For many years, a member of the GAA Board of Directors has presented a “My Carolina Story” at each of the board’s quarterly meetings, and we are sharing their stories with all of our alumni. Hark the Sound.
“I am proud to profess in front of all of you here today that I have an unabashed irrational passion for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.”
April 20, 2024
I am truly honored and humbled to be able to share my Carolina story with you all here today. It is not lost on me the accomplished Tar Heels who have shared their stories before me, and I count myself blessed to have this opportunity to join their ranks. I am also grateful for the experience of personally having heard the amazing “My Carolina Stories” from our fellow board members over the past three years. During each of those stories, I often pondered to myself what is my own Carolina story (not even thinking that I may one day be asked to share that story with you). Well, I hope that I am not breaking any rules, but my Carolina story, which defines what Carolina means to me has three parts, three themes, and can be summarized in three words. So please sit back, relax, and buckle up.
For my Carolina story, here are the three parts: pre-Carolina, Carolina and post-Carolina. Here are the three themes: ceiling, roof, champion. In all seriousness, the three themes are home, appreciation and legacy. And the three words: unabashed irrational passion. While for each of you the individual facts and stories will of course be different, I ask you whether these three parts, three themes and three words resonate in your own Carolina story. Now, my attempt at a love letter to Carolina.
Home
First, pre-Carolina and home. I am a Korean American Army brat who was born in 1973 in Brooklyn, New York. My father, Louis Patalano III, who would eventually serve close to 30 years in the Army, met my mother, Pong Hwa Kim (Kim Patalano), when he was stationed in Korea in 1970. They would eventually move to the U.S. and get married, and I was born more than nine months after that marriage. (To confirm, I did check the math, and it works out.) As a family, we lived the typical military life and moved every two to three years. We lived in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina (twice), Korea (twice) and Germany. And every two to three years, I had the challenge of making new friends. Whenever those friends asked me where I was from, I did not have a good answer. You see, I did not truly have a place that I considered to be home.
However, that started to change when my family first moved to North Carolina in the 1980s. Rewind to elementary school, and my family and I moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina for second, third and fourth grade — only to then move away to Korea. Fast forward next to middle and high school, and my family and I moved from Korea back to Fayetteville. Little known fact (especially for those who know how much Carolina blue I bleed today), but I was not the biggest UNC fan back in the day. In fact, during high school, I may have actually been a bigger fan of the original Cardiac Pack (not the one from last month), attended football camp at that other blue down the road and entertained the idea of wearing black and gold.
I did narrow my college choice down to UNC and one other school, both of which I intended to walk-on to play football. In true teenage fashion, I waited until the absolute last day to make a decision. And to be honest, I did not really make a decision at all. In fact, the decision was not made until a UNC coach happened to call me first, early on that morning on that last day and simply ask, “So, are you coming to Carolina?” and I answered, “OK.”
However, when I do a deeper dive on that decision, there is no question that fate — and likely my subconscious — played a large part. Between 10 to 20 of my high school graduating classmates, and a number of my closest friends, all decided to attend UNC, and they wanted me to join them. For the first time in my life, I had close friends for longer than three years. I had roots. I had a home in North Carolina. I couldn’t just give up those friends and my new home so easily. So off to Carolina I went, and so started four of the greatest years of my life.
It may sound cliché, but Carolina (the state and the school) finally gave me a home.
Appreciation
Second, Carolina and appreciation. Now about those four years. I am so grateful to Carolina for filling my life with so many cherished memories and experiences. Some of my favorites:
- Living for three years at Granville Towers (the place to be at UNC) during the 90s;
- Making my first ever “C” in biology and then telling my parents that grades don’t matter anymore (boy, did I regret that);
- Walking on and making the football team (I had a strong GPA in high school);
- Mouthing the words of the fight song (because embarrassingly I did not know the words) when upperclassmen made freshmen sing in front of the entire football team as a rite of passage;
- Having my football career cut short during practice after I injured my knee, which required surgery (two days before media day);
- Bright side: Doing my physical therapy with William Henderson [’96] (who, as you know, had a very successful NFL career) so I could have the story today that I proudly traded my promising NFL career for my career as a lawyer;
- Storming the field after the Georgia Tech football game and having a friend make it to the Carolina Inn before having to ditch the goal post padding;
- Attending three Final Fours as a student
- witnessing the men’s basketball team win it all in New Orleans; watching Donald Williams [’95], Eric Montross [’94] and crew win the title and then sleeping in the backseat of my car that night (long story);
- witnessing the women’s basketball team win it all in Richmond (when Charlotte Smith [’95] hit “the shot”); and
- returning to the men’s Final Four again in Seattle my senior year;
- Camping out for basketball tickets and sleeping on the floor of the Dean Dome;
- Camping out for Final Four tickets and being the first person in line;
- Playing Sega with Ed Geth [’96] until 4 in the morning;
- Dressing up as Kriss Kross for my first Halloween on Franklin Street (thank goodness, cell phone cameras were not a thing then);
- Running two failed campuswide campaigns for CAA president, which included
- campaign posters with me, Charlotte and Tonya;
- a campaign slogan of Carolina Blue & Lou;
- my friends using a microphone and belting out the windows of Granville: “Vote Lou for a Change”; and
- a “scandal” about a memo that I “allegedly” authored referencing the Shaggy DA that was covered by The DTH ;
- Being regulars at Players, drinking Holy Grails and dancing along to our friend DJ Matt K’s sets;
- Going to Rathskeller for All You Can Eat Ribs, one of my friends ordering more ribs only to be told no, him saying, “I thought this was All You Can Eat Ribs,” and the waiter responding, “That is all you can eat”;
- Attending an abbreviated Commencement ceremony in Kenan, thanks to a horrible storm, and becoming the first member of my immediate family to graduate from college.
While I am especially appreciative for all of those memories and experiences (partially just grateful that I survived), sticking to my theme of threes, there are three memories / experiences for which I owe Carolina the utmost appreciation:
- 1: I attended two open houses at UNC Law while I was an undergrad; it was those classes and that experience that cemented my desire to go to law school and pursue my career as a lawyer;
- 2: I met so many lifelong friends; as one example of many, I met Larry Gray [’95] during my freshman year, and he is still one of my best friends to this day; Larry lived in Hinton James (about the furthest away on campus that you can live from Granville) and was from Waynesville (about the furthest away in the state that you can live from Fayetteville, maybe a slight exaggeration); it is truly amazing how Carolina finds ways to bring people together;
- 3 (and mind you, she may have a completely different opinion about this): I first met my wife, Jodi Dixon [’96, (’97 MEd)] a double Tar Heel, who was at that time fulfilling her UNC student-teaching requirement at Carrboro Elementary.
Carolina gave me a career, friends and family. For that, I am appreciative.
Legacy
Third, post-Carolina and legacy. During a recent board meeting, Veronica [Flaspoehler ’08] touched on legacy a bit as she shared the story of growing up and never imagining having a name on a brick or in a building on campus, which made me think about my own Carolina legacy. I do not know how many of you are Broadway musical fans, but I am. And I have seen the Broadway musical Hamilton in-person 23 times. Now, I share that fact with you not as some homage to Michael Jordan [’96], but one, I have actually seen it live 23 times. And two, I share that fact because the musical contains one of my all-time favorite quotes: “What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”
Now, I know my name will never be on a building on this campus (at least legally), but I do wonder what will be my Carolina legacy. Will it be:
- Jodi;
- Our daughter, Ali, a UNC freshman, and her performances at PlayMakers;
- Our son, Will, who wants to attend UNC in 2025 (by the way, I am accepting commitments from all of you to write letters of recommendation on his behalf);
- Could it be our names on bricks, names on walls, names on classroom seats or names in athletic facilities (all legal and paid for, for the record);
- Our support of the Asian American Student Center;
- Our support of the women’s basketball and women’s gymnastics programs;
- The WRAL coverage, the Tar Heel Tribune article or the Carolina Insider podcast shout-out from Jones Angell [’01] and Adam Lucas about our Carolina women’s basketball jersey swaps during home games;
- The family Uber trip from Atlanta to the Final Four in New Orleans;
- My work to get Jenny Han [’02], Luis Miranda or Taylor Swift to visit campus (OK, two of the three are true; but how can you not have a gratuitous Taylor Swift plug on her album release weekend; plus, you know … manifesting … I’m just saying);
- My mentorship of Alex Chu [’20], a Carolina alum and successful attorney (who is also one of my best friends today);
- The countless UNC students and alums that I have spent time networking with over the years;
- My service on this board, the Board of Visitors, the Gillings School of Global Public Health Foundation Board, the Carolina Male Empowerment Network Advisory Board, the Campaign for Carolina Diversity Strategy Committee or as chair of the Alumni Committee on Racial & Ethnic Diversity (ACRED);
- My work for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (or Louisiana), Cape Fear Valley Health System or the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Again, seeds in the garden that I may never get to see. And I ask each of you to think about what will be your Carolina legacy.
To bring this all to a close (insert sigh of relief here), I want to start by publicly thanking my family (Jodi, Ali and Will) and parents (Lou and Kim) whose support and sacrifices over the years (including my dad being stationed in Korea by himself during my senior year of high school) that helped me to become the man that I am today. And to Carolina, this University has given me far more that I can ever give back — again, a life filled with family, friends, career, memories and experiences. Because of all of that and so much more, I am proud to profess in front of all of you here today that I have an unabashed irrational passion for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Home. Appreciation. Legacy. And that is My Carolina Story. And the best part of My Carolina Story … it is not over yet! Thank you! And Go Heels!