The day I met Dean Smith
When you grow up in North Carolina you know basketball. Most everyone has heard the term ‘Tobacco Road’ and know the stories of Duke University, North Carolina State, Wake Forest and the University of North Carolina. If you know anything about basketball, you have heard the name Michael Jordan.
In the summer of 1984 I was working for Eastern Air Lines in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a newly established hub operation for Eastern and I was part of the start-up. The employee base was made up of people who had been with Eastern for a number of years and transferred to Kansas City to start-up the operation. People had come from all over, North, South and East mostly. We were a very tight team and it didn’t take long for people to get to know who you were and where you were from.
This one particular day, I was on gate duty. Around 1p, I was to be the boarding agent for the Eastern Air Lines flight to Topeka, Kansas. I had boarded the flight many times before and it was always a light load.
I got a phone call from my friend and colleague, John Payne. He went on to say, you are going to have a special passenger today, it’s Dean Smith and his family. I was stunned for a moment, I collected myself and said “thanks for the heads-up. I checked in the computer and sure enough, there he was. He was traveling with his wife, daughter and their nanny.
I recall Mr Smith coming to the gate with his tickets in hand and asking about his seat assignments. I made some adjustments to his seats and told him he was all set. He then asked me an unusual queston. He said “ what is the latest I can get on the plane?” I explained that I would be making a pre-boarding announcement about 20 minutes before departure and then a final call announcement 10 minutes before departure. He then asked me, if he could hear the announcement from outside the gate area on the curb. He acknowledged that he could not smoke in the terminal and wanted to some a cigarette outside on the sidewalk before he got on the plane. It was then that I told him I was from Charlotte, NC and that I knew who he was. I congratulated him and his team for their NCAA National Championship win the year before in 1983. I said ‘Mr Smith, this plane is not going anywhere until you are ready to go.” He just smiled, walked over to his family and handed them the tickets.
He them proceeded to walk out on to the curb to light up his smoke. At that time at Kansas City International Airport, there was a glass wall the sectioned off the terminal from outside. There was a huge passenger walk way that ran the length of the terminal. There was another glass all that separated the terminal walk way from the gate area.
I could see him, he could see me. I saw hm light one cigarette after another. For smokers, it’s called ‘hot boxing’. In the space of 20 minutes, he must have smoked a half a pack.
At 10 minutes before departure, his family boarded the plane. I gave him a wave and he finished his last cigarette and came into the gate area and boarded the plane. We gave each other a head nod and he got on his plane to Topeka, Kansas.
For those that know the story of Dean Smith. You will know he grew up in Emporia, Kansas and played basketball for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. He was on the team that won the NCAA National Championship in 1952.
That Jayhawk team was coached by Phog Allen. The home court at the University of Kansas is called Allen Field House. He has the distinction of being coached in 1904 by nome other than James Naismith, the man he founded the game of basketball.
