CHM Blog

Moments before it was the former UNC athletic director’s turn to speak, Chancellor Holden Thorp announced that the Carolina Leadership Academy – one of many things that will be part of Baddour’s legacy – would be renamed the Baddour Leadership Academy.

The gesture brought tears to Baddour’s eyes, and when he finally stepped to the mic, the first thing he said was, “I don’t know if I can do this.”

But he did, capping a night in which hundreds of friends, family and colleagues filled the Blue Zone to celebrate his 45 years at Carolina.

Thorp, former faculty athletics representative Jack Evans, softball coach Donna Papa, women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance, basketball coach Roy Williams and Baddour’s brother, Phil, all gave speeches.

“I loved every day working for Dick Baddour,” Williams said. The coach added that more importantly, he loved the person Baddour is. It was a theme echoed by everyone who stood in front of the microphone (and no doubt those chatting casually over drinks or plates of barbecue).

Baddour had 70-plus family members in attendance, in addition to the many members of the athletic department and university community. The senior members of the athletic department presented Baddour and his wife, Lynda, with a gift of a Caribbean cruise.

It was a gesture perhaps topped only by the renaming of the Carolina Leadership Academy. And once Baddour got his emotions under control after that announcement, it was no surprise to anyone in the room when the first line of his speech was simply, “I am Dick Baddour, and yes, I am a Tar Heel.”