On this day 30 years ago, the Dean Smith Center was opened for ball. The first game played in it was against Duke and the Tar Heels came away with a 95-92 win. It expanded the seating from 10,180 to 21,444 before more renovations in 1992 and 2000. Warren Martin was the first Tar Heel to score in the new arena and NBA champ Kenny Smith is credited with the first assist to Martin.
Naturally, the arena is named for coach Dean Smith who coached the team from 1961 to 1997. That makes him one of the few coaches who ever coached in an arena named after him and he coached such legends as Michael Jordan, Larry Brown, Billy Cunningham Brad Daugherty, and Sam Perkins among others.
