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When she visited Thompson and his family in Charlotte this summer, Smith got a tour of his trophy collection and found she and her uncle had some honors in common, including first team all-ACC and Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. "He told me the one I really ought to get is the Naismith award for national player of the year," says Smith, who is a preseason candidate for the prize. His Airness might not have spoken to the Tar Heel of the moment, but another member of the order—the charter member, in fact—did. David Thompson, Tobacco Road's premier aerialist, who felled Bill Walton and UCLA while leading North Carolina State to the 1974 NCAA crown, sent Smith flowers and candy immediately after her big shot and called a few days later. But then, he's her uncle, the youngest brother of Smith's mother, Etta.
Charlotte Smith named regional coach of the year by Women's Basketball Coaches Association - Today at Elon
Charlotte Smith named regional coach of the year by Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Posted: Fri, 23 Mar 2018 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Coaching career
Smith would no longer be required to carry the offensive load, and averaged 14.9 points a game in 81 starts as the Trail Blazers secured the second best record in the Western Conference. Smith would increase his scoring average to 17.1 in the playoffs, as Portland would defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round before beating the Utah Jazz in the semifinals. Up next would be the league best Los Angeles Lakers, who took a 3–1 series lead over Portland before the Trail Blazers won game 5 on the road and game 6 at home as Smith scored 26 points to set up a game 7 matchup. Despite leading by double digits heading into the fourth quarter, the Lakers came back to win the game and advance to the NBA Finals where they would win the NBA Title. In 2002, Charlotte Smith joined the North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach. Smith would help lead the Tar Heels to four straight number one seeds in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship from 2005 to 2008.
Playing career
Smith said she was "out of it" mentally during the first huddle, when North Carolina drew up a lob play to center Sylvia Crawley. But when inbounds passer Stephanie Lawrence saw that Louisiana Tech had that covered, she called a timeout. She had to ask Crawley what the play was as they returned to the court.
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Another interesting sidelight is that Hatchell was an assistant coach for the 1988 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team which won the gold medal at the Games in Seoul, Korea. The ball slithered through the net for Smith’s only 3-pointer of the season, UNC won 60–59, and the Tar Heels (33–2) were national champions on a memorable Sunday afternoon that fans, players and coaches will never forget.
A respect for her elders and a strong faith in God were at the heart of Smith's upbringing in Shelby, where she and her three brothers were raised in the embrace of a large extended family. She helped her grandmother Ida learn to read, and she sang in the choir and played keyboards by ear in the New Life Christian Center, where her father, Ulysses, preached on Sundays. "If her parents are supposed to be in the stands for a game and are late, Charlotte isn't worth a darn until they get there."
One of them was Cynthia Cooper, who would become a four-time WNBA Finals MVP. Smith is well known for his charitable pursuits, including a US$2.5 million gift in 1997 to his alma mater, Michigan State University, where he was a star guard under coach Jud Heathcote. Smith's donation helped to fund the Clara Bell Smith Student Athlete Academic Center, which is named for his mother. This was the largest single donation by a professional athlete to his former school in history.[10]Smith also has a close philanthropic relationship with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta where he has hosted fundraising events for the pediatric hospital. Does that mean that this year she will finally move up and join that great fraternity above the rim? "Maybe even on the last play of the championship game. After all, I've got to have something to top last year's finish."
She was an assistant with several USA Basketball teams and spent nine seasons as an assistant at her alma mater. One was her idol, Michael Jordan, the basketball legend who hit the game-winner in the Tar Heels’ 1982 NCAA title game against Georgetown. As a young girl growing up in Shelby, N.C., Smith wanted to “be like Mike” even though her uncle is N.C. State’s great David Thompson and Dereck Whittenburg, who played on the Wolfpack’s 1983 title team, is her cousin. When she was in Italy, Smith met many women's college basketball stars that she never had the opportunity to see play stateside.
Charlotte Smith Returns To North Carolina For 30-Year Anniversary Of “The Shot”
By creating an account, you acknowledge that PBS may share your information with our member stations and our respective service providers, and that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. No portion of WNBA.com may be duplicated, redistributed or manipulated in any form. "There were so many women before my time that simply didn't have the opportunity. Anytime you have opportunity, it open doors, a lot of times to the unimaginable." Opportunity and exposure, Smith says, are keys to pushing women's sports into the future.
Atlanta Hawks
So what if Smith, then a junior, had made only eight of her 31 three-point attempts during the regular season? As she and the other Tar Heels headed back onto the floor for that last fraction of a second, Smith had 17 points and a women's-championship-game-record 23 rebounds against the Lady Techsters. Smith started in 59 of 78 games for Atlanta and averaged 16 points during the regular season and 19 points in the playoffs, as the Hawks lost in a first round sweep to the Indiana Pacers.
In the offseason, the Hawks traded Smith in a 4 player trade to the Portland Trail Blazers alongside Ed Gray in exchange for Jim Jackson and Isaiah Rider. She had to make a college roster to learn from women who played at a high level, and travel overseas to build a professional career. Now, people can see women's pro leagues and women's college games more often, and an incredible talent like Cooper is far less likely to fall under the radar. In the national semifinal round, Smith and UNC made light work of Purdue for an victory. The next day the Tar Heels would take on a Louisiana Tech team on a 25-game win streak. According to Smith, the game was one of the most demanding of her basketball career.
Smith was selected fifth overall in the 1991 NBA draft by the Miami Heat, a young expansion team which featured other young players such as Glen Rice, Rony Seikaly and Brian Shaw. Smith played in 61 games in his rookie season, starting in 59 with averages of 12 points a game and 4.6 assists. The young team made the playoffs to face the top seeded defending champion Chicago Bulls, who swept the Heat in 3 games in the first round. Injuries limited Smith to 48 games in the 1992–93 season, but he increased his scoring average to 16 points a game. The following 2002–03 season would mark Smith's final year in San Antonio, while second-year point guard Tony Parker blossomed into the team's second leading scorer. The same was the case for guard Stephen Jackson who consequently came to serve as the team's main starting shooting guard, with Smith starting in just 18 games for the season as a result of injuries limiting him to just 58 total games.
"It opened up a world of opportunity and any time you give someone an opportunity, you give them a chance to be all that they can be." As a kid, she thought her only path to a pro career might be in the NBA. Years later, Smith still wasn’t sure why Hatchell picked her to take the shot. When they were traveling together when Hatchell was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Smith asked.
Smith has a unique perspective on the matter, her last-second shot lifting UNC to a win over Louisiana Tech and the 1994 NCAA title. Thursday marks the 30th anniversary of her buzzer beater, a story she reminisces on with regularity this time of year. In 1996, Smith was selected by the Colorado Xplosion in the third round of the initial draft held by the newly formed ABL. She played one season with Colorado, then was traded to the San Jose Lasers.
Portland would suffer another loss to the Lakers in the playoffs, this time in a three-game sweep in the first round. Following the season he would be traded to the San Antonio Spurs for Derek Anderson and Steve Kerr. However, all pales in comparison to that April 1994 day in Richmond where Smith and her Tar Heel teammates became legendary. “You only get one shot to win a national championship, and we accomplished our primary goal,” she said. The 1998–99 season would be limited to 50 games as a result of a league wide lockout, and in 36 games Smith averaged 18.7 points a game and led the Hawks to another 5 game first round victory over Detroit. The Hawks had no answer, however, for the New York Knicks, and again the Hawks were eliminated in the semifinals.
UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell, another North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer, first called for a lob to Sylvia Crawley. When the Lady Techsters appeared to have the play covered, UNC called another time out and this time the Heels – and Smith – were going for the win. The rest was history, as Smith set a pick and rolled to a spot right in front of the UNC bench before lofting up the game-winning 3-pointer. Few will argue women’s college basketball has ever been hotter, audiences tuning in for a product brimming with storied programs, transcendent coaches and a cache of emerging talent. Charlotte Smith's continued leadership and coaching expertise will be pivotal as the Elon Phoenix strive for further success in future games and tournaments. "I talk about how it's not how you start but how you finish," Smith said.
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