A New Jersey native, Jim played Carolina basketball under Dean Smith and was a member of Tau Epsilon Phi Fraternity. He earned his law degree from UNC before beginning his career as a college athletics administrator. As the former commissioner of the Big Ten Conference from 1989-2020, he is regarded among college athletics as being influential in creating and sustaining the Bowl Championship Series. Jim previously served as chair of the GAA’s Board of Directors.  He received the university’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and was selected as a 2020 recipient of the GAA’s Distinguished Service Medal.

Eddie came to Carolina from New York where he majored in math and was a fraternity brother with Jim in Tau Epsilon Phi. He played basketball at UNC before becoming part of Dean Smith’s coaching staff from 1971-1986.  Eddie left Carolina to become the head basketball coach at Wichita State University.  He also coached at Vanderbilt University before moving to the University of South Carolina where he earned SEC Coach of the Year accolades in 1993 and 1997.  After his retirement from coaching, Eddie served on the GAA’s Board of Directors.

Charles was recruited by Dean Smith and became the first Black scholarship athlete at The University of North Carolina. He played on the U.S. gold medal team at the 1968 Olympics. His professional basketball career spanned 10 years when he played for the Virginia Squires (ABA), Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.  He earned NBA All-Star honors and played on the Celtics 1976 NBA Championship team. After retiring from professional basketball, he served as a marketing director for Champion, then as executive vice president of CTS, a telemarketing firm, before owning his own business. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. Charles also served on the GAA’s Board of Directors.