Sports Legends of the Carolinas

A three-time Olympic gold medalist, Heather O’Reilly was also one of the all-time greats at one of the all-time greatest dynasties in college sports -- the UNC women’s soccer team. O’Reilly helped lead UNC to two NCAA championships, in 2003 and 2006. She was already a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team while in school at Chapel Hill and played on that squad for 14 years, from age 17 to age 31. Besides winning gold medals with the USNWT in 2004, 2008 and 2012, she also won the women’s World Cup in 2015. After a long national and international soccer career, the 39-year-old O'Reilly has returned to Chapel Hill, where she coaches soccer, pursues a variety of business interests and chases after her two young sons. She talks in this podcast about juggling soccer and family life, as well as her hatred of penalty kicks and how she and her husband helped save the 100-year-old Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street from going out of business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Nantz is one of the most famous sports broadcasters in America. Since being hired by CBS Sports in 1985 at age 26, he’s become a 5-time national sportscaster of the year and has provided the play-by-play soundtrack for many of the most iconic moments in sports. Nantz has called multiple Super Bowls, Final Fours and the Masters. The Nantz family also has deep roots in North Carolina. Nantz, 65, not only was born in Charlotte, but both his mom’s and dad’s families are deeply embedded in our state. Nantz was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2024. For his "Sports Legends of the Carolinas" interview, Nantz sat with us in Greensboro, where he was broadcasting a golf tournament. We spoke about his family, the time he called a Super Bowl featuring the Carolina Panthers and the origin story about why he opens every telecast with the phrase “Hello friends.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julius Peppers, a fearsome pass-rushing defensive end, was one of the greatest Carolina Panther players ever. We caught up with Peppers at his home in Coral Gables, Fla., where he lives with his wife and children. He is preparing for a big weekend -- on Aug. 3rd, Peppers will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was elected in his first year of eligibility after 17 total seasons in the NFL -- 10 of them with the Panthers. Peppers finished his career fourth all-time in NFL sacks. Before that, he grew up in Bailey, N.C., and was both a football and basketball star for the UNC Tar Heels. Peppers is one of the rare athletes to have played in both the Super Bowl and the Final Four, and he thinks he could have been an NBA player if he pursued that avenue. He also talks about chasing Michael Vick, Carolina's 2003 Super Bowl season and what being a hall of famer means to him. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In North Carolina’s mountains, a football coach named Jerry Moore led Appalachian State to new heights two decades ago. Now 84, Moore coached the Mountaineers from 1989-2012 and built a dynasty in Boone, N.C. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, he directed the Mountaineers all the way to the top of the mountain, winning three straight national titles at the FCS level. Those were the first three NCAA football championships any institution from the state of North Carolina had won, at any level. Moore also coached the Mountaineers to arguably the most famous upset in college football history — a 34-32 win against No. 5 Michigan, in the 2007 season opener. Moore earned his way into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014. In this interview, Moore talked about all of those championships, the brilliance of star quarterback Armanti Edwards and the upset in Ann Arbor, as well as making peace with his difficult departure from Appalachian State after the 2012 season and why he again fully embraces the program today. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jimmie Johnson is, without question, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. Three drivers rank at the very top of the all-time NASCAR Cup series champion standings, each with seven season titles apiece. They are Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Johnson. Of those three legends, Johnson is the only one who won five titles consecutively, from 2006-2010. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte in January. Johnson is now 48 years old, the same number that he made famous driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He still competes in select events and plans to do so in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday, for Legacy Motor Club, which he co-owns. This interview with Johnson, where he spoke about racing, family and the two times he thought his life might be over, was conducted in Daytona Beach, Fla. It occurred before the recent announcement that Johnson plans to pull off an unusual double on Sunday. He will first be part of NBC’s announcing team for the Indy 500, then will fly directly to Charlotte in time to drive in the Coke 600. Johnson and his family — wife Chandra and their two daughters, Genevieve and Lydia — plan to return to live in Charlotte later this year, but are spending this school year overseas in London. Chandra is also an art connoisseur and founded SOCO Gallery, based in Charlotte. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity; a longer version is available on the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast. The Johnson podcast episode is sponsored by Queen City Audio, Video and Appliances. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Dell Curry is now known in public mostly for being the father of two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steph Curry, he had his own stellar NBA career. Known for his three-point sharpshooting at a time when the NBA was far less enamored with that long-distance shot, the elder Curry had a 16-year NBA career that included 10 years as a player for the Hornets from 1988-98 -- the team's first 10 seasons. Curry earned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 1994 and retired as the Charlotte Hornets’ all-time leading scorer (a record that stood for 20-plus years before it was broken by Kemba Walker). He and Muggsy Bogues both came to the Hornets via the 1988 NBA expansion draft and quickly became fan favorites in Charlotte. Curry has served as the Charlotte Hornets’ color analyst on the team’s TV broadcasts since 2009. Now 59, Curry grew up in rural Virginia and has lived in Charlotte since his 2002 retirement from the NBA. He is the father of two current NBA players -- Steph and Seth -- and talks in this interview about the time Steph nearly quit basketball in frustration. We conducted this conversation in between sessions at a basketball camp Dell Curry has conducted for decades at Charlotte’s Levine Jewish Community Center. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. Our interns on this production are Zoe Williams and Christina Silvestri. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ahead of the Women's Final Four, in this special rebroadcast episode (originally aired on October 5th, 2022), Scott Fowler sits down with legendary USC coaching legend Dawn Staley. Dawn Staley, star of this week’s episode of “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” has had one of the most sensational careers in women’s basketball history. Currently the head women’s basketball coach at South Carolina, Staley’s Gamecock squads won national titles in both 2017 and 2022 and lead the nation in women’s basketball attendance every year. Under Staley, USC has also made the Final Four in four of the past seven seasons, and will be favored to repeat as national champions during the 2022-23 season. Before her standout coaching career, Staley, 52, was the ACC Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992 at Virginia; a three-time WNBA All-Star for the Charlotte Sting; and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. Staley looks back at her road to South Carolina; the possibility of someday coaching in the NBA; and why her former players think she's going soft. Then, Staley talks about sharing pieces of her national championship nets with Black coaches and journalists; her 5-year-old gray-and-white Havanese rescue dog, Champ, who’s become a star in his own right; and how she motivates players who have already won a national title. This episode was originally published in two parts, with the second exclusive to premium subscribers. Now, for the first time, the full interview is combined here. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Gastonia, Leonard Hamilton remembers restaurants he wasn’t allowed to come inside due to his skin color. He sat in the balcony of a movie theater because Blacks weren’t allowed to sit downstairs. He drank from one water fountain; whites drank from another. With the help of faith and family, Hamilton rose from those circumstances to a coaching career that has now spanned more than 50 years. At age 75, Hamilton has directed the Florida State basketball program since 2002 and will lead the Seminoles in the ACC tournament, which begins Tuesday in Washington, D.C. He previously was the head coach at Miami, Oklahoma State and, for one season, with the NBA's Washington Wizards. A major gospel music fan, Hamilton also has his own gospel music recording label. In his “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” interview, the three-time ACC Coach of the Year opened up about Gastonia, segregation and a coaching career where Hamilton has always been entrusted with teams that need “a little fixing up.” Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Petty is 86 years old now, and his seven NASCAR Cup championships and record 200 wins at the sport’s highest level came long ago. But Petty is still going strong in Level Cross (pop. 3694), which sits right in the middle of Charlotte and Raleigh. Petty lives a stone’s throw from the house where he was born, and that house sits right next to the Petty Museum that houses an incredible amount of his stuff. Nicknamed “The King” and a member of the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Petty long ago developed a signature look that is all his own: cowboy hat, black sunglasses, oversized belt buckle and cowboy boots. He showed up wearing exactly that to our interview. Honestly, I would have been a little disappointed if he didn’t. This interview with Petty serves as the Season 3 kickoff for the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” multimedia project. Petty and I sat inside his museum, on two high-back chairs, and talked about life, death, racing, autographs, Daytona, family and the time his own father took his first race win away from him via protest. After we were done, a surprisingly spry Petty hopped off the chair and said: “You got my whole history, didn’t ya?” Not quite, but we did hit a lot of the highlights. On the eve of the 2024 NASCAR season and the Daytona 500, there’s no better way to rev up the racing anticipation than a visit with “The King.” This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a once-in-a-generation quarterback at Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., Armanti Edwards led the Mountaineers to FCS national championships in 2006 and 2007 as well as an extraordinary road win over then-No. 5 Michigan, often called the biggest upset in college football history. Lightly recruited out of Greenwood, S.C., Edwards would become the first two-time Walter Payton winner as the FCS National Player of the Year. He was also a four-time All-American and led App State to a 42-7 record as a starter. Edwards then became a third-round NFL draft pick by the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers employed Edwards from 2010 to 2013, trying to switch him from a star quarterback to wide receiver and punt returner with little success. That was a period where Edwards said he experienced “the darkest time in my football career.” In our "Sports Legends" interview he also discussed in detail for the first time the circumstances of his release from the Panthers in 2013. Edwards would then have a strong career as a wideout in the Canadian Football League, where he once played on a team that won the CFL’s equivalent of the Super Bowl. He now lives in Charlotte with his wife and two children. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. McClatchy's director of audio is Davin Coburn. Our interns on this production are Zoe Williams and Christina Silvestri. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Dell Curry is now known in public mostly for being the father of two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steph Curry, he had his own stellar NBA career. Known for his three-point sharpshooting at a time when the NBA was far less enamored with that long-distance shot, the elder Curry had a 16-year NBA career that included 10 years as a player for the Hornets from 1988-98 -- the team's first 10 seasons. Curry earned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 1994 and retired as the Charlotte Hornets’ all-time leading scorer (a record that stood for 20-plus years before it was broken by Kemba Walker). He and Muggsy Bogues both came to the Hornets via the 1988 NBA expansion draft and quickly became fan favorites in Charlotte. Curry has served as the Charlotte Hornets’ color analyst on the team’s TV broadcasts since 2009. Now 59, Curry grew up in rural Virginia and has lived in Charlotte since his 2002 retirement from the NBA. He is the father of two current NBA players -- Steph and Seth -- and talks in this interview about the time Steph nearly quit basketball in frustration. We conducted this conversation in between sessions at a basketball camp Dell Curry has conducted for decades at Charlotte’s Levine Jewish Community Center. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. Our interns on this production are Zoe Williams and Christina Silvestri. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Burleson was the literal centerpiece of one of the best college basketball teams in the history of the Carolinas — the 1974 N.C. State Wolfpack. Burleson, point guard Monte Towe and high-flying forward David Thompson led that N.C. State team to a national championship, ending UCLA’s streak of seven consecutive NCAA titles in the national semifinal in double overtime and then beating Marquette in the final. Anxious to christen Burleson as college basketball’s tallest player, N.C. State listed him at 7-foot-4. Burleson was actually 7-2, but he was also a far more athletic center than most people assumed. A mountain of a man, Burleson grew up in a tiny town called Newland in the mountains of western North Carolina. As a teenager, Burleson was nicknamed the “Newland Needle” due to his skinny build. Burleson played for the U.S. Olympic team in 1972, where he had a terrifying experience. He was later named the two-time MVP of the ACC tournament, starring in one of the greatest college basketball games ever in the 1974 ACC tourney final against Maryland — a 103-100 Wolfpack win. After a seven-year NBA career that ended in 1981, Burleson returned to North Carolina and his beloved mountains. Now 71, he’s been a larger-than-life presence in his home county of Avery, where he served as a county planner for decades and also had a Christmas tree farm with his three sons that helped fund his missionary work. Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices