Official Site of the Tar Heels · Jun 18, 2022
Lucas: Carolina Loses A Legend
By Adam Lucas
I never saw Lennie Rosenbluth play and maybe you didn't either, and it doesn't matter one bit.
Because Rosenbluth, who died Saturday at the age of 89, is probably responsible for more Carolina Basketball fans than any individual other than Michael Jordan. And you could make a very fair argument that without Rosenbluth, there was no Jordan. Because without Rosenbluth—the superstar on the undefeated national championship 1957 team—there was no Dean Smith, who met Frank McGuire on that fateful championship weekend in 1957. That meeting set in motion Smith's eventual move to Carolina as an assistant coach, which in turn helped make Tar Heel basketball part of all of our lives.