UNC on TV, March 1957

It was 1957, on a Saturday in March. My parents had just brought my 17-year-old sister home from Duke University hospital. She had surgery for a terminal brain tumor and was to be bedridden. Since we did not have a TV, my uncles pooled their resources and bought my sister a TV that she could watch during her long hours in bed.

Our family settled down for our first night of TV in our own home. At about 9 p.m., the usual bedtime hour, my mother and younger brothers and sisters went to bed. However, my father and I remained up because there was to be a special basketball game on, UNC versus Kansas for the NCAA championship.

The game was a thriller, heart-stopping from beginning to end, and at the end it was tied. After the first overtime, my mother insisted that my father go to bed, and he did. I remained up, through two more OTs, and the game ended at 12:15 a.m. with UNC winning 54-53.

That day was one of firsts: our first TV, first televised game and the first NCAA championship for UNC. What a day!

Tommy Denning
Locust
Union Power Cooperative