DeCock: Ex-UNC star Tommy LaGarde builds career around unexpected
Posted Aug 19, 2012
A big man on some of the best UNC teams of the ’70s, his No.?45 is one of the honored numbers hanging from the roof of the Smith Center. Tommy LaGarde joined teammates Phil Ford, Walter Davis, Mitch Kupchak, John Kuester and Mike O’Koren in the NBA, and like many professional athletes, his life and career moved on to a second act. Except LaGarde’s second acts have second acts.
(Charlotte Observer)
Related: Basketball, Tar Heels in the NBA
Art’s Angle: Not Good EnoughThree nights after Hubert Davis’ team was outscored 11-3 in the closing minutes, the UNC coach was asked how it could possibly be guilty of...
Sun Jan 18, 2026UNC Men's Basketball moves up in NET rankings after Quad 1 loss at Cal
The NET rankings can be confounding, but that was good for UNC after it lost a second Quad 1 game in California. The Tar Heels’...
Sun Jan 18, 2026
Video: Locked On Tar Heels - Interview With Former UNC Basketball Walk-On Jackson Watkins
Jackson Watkins secures his place in UNC Basketball history with clutch "biscuit" buckets in the Smith Center. From draining a free throw in front of...
Sun Jan 18, 2026
UNC Basketball memories of first game at Smith Center might surprise some Tar Heels
It’s been 40 years since UNC Basketball played its first game at the Smith Center. On Jan. 18, 1986, the No. 1 Tar Heels had...
Sun Jan 18, 2026