Chansky’s Notebook: The Pioneer

Posted Oct 21, 2025
Carolina has now lost two of its athletic pioneers in October. Last week, I wrote about the late Randy Wiel, the first foreign player in Dean Smith’s program that started a trend when he arrived from Curacao and graduated in 1979. Earlier in the month, Ricky Lanier passed away at age 76. He was the first black scholarship football player at UNC and the ACC. (Chapelboro.com)

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