Willie Cooper honored by UNC as its first African-American player

Posted Feb 14, 2020
55 years ago, Willie Cooper became the first African-American basketball player at North Carolina. In a decision that caused him anguish at times over the years, Cooper decided to stop playing basketball and focus on academics, thereby relinquishing the chance to become UNC's first varsity black basketball player. Instead that distinction went to Charlie Scott. (Wake Weekly)

Related: Basketball, Basketball Recruiting

Terrence Brown Q&A: 'Winning is My Biggest Focus'
As a sophomore at Fairleigh Dickinson, Terrence Brown averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. He parlayed that into a...
Fri May 29, 2026

Terrence Brown Officially Joins UNC Basketball Family
Terrence Brown, a senior guard from Minneapolis, is joining the University of North Carolina men's basketball team. Brown has scored 1,542 points in three seasons,...
Fri May 29, 2026

Video: Locked On Tar Heels - UNC Basketball's ACC Schedule
The ACC revealed the 2026-27 conference opponents on Thursday for men's basketball. The Tar Heels, as usual, will play Duke twice, with Louisville as the...
Fri May 29, 2026

Carolina Insider Podcast: Chapel Hill Regional, Bubba Cunningham and Niall Sheils Donegan join
UNC Baseball hosts a difficult regional to begin NCAA Tournament play (12:07). Bubba Cunningham discusses his tenure as AD (39:10). Niall Sheils Donegan from men's...
Fri May 29, 2026