Obama honors ‘gentleman’ Dean Smith

President Obama on Sunday honored college basketball coaching legend Dean Smith, who died late Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. at the age of 83.

{mosads}“Last night, America lost not just a coaching legend but a gentleman and a citizen,” Obama said in a statement. “When he retired, Dean Smith had won more games than any other college basketball coach in history. He went to 11 Final Fours, won two national titles, and reared a generation of players who went on to even better things elsewhere, including a young man named Michael Jordan — and all of us from Chicago are thankful for that.”

Obama said Smith “showed us something that I’ve seen again and again on the court — that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jumpshot alone ever could.”

“He graduated more than 96 percent of his players and taught his teams to point to the teammate who passed them the ball after a basket,” Obama added.

“He pushed forward the Civil Rights movement, recruiting the first black scholarship athlete to North Carolina and helping to integrate a restaurant and a neighborhood in Chapel Hill,” Obama said.

The president also said the former University of North Carolina coach, in his final years, showed how to fight an illness with “courage and dignity.”

“For all of that, I couldn’t have been prouder to honor Coach Smith with Medal of Freedom in 2013,” Obama said. “Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his wife Linnea, to his family, and to his fans all across North Carolina and the country.”

“Brooke & I are deeply saddened to hear of Dean Smith’s passing,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) tweeted on Sunday. “His accomplishments as coach, mentor, & teacher made him a legend in NC.”

“He was a coach on and off the field, encouraging his players to excel in the classroom. He and his family are in my prayers today,” Burr added.

— This report was updated at 2:56 p.m.