LUCAS: PERSONAL TOUCH CHARACTERIZES MONTROSS...
Talk to enough people who know Eric Montross, and one thing becomes abundantly clear: he is going to hate this story.
"He's going to be terribly uncomfortable with this," says Keela Lyon, who has worked closely for years with Montross on fundraising for the UNC Children's Hospital. "He's going to kill me for talking to you."
"He is not going to like this at all," says Lucy Steiner, one of the founding members of the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation, who has likewise worked with the former Tar Heel big man for years on fundraising. "He does not like attention directed at him at all."
Even Eric's wife, Laura, who has been an instrumental part of all of the couple's community efforts, knows what the response will be. "He's going to be very uncomfortable with all the attention this will bring to him," she says.
So we should probably apologize to Eric Montross right here at the beginning. But there's simply no way to let people know that the center position for the Carolina basketball program has been named in Montross' honor without, you know, talking about Eric Montross.
An anonymous Rams Club donor endowed the scholarship and requested that the center position be named for Montross. It's to recognize his substantial contributions to Tar Heel basketball, of course. He was a member of the 1993 national championship team and a second-team All-America selection whose jersey hangs in the Smith Center rafters.
But the donor wanted to ensure that the recognition wasn't just about basketball. It's also about the personal touch that has become a Montross trademark since he and Laura returned to Chapel Hill, along with their children Andrew and Sarah, at the conclusion of Eric's nearly decade-long NBA career.
Even while he was in the pros, Montross had established a connection with the Children's Hospital through his relationship with the family of Jason Clark, a cancer patient befriended by Montross during his Carolina career. When Clark passed away, he left a checklist of items he felt would allow teenagers to be better served by the Children's Hospital. As soon as Eric and Laura were able, they established a Father's Day Basketball Camp to raise money for Jason's checklist at the Children's Hospital. The camp has raised nearly $2 million.
"Eric has done a great job of continuing to be engaged," Lyon says. "He asks all the right questions. He pushes us to be our best for the kids every day. How much he cares about this work really comes through in the service he does through our board and the camp, but also in general everyday advocacy."
It's virtually impossible to have any kind of friendship with either Montross and not know about their passion for the Children's Hospital. It comes through financially, of course, but also intangibly. It was Eric Montross who connected Luke Maye with the Children's Hospital, providing both sides of the equation with one of their most rewarding relationships. Countless other Tar Heels have first learned and gotten involved with the Children's Hospital because they heard about it through Eric Montross.
And that's not even his day job. He has worked with the Rams Club for over a decade, and was specifically tasked by Roy Williams with endowing the men's basketball program. That step was tremendously beneficial for men's basketball, of course, but also for the remainder of the athletic department, since every request the endowment can cover is one less need the program has from general department funds—which can then go to other sports.
Montross' passion for the Tar Heels regularly comes through in his Rams Club fundraising work; he's a living testament to the way the Carolina basketball experience can change a life. It comes naturally to him to talk about that experience, whether it's with a potential donor or during his analyst work on the Tar Heel Sports Network.
That's what helped establish the connection that led to the relationship with the donor who created the new endowment. And it's also what makes Montross such an effective advocate for every cause he champions, whether it's Carolina basketball or a life-changing community initiative.
"When Eric gets involved, he wants to be fully involved, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to help people understand why it's important," Steiner says. "He's a spokesman for the values of the program. At the end of the day, the work he does in the community and for the basketball program is not that different. Carolina basketball players are 18 and 19 and 20 years old. The idea of growing young people and seeing them thrive is really important to him."
Talk to enough people who know Eric Montross, and one thing becomes abundantly clear: he is going to hate this story.
"He's going to be terribly uncomfortable with this," says Keela Lyon, who has worked closely for years with Montross on fundraising for the UNC Children's Hospital. "He's going to kill me for talking to you."
"He is not going to like this at all," says Lucy Steiner, one of the founding members of the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation, who has likewise worked with the former Tar Heel big man for years on fundraising. "He does not like attention directed at him at all."
Even Eric's wife, Laura, who has been an instrumental part of all of the couple's community efforts, knows what the response will be. "He's going to be very uncomfortable with all the attention this will bring to him," she says.
So we should probably apologize to Eric Montross right here at the beginning. But there's simply no way to let people know that the center position for the Carolina basketball program has been named in Montross' honor without, you know, talking about Eric Montross.
An anonymous Rams Club donor endowed the scholarship and requested that the center position be named for Montross. It's to recognize his substantial contributions to Tar Heel basketball, of course. He was a member of the 1993 national championship team and a second-team All-America selection whose jersey hangs in the Smith Center rafters.
But the donor wanted to ensure that the recognition wasn't just about basketball. It's also about the personal touch that has become a Montross trademark since he and Laura returned to Chapel Hill, along with their children Andrew and Sarah, at the conclusion of Eric's nearly decade-long NBA career.
Even while he was in the pros, Montross had established a connection with the Children's Hospital through his relationship with the family of Jason Clark, a cancer patient befriended by Montross during his Carolina career. When Clark passed away, he left a checklist of items he felt would allow teenagers to be better served by the Children's Hospital. As soon as Eric and Laura were able, they established a Father's Day Basketball Camp to raise money for Jason's checklist at the Children's Hospital. The camp has raised nearly $2 million.
"Eric has done a great job of continuing to be engaged," Lyon says. "He asks all the right questions. He pushes us to be our best for the kids every day. How much he cares about this work really comes through in the service he does through our board and the camp, but also in general everyday advocacy."
It's virtually impossible to have any kind of friendship with either Montross and not know about their passion for the Children's Hospital. It comes through financially, of course, but also intangibly. It was Eric Montross who connected Luke Maye with the Children's Hospital, providing both sides of the equation with one of their most rewarding relationships. Countless other Tar Heels have first learned and gotten involved with the Children's Hospital because they heard about it through Eric Montross.
And that's not even his day job. He has worked with the Rams Club for over a decade, and was specifically tasked by Roy Williams with endowing the men's basketball program. That step was tremendously beneficial for men's basketball, of course, but also for the remainder of the athletic department, since every request the endowment can cover is one less need the program has from general department funds—which can then go to other sports.
Montross' passion for the Tar Heels regularly comes through in his Rams Club fundraising work; he's a living testament to the way the Carolina basketball experience can change a life. It comes naturally to him to talk about that experience, whether it's with a potential donor or during his analyst work on the Tar Heel Sports Network.
That's what helped establish the connection that led to the relationship with the donor who created the new endowment. And it's also what makes Montross such an effective advocate for every cause he champions, whether it's Carolina basketball or a life-changing community initiative.
"When Eric gets involved, he wants to be fully involved, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to help people understand why it's important," Steiner says. "He's a spokesman for the values of the program. At the end of the day, the work he does in the community and for the basketball program is not that different. Carolina basketball players are 18 and 19 and 20 years old. The idea of growing young people and seeing them thrive is really important to him."
