History: Building Carolina Basketball's 'New Blue Heaven'

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Dean E. Smith Center. To mark the occasion, we’re sharing this article from the Inside Carolina archives by former contributor Rocky Rivero about the construction of the building.

As a man suffering from a fatal disease, Hargrove “Skipper” Bowles couldn’t be without his respirator for more than an hour. He still decided to part with it momentarily for a chance to experience something very significant in his lifetime. Seated in a wheelchair, Bowles was led into a cavernous space that radiated Carolina Blue from every direction. 

It was his fundraising that provided much of the $33.8 million in private donations for the arena that surrounded him. A natural luminescence emanated from the ceiling and reflected off of the basketball court. Within that light, Bowles smiled broadly beside the home team’s bench at the expanse of the arena.

He returned four days later to throw the ceremonial jump ball at the first home game of the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center (referred to as the SAC at the time, but forever nicknamed the “Dean Dome”) on Jan. 18, 1986. The Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils by three points in a historic victory. It had been six years since Bowles introduced the slogan of his monumental fundraising campaign for a new arena: “Pride Will Build It.”

There were 2,362 monetary contributions behind the construction of the Smith Center. It was an unprecedented endeavor in college sports which inspired an octagonal dome funded entirely by private donations. Before it could be erected, it was discussed only as a possibility by UNC athletic director Bill Cobey and Chancellor Ferebee Taylor in 1978.

The University was sponsoring a fundraiser called Carolina Challenge for improvements such as a $22 million library by the Student Union. During the drive, a prohibition was in place against campus foundations from sponsoring fundraisers of their own. Taylor often said the most important part of the “house” was the education of his students.

He told Cobey that sponsors might be distracted by the potential for an athletic venue before Carolina Challenge was scheduled to finish on June 30, 1980. However, the chancellor did say a committee for a new arena would be created before the University’s fundraiser was concluded. Cobey then scheduled a meeting with two influential men where the Tar Heels played their home games until 1986: Carmichael Auditorium.

Carolina head coach Dean Smith and Ernie Williamson, executive vice president of the Educational Foundation, spoke with Cobey about his conversation with the chancellor. Smith recalls in his memoir, “A Coach’s Life,” that he agreed with the decision to delay action for a new arena. “It was a great decision, since the ‘house’ needed some work,” he said.

However, fans argued that the 10,000 seats in Carmichael weren’t enough to deal with the increasing demand for tickets. There were also complaints that the antiquated locker rooms and facilities had become a liability for recruiting. Smith disagreed with both of those assessments in his autobiography.

“From a business standpoint, I’ve always believed that when you can’t get a ticket, that’s the best situation for a program. Nor did I buy the theory that that we needed a state-of-the-art facility to recruit. I don’t think a facility necessarily sells a prospect,” he said. 

Eventually, Smith decided a new arena was necessary because it would allow for more students and alumni to attend the games. He also felt committed to the project because of a close friend. “I had great respect for Skipper Bowles, the legendary Carolina political fundraiser who was chairing the project,” he said.

The chancellor had appointed Bowles as chairman of a committee for a student activities center in 1979. One year later, the request for a special permit to build an athletic coliseum was discussed by the Chapel Hill Town Council. There were residents in attendance who opposed the proposed location on south campus because of concerns about noise and traffic.

Gordon Rutherford, the University planning director, spoke at the meeting in favor of the new arena. “We are not in the commercial coliseum business. We are not in the money-making business. We are trying to facilitate the needs of the campus,” he said. The special permit was eventually accepted for the area between Manning Drive and Mason Farm Road.

It had been decided that the money for the project should come entirely from private donations. During the summer of 1980, Smith traveled with Bowles to ask for contributions in 40 cities around North Carolina. Hakan-Corley and Associates, an architectural firm based in Chapel Hill, gave the pair blueprints and a model of their proposed arena for the presentations.

Smith wasn’t comfortable with asking for donations when he felt there were more worthy causes, such as poverty, that could use the money. “The more I said we didn’t need a new arena, the more they seemed to want one,” he said in his book. He revealed his uneasiness with soliciting donations during a visit with Bowles at the home of a wealthy alumnus.

“What do you think I should give?” Smith was asked by the man.

The coach wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He stammered before replying, “What about $10,000?”

Bowles excused himself and Smith for a moment to discuss the proposal outside the office. When they returned to the room, Bowles politely had the man ask the same question again. They negotiated $250,000 and offered the man guaranteed seats in the arena if he continued giving to the Educational Foundation annually.

Some fans argued that giving the closest seats to those who’d made the most significant contributions would damage the arena’s home-court advantage. The coach addressed the issue in 1996 as to what had been deemed the “wine and cheese” crowd at the Smith Center. “Maybe it would be better if more of our students were closer to the floor,” he said. “But I can’t go back on my word to people. I promised them that if they gave the money, they could pick where they wanted to sit.”

After the fundraising tour was done, the donations continued arriving from all over the nation. The campaign also included letters addressed to all the University’s alumni, a plan proposed by Williamson, a former UNC football player.

“Well, you wouldn’t believe the response we got,” he told The Chapel Hill News. “The first call we had was a pledge that doubled the cost of the mailing.” The most that was contributed by one person was $1 million. Williamson recalled two letters he received, each with a $5 donation, from children who gave their allowance to be among the names listed in the arena’s concourse as contributors.

The possibility of a new arena began to become reality at the groundbreaking ceremonies on April 18, 1982. The proposed site of the Smith Center was on seven and one-half acres in a wooded ravine. It was there among those pine trees that Bowles celebrated the achievement while tossing dirt and leaves in the air with his shovel, alongside many other University dignitaries and the basketball coaching staff.

Smith stood there smiling with a hard hat upon his head and a shovel in his hands less than a month after his first national championship. Most of the people in attendance wore similar hats with the inscription: “New Blue Heaven—A Reality.” The Carolina band played “Carolina Victory” while blue and white balloons floated in the air.

The fundraiser itself had earned more than $25 million from 1,709 contributions. It had been four years since the possibility of a new arena was discussed. “It’s a pleasure to finally reach this point,” Smith told The Chapel Hill News. “But this building won’t just be for basketball but for the whole university.”

Construction of the arena began four months later and was scheduled to finish in the fall of 1984. The deadline couldn’t be achieved so the project was postponed another year. It was decided the first game at the Smith Center would be the season-opener in 1985 against UCLA and Reggie Miller, who ended up playing 18 NBA seasons.

Meanwhile, concerns about limited parking at the Smith Center were being raised. Chapel Hill zoning laws required at least one parking space per every four occupants. each space had to be within 2,500 feet of the building to be acceptable. However, it was clear that the 20,000 seats estimated for the arena wouldn’t be compatible with the zoning restriction.

Rutherford, in his 15th year as the University’s planning director, explained the discrepancy to The Daily Tar Heel. He said the high ratio of students on campus that were expected to attend the events allowed for the zoning restriction to be modified. Those who couldn’t afford the $10,000 parking spaces offered to Rams Club members near the arena were disappointed with the arrangement. There were 656 parking spaces surrounding the venue and approximately 4,500 were in the area.

The Smith Center was eventually built with 21,426 seats and three levels. Hakan-Corley, the architecture firm that provided the blueprints and model for the fundraising tour, was the primary designer. The amount of money that had been donated allowed them to make improvements during the construction of the arena.

The seating was to be composed entirely of benches until the fundraising campaign provided them with the money to include individual seats. Glenn Corley, one of the primary architects, was particularly impressed with the basketball court. “I’m convinced that there’s not a better floor made by anybody,” he told The Chapel Hill News.

The estimated cost of the court was $150,000, which was $80,000 more than what was projected for the original design. Corley said a complex system of springs beneath the court was devised to give it more resilience. “I don’t know of anyone in the country who is doing a floor like this,” he said.

It was on that same court that Bowles saw the arena for the first time. After the deadline for the season opener had been missed, the building was completed when he made his visit on Jan. 14, 1986. Smith delayed the formal dedication ceremony of the arena in his name until September before the Pro-Alumni game that featured Michael Jordan. One day after that ceremony, with his vision realized, Bowles passed away in his Greensboro home from Lou Gehrig’s disease.