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Basketball Hall of Famer and former North Carolina men's basketball coach Dean Smith died on February 7th.
I didn't know much about him.
Oh, it's easy to find out that he coached the Tar Heels for 36 years; that he won 879 games which was the record when he retired; that he won a couple of national championships; that he graduated 96.6% of his players and that he was born in Emporia, Kansas.
But that really doesn't tell me much about him. His success on the court means very little to me as I don't trust the honesty of college athletics and thus don't trust those who succeed in that business.
People say Smith ran a clean program, but people say that about most any coach until proven otherwise. Unfortunately, many have been proven otherwise.
His players seemed to have loved him too, but lots of players have an affinity for the men who've coached them.
But then there's this...
You might have read the story last week.
In his will Dean Smith directed his estate to send a check for the amount of $200 to every letter winner he had ever coached, from managers to bench warmers to superstars, about 175 in all. If you do the math that cost his estate about $35,000.
With the check was sent this letter:
Dear [Player's Name],
As you are aware Coach Dean Smith passed away on February 7, 2015. As Trustee of the Dean E. Smith Revocable Trust, I am responsible for carrying out the direction of Coach Smith with respect to a small bequest to each varsity basketball letterman he coached.
Each player was important and special to Coach Smith and when he prepared his estate plan, Coach wanted to reach out to each of his letterman (lettermen). Accordingly, Coach directed that following his passing, each letterman be sent a two hundred dollar ($200.00) check with the message "enjoy a dinner out, compliments of Coach Dean Smith." Enclosed is a check in the amount of two hundred dollars ($200.00) with the notation "Dinner out."
Please enjoy your dinner out.
Now that tells me something about Dean Smith.
And if you don't think care and compassion and kindness are a part of leadership, then you've missed the entire point.
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