Former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith left each of the varsity lettermen he coached at North Carolina $200 for a "dinner out," according to a letter one of his attorneys sent to his former players that was posted to Twitter on Thursday.
Tim Breedlove, a Charlotte, N.C., lawyer who is the trustee of the Dean E. Smith Revocable Trust, confirmed the authenticity of the letter during a phone interview with The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday.
Breedlove said Monday that he mailed "about 180" of the letters -- with a $200 check enclosed -- to Smith's former players.
Breedlove said he was still tracking down the addresses of a few of Smith's former players.
The Hall of Fame coach died Feb. 7 at age 83, and a memorial service two weeks later at the campus arena that bears his name drew about 10,000 people with lines snaking around the building more than an hour before fans could enter. It drew a list of attendees that included current UNC coach and Smith disciple Roy Williams and former players Phil Ford, Brad Daugherty and Antawn Jamison.
Smith spent 36 seasons with the Tar Heels and led them to national championships in 1982 and 1993 before retiring in 1997 as the winningest men's coach in Division I history with 897 career victories -- a mark that has since been surpassed by Bob Knight and longtime rival Mike Krzyzewski.
Fans, not grads
A new Duke University study revealed that most die-hard sports fans did not attend the universities they support.
Charles Clotfelter, a professor of public policy at Duke, researched which college sports teams were mentioned in obituaries. Clotfelter said only about a third of what he called "true believers" were alumni of their teams' universities.
"Many more people were linked to ... the college they they loved by having lived in that state than having gone to the school," Clotfelter told Eric Hodge of North Carolina Public Radio.
Clotfelter said about one-third of the die-hard fans in his study didn't go to college at all. The research was published online by the Social Science Quarterly.
Watch out
The Nippon Ham Fighters, a Japanese baseball team, have been ordered to pay a woman $350,000 in damages after she was hit in the face by a foul ball at Sapporo Dome in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Japan.
The incident occurred in August 2010, and the woman, who is in her 30s, lost sight in her right eye after being hit by the ball.
Sapporo district court judge Yasuhiro Hasegawa ruled Thursday in favor of the woman, according to a report from the Kyodo news agency. The Fighters say they are considering an appeal.
The Fighters argued there are sufficient safeguards in place at Sapporo Dome, including public address announcements and notices posted on stadium signage.
Baseball stadiums in Japan have protective netting around the field of play, but the report from the Kyodo news agency stated balls still often fly into the stands.
Shark Nighto
The Las Vegas 51s and the Fresno Grizzlies, the Class AAA affiliates of the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants, will wear Jerry Tarkanian-themed jerseys April 19 to honor the late college basketball coach, then sell them for charity.
"What, no game-chewed towels?" Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times quipped.
Sports quiz
How many teams are in the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan?
Answer
12, with teams equally divided in the Pacific League and the Central League.
Sports on 03/27/2015