Broadvision

1957 Tar Heels and Coach McGuire

Unknown to me, there is actually a company by  the above name. My article  will not deal with them but rather  with an interesting concept in sports television that began in 1957. As Heels fans know, that was a  glorious year  for the basketball guys. Led by Lennie Rosenbluth and Coach Frank McGuire, Carolina went 32-0, winning the first NCAA championship for the program (no, I didn’t forget the undefeated champs of 1924) by beating Kansas in a fabulous three overtime thriller.

As might be expected, interest in the 1957 team grew dramatically as the victories piled up. Woolen Gym(built in 1937) held about 5000 people and was packed to the  rafters game after game. As the Duke game approached on February 9, interest was intensifying. UNC President William Friday and advertising executive Billy Carmichael came up with a unique plan to televise the game, but nothing like that which exists today. Working in tandem with WUNC public television, the plan they devised was ingenious.

There were obstacles to televising sports in those days, from the teams  and from radio stations among others. What would happen to ticket sales, would anyone even  care to go if they could see a  game for  free? The plan called for televising the game as it happened, no play-by-play, no commercials etc. You watched it as a fan who wa sathere and listened to the radio if you so chose. Voila! It worked. As  a youngster, I remember it well and for  me, it was as if I were  there. For all I knew, it might be as close as I would ever get to a game in person. It was great. Many times since then , I have turned down the television  and listened to Woody Durham and his predecessor, Bill( The Mouth of the South) Currie.

Woolen is still there, next to Carmichael which would  succeed  it in 1965. The  Smith Center would  arrive on the scene  in 1986. I was privileged to watch a game or two in Carmichael and it was great indeed. I can only imagine how it was in Woolen Gym  and its predecessor, The Tin Can which dates back to the 1920′s.

Broadvision, we salute you and those innovators who made it happen. For Carolina fans and others, you launched us on a magical journey.

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