason’s mom, Lindy, said, “The friendship between both of them was just amazing.” Soon, Montross was going to see Jason on a daily basis.
They would sometimes talk about basketball, with Jason giving information about the early 1993–94 opponents of the Tar Heels.
They would play video games sometimes. James thought Montross was great because of the things he could do on the game.
But Montross quickly found out what the word really meant. In February 1994, he wrote an opinion piece for The Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s student newspaper, called “Many people who mean well call me a hero because the Creator blessed my athletic skills that allowed me to play college basketball.”
Tar Heel symbol WTVD says that Eric Montross died on Sunday from cancer. He was 52 years old.
The University in North Carolina during Chapel Hill said on its official website that Montross died at home with his family and friends around him.
WTVD says he died just nine months after his diagnosis after telling everyone he had cancer.
From 1990 to 1994, Montross played for coach Dean Smith. He started at center for the Heels after they won Smith’s second national title in 1993.
In his first two years at Chapel Hill, Montross starred with Hubert Davis, who is now the head coach of the Tar Heels. WTVD says that they got to the Final Four and the Sweet 16 together in 1991 and 1992.
People remember Chris Webber, the future No. 1 pick in the NBA draft and future Hall of Famer, getting double-teamed while trying to call timeout via Michigan down by two points in the last seconds of the game.
Michigan was out of timeouts, which was a bad thing. There was a mistake, which led to a technical foul, which sealed the win for UNC. “But I’m not really a hero like Jason is.”
WTVD says that Montross’s senior year at UNC, the team ended the regular season ranked in the top 5 in the country.
They were the top seed for the NCAA Tournament after winning the ACC Tournament. In the second round, Boston College beat the team.
In the first round during the NBA draft, the Boston Celtics picked Montross. He was in the NBA for nine years and played for the Celtics, Mavericks, Nets, 76ers, Pistons, and Raptors.
He never lost sight of what was important. He died on Sunday at the age of 52 after a long battle with cancer.
Almost 30 years ago, they became friends for a short time but became close, and that friendship inspired Montross to raise millions of dollars for UNC Children’s Hospital.
He came to Chapel Hill from Indianapolis as a highly regarded talent in 1990. He left school four years later, on the path to an eight-year NBA career, as an among the most beloved UNC players of all time. His No. 00 shirt is one of many that are honored in the rafters of the Smith Center.
Any UNC fan older instead of about 40 can definitely remember seeing some of Montross’s most memorable games.
They can see how he fought and moved in the paint toward Michigan in the national championship game in 1993.
In what came to be known as the “Bloody Montross” game, which he won 75–73 over Duke in 1992, they can see the thin line of red running down his face.
When people heard on Monday that Montross had died, they thought of a lot of basketball memories.