Up-close, behind-the-scenes biography of the winningest coach in college basketball history.

Among many legendary episodes from the life and career of men's basketball coach Dean Smith, few loom as large as his recruitment of Charlie Scott, the first African American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Drawn together by college basketball in a time of momentous change, Smith and Scott helped transform a university, a community, and the racial landscape of sports in the South. But there is much more to this story than is commonly told. In Game Changers, Art Chansky reveals an intense saga of race, college sport, and small-town politics. At the center were two young men, Scott and Smith, both destined for greatness but struggling through challenges on and off the court, among them the storms of civil rights protest and the painfully slow integration of a Chapel Hill far less progressive than its reputation today might suggest. Drawing on extensive personal interviews and a variety of other sources, Chansky takes readers beyond the basketball court to highlight the community that supported Smith and Scott during these demanding years, from assistant basketball coach John Lotz to influential pastor the Reverend Robert Seymour to pioneering African American mayor Howard Lee. Dispelling many myths that surround this period, Chansky nevertheless offers an ultimately triumphant portrait of a student-athlete and coach who ensured the University of North Carolina would never be the same.

Includes new chapter on the surprising 2009-2010 season

The inside story of how one of the most successful college basketball programs in the nation was built

The 2009-10 NCAA college basketball season marked the 100th anniversary of North Carolina basketball. The UNC Tar Heels have won two NCAA championships since 2005, and own more victories over the last half-century than any other college team.

But it wasn't always that way.

For most of the first 50 years the team existed at UNC, the sport was an afterthought. But that all changed in 1952 with the arrival of Frank McGuire. When Roy Williams and the Tar Heels won the 2005 and 2009 national championships, they could thank Frank McGuire and his protege, Dean Smith, for starting the tradition of triumph. Art Chansky, who has covered UNC basketball for more than 30 years, constructs an intimate narrative of how three dramatically different coaches built the longest-lasting dynasty in college basketball.

The banners of those teams hang in the rafters today, warming the hearts of all those who have worshipped UNC's Light Blue Reign over the last fifty years--and counting. Part history, part centennial celebration, "Light Blue Reign "is not simply about one team's victories--it's about the dedication, passion, and love for a sport that players and fans of any loyalty will understand.

NEW MATERIAL FROM THE 2005-2006 SEASON "It's not about me versus Dean, or me against Roy or Dean against Vic Bubas. Duke and Carolina will be here forever."
---Mike Krzyzewski
For fifty years the rivalry between Duke and Carolina has featured famous brawls, endless controversy, long-nurtured hatred---and some of the best basketball ever played in the history of the sport. For Duke and UNC players and fans, the competition is not about winning a prize, trophy or title---it's about bragging rights and raw pride.
"Blue Blood" is a thrilling chronicle of the Duke-Carolina rivalry as it has evolved over the last fifty years. With unparalleled insider access, veteran journalist and author Art Chansky details the colorful, revered, and respected rivalry---for the first time ever.
The Duke-Carolina rivalry has fostered more than thirty former players from the two schools playing or coaching in the NBA; it has enchanted a nation of spectators to watch games between the archrivals---garnering some of the highest regular-season TV ratings in history. "Blue Blood" celebrates the history of this rivalry, the traditions, the heritage, and, most importantly---spectacular basketball. "You can see the beads of sweat on coaches' and players' faces as the tale by this former sports editor for the "Durham Morning Herald" unfolds."
---"News & Record" (Greensboro, NC)
"A book on this rivalry was long overdue, and Chansky does it justice. This is sure to become a staple of every Tar Heel or Blue Devil fan's library."
---"InsideCarolina.com"
"A holy text for both sides of the rivalry. . . . This book is a coffee table necessity for anyone that claims to have a background incollege basketball . . . you need to read this book cover to cover as many times as possible until you can recite from it."---"The East Carolinian"
"I'm biased, but I think this is the greatest rivalry, not just in college basketball, but in all of sports."
---Dick Vitale, ESPN
"Art Chansky has more than learned what Duke-Carolina is all about; he's "lived" it for more than thirty years. His columns, commentaries, and characterizations have long been on the money, and "Blue Blood" puts them all together in an anticipated and entertaining work that reads more like a novel. But truth "is" stranger than fiction, and Chansky tells it just like it is."
---Curry Kirkpatrick, who has covered Duke-Carolina for "Sports Illustrated,""" ESPN, and "ESPN the Magazine"