It’s a well-known fact that while playing for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards, Michael Jordan sported his old University of North Carolina basketball shorts under his NBA uniform. Why? Because he thought those old shorts were lucky. And they looked good.
It has been 30 years since Jordan last took to a Chapel Hill court as a leader of one of the most celebrated teams in college basketball. And yet he still clings to his alma mater’s colours as if they somehow define a part of his character. How else do you explain why he chose to paint his private jet in that iconic shade of Carolina blue? It is, after all, the instantly recognizable colour of an academic institution with five NCAA men’s basketball championships to its name (including the one Jordan helped the team earn back in 1982).
Long before the NCAA, men dressed in blue-and-white Carolina tanks and shorts were amassing one of the best winning percentages in the history of their sport. The team played its first game in 1911 and recorded a perfect season in 1924, going 26-0. And though UNC has maintained its look for generations, the school hasn’t been afraid to mess with the formula over the years. In 1991, long-time coach Dean Smith commissioned renowned clothing designer Alexander Julian to spice up the lads’ uniform. The result: argyle panels down the sides of the jerseys and shorts. Instantly successful with the team thanks to Jordan’s sign-off, the argyle has since become as much a part of the team’s signature as the interlocking “NC” logo. More recently, the Tar Heels joined Duke, Kentucky, Texas and other major basketball programs by adding an aerographic mural to the back of the jersey. The mural depicts a basketball, the Old Well on the UNC campus and an outline of the state of North Carolina.
No one knows exactly where or when the term “Tar Heel” was first used to colloquially refer to the inhabitants of North Carolina, though many believe it was coined in the late 1700s, when North Carolinians were one of the British Empire’s lead producers of turpentine and tar. Originally used to insinuate that the average inhabitant of the state was little more than a barefoot labourer with sticky soles, it has since grown into an endearing emblem for the state and its people. The name’s also become a beacon for basketball dominance, and that’s thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous Carolina blue uniform.
