Roy Williams, Michael Jordan and the Snickers bar that saved North Carolina's national title

Bob Hille

Roy Williams, Michael Jordan and the Snickers bar that saved North Carolina's national title image

So a coach who’s accomplished as much as any and seen more than most, pauses and with a twinkle in his eye softly says, “You want me to give you a funny one?”

The question — in a grandpa’s-got-a-tale-to-tell tone — makes you mentally lean in. The answer, though said more politely, is: Not just yes, but hell yes.

Thus begins the story of how Roy Williams, a young assistant (“Other than my wife and my mother, I don't know that anybody knew I was on the bench, you know, at that point”) almost missed Dean Smith’s first NCAA Tournament title at North Carolina.

MORE: Roy Williams reminisces 40 years after UNC's 1982 title

Almost missed the 1982 national championship game at the Superdome, the one where Tar Heels freshman Mike Jordan became Michael Jordan.

Almost missed what left The Sporting News to say in the April 17, 1982, issue: “If there is one trademark of Smith's teams, it is poise.”

Hold that thought.

This was all because of a candy bar, but not just any candy bar, Williams told The Sporting News 40 years after the fact. It had to be a Snickers.

“I’m superstitious, people think very superstitious,” he said, beginning the explanation for why exactly he needed — no, had to have — a Snickers on the day, March 29, 1982, that North Carolina was playing Georgetown for the national title.

Williams had acquired the habit of having a Snickers bar in his jacket pocket because the Tar Heels won when he ate one before each game — except for one. “I didn’t get a chance to get a candy bar and we got our butts beat,” he said.

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It was the only game UNC lost at home that season; suffice it to say that Carolina wasn’t itself when Roy was hungry. So obviously the reason North Carolina reached the Final Four in 1982 is that Roy Williams consumed a Snickers bar before every game, up to and through the NCAA Tournament, all the way to New Orleans.

 

 

Plot twist for dramatic effect: “In the New Orleans Superdome in 1982, they had no candy in the arena … none,” Williams said, his voice rising four decades later at the very thought.

Assessing the situation — find a Snickers bar or risk losing the national championship because of him — Williams made his way to an exit, cleared it with security at the door to leave and come back then headed to a nearby convenience story for the Snickers.

Plot twist No. 2 for dramatic effect: “The (security) guy had left the door, the other guy wasn’t going to let me in,” Williams recalled. “I said, ‘I’ll be damned, this is the national championship game and somebody’s going to let my butt in.’ I’m standing there, I’m pleading, I’m down on my knees, I’m offering him money. … I said, ‘Get a program. I’m in the program.’ Finally, the supervisor came in and let me in.

“I was one supervisor away from not even being able to get into the dadgum arena,” Williams said, chuckling at the thought that one supervisor — OK, one supervisor and one Snickers bar — almost prevented a date with destiny.

 

 

In fact, 25 years later, this time when Williams was North Carolina’s head coach in the Sweet 16 against Georgetown, the Snickers story came up when he was asked about memories of the ’82 championship. Jordan? James Worthy? Patrick Ewing?

Sure, he would add, “great plays by Michael” and “how dominant James was, how intimidating Patrick was.”

Yet he prefaced that with a memory so vivid he lapsed into present tense: “My biggest memory is how doggone scared I am, I'm helping coach a team in the national championship game and I'm not even going to get into the freaking arena.”

That led to an America-deserves-to-know line of questioning via transcripts of the 2007 media availability in East Rutherford, N.J.:

Q. Coach, do you still keep the candy bar in your pocket?

COACH ROY WILLIAMS: No.

Q. Was the candy bar a Snickers?

COACH ROY WILLIAMS: Yes, it was.

OK, it’s overly dramatic to say Williams’ poise in the face of getting out of and back into the Superdome to get a Snickers bar was key to the Tar Heels’ one-point victory that Monday night in New Orleans. We’ll never know.

But North Carolina did show the poise The Sporting News referenced. Sleepy Floyd’s leaning, double-clutch jumper in the lane gave Georgetown a 62-61 lead with 32 seconds to play.

That’s where TSN picked up its account in that April 17, 1982, issue.

Carolina … called a timeout to set its last attack. It could go to wonderful James Worthy, whose thundering drives over and around Ewing had produced 28 points and designation as the tournament's Outstanding Player. Smith instead chose Michael Jordan, the quick freshman guard, because of the gaps in Georgetown's 1-3-1 zone.

Carolina killed the clock until 15 seconds remained — enough for a rebound if the shot missed but only frantic moments for Georgetown if the shot was good. Jordan was to take his 16-footer from the right side of the court, but the spot was closed off. So Jimmy Black turned the play back to the left side and Jordan took his shot from directly in front of Dean Smith and the Tar Heels' bench. Smith could see the shot was straight and true before anyone else.

The Carolina bench, Williams included, jumped as one with excitement, but Smith stood up in his dark blue suit and held out his hands to tell them all that they still had to hold off Georgetown for 15 seconds.

Moments later Georgetown’s Freddie Brown, apparently lost in the moment, inexplicably passed the ball to UNC’s Worthy. “Oh, he threw it to the wrong man!” CBS’s Gary Bender exclaimed on the call.

The game and championship was North Carolina’s.

“And,” Williams told The Sporting News with a smile 40 years later, “I’m still superstitious.”

Bob Hille

Bob Hille Photo

Bob Hille, a senior content consultant for The Sporting News, has been part of the TSN team for most of the past 30 years, including as managing editor and executive editor. He is a native of Texas (forever), adopted son of Colorado, where he graduated from Colorado State, and longtime fan of “Bull Durham” (h/t Annie Savoy for The Sporting News mention).