Heels wilt 'The Stilt'

This one had everything. No. 1 vs. No. 2. The slaying of a basketball Goliath. An undefeated team. A great finish, then another, and another until, after three overtimes, North Carolina had defeated Kansas, 54-53, for the 1957 NCAA tournament championship.

The game was so thoroughly rich from beginning to end that some people still talk about the opening tap.

North Carolina coach Frank McGuire's decision to send out 5-foot-11 guard Tommy Kearns to jump center against the Jayhawks' 7-1 Wilt Chamberlain was for years widely hailed as coaching genius, a psychological ploy to disrupt the center's mental approach to the game. The Tar Heels' regular center, 6-9 Joe Quigg, wasn't going to win the tap anyway, and it was thought that the ploy was meant to embarrass Chamberlain, a sophomore, and make him feel freakish about his height.

It wasn't until 28 years later that McGuire came clean.

"One day in practice, I told Quigg that if he was scared of Chamberlain, he didn't have to show up," McGuire told the Columbia (S.C.) State, his hometown newspaper, in 1985. McGuire, a Hall of Famer, died in 1994 at the age of 80. "Then I turned to Kearns and said, 'Tommy, are you scared of Chamberlain?' He said no, so I said, 'OK, you jump center.'

"Well, I wasn't really serious, and I had forgotten all about it until we lined up to start the game, and there was Tommy walking out to jump against Chamberlain."

The sight of Kearns lined up against Chamberlain is one of the NCAA tournament's most unforgettable images, up there with Chris Webber calling a phantom timeout in 1993, and coach Jim Valvano looking for somebody to hug in 1983.

Intimidating Chamberlain, however, was no easy task. That was his game. His presence was so dominating that No. 2 Kansas, which finished the regular season 22-2, was favored to win the title even though North Carolina had gone undefeated and was ranked No. 1.

But UNC, using a deliberate offense and double-teaming Chamberlain at every opportunity, was able to contain "The Stilt" to 23 points on 6-for-13 shooting, below his 29.6 points-per-game average.

"They used a box-and-one, and the box was on me and the one on the rest of the team," Chamberlain said on one of the many occasions he has recounted the game for reporters. "I saw so many slowdowns and zone defenses that year, it made me sick. But it made sense to play that way against me. I didn't blame them for doing it."

Kansas employed the same defense -- on UNC's All-American Lennie Rosenbluth, who averaged 28.0 points per game that season and led the Tar Heels in the final with 20 points. Kearns and Pete Brennan of Bergenfield each added 11.

After the Tar Heels hit their first seven field goal attempts and took a 19-7 lead, Kansas coach Dick Harp switched to a man-to-man defense. Meanwhile, UNC's box-and-one was working: Chamberlain, who would later score 100 points in an NBA game against the Knicks in 1962 with McGuire urging him on as coach of the Philadelphia Warriors, didn't score until 4:48 of the first half.

The Tar Heels led, 29-22, at the half on 64 percent shooting. The Jayhawks led, 40-37, with 10 minutes left. UNC tried to slow things down, but KU kept up its pressure. Then, just when it appeared the Tar Heels couldn't keep up, KU surprisingly went into a stall in an attempt to protect the lead. It was the turning point of the game.

McGuire's club was exhausted from a triple-overtime victory over Michigan State the previous night, and KU's stall kept the Tar Heels in the game. UNC let Kansas control the ball for about five minutes, then, with renewed vigor, was ready to complete the game.

After regulation it was 46-46. After the first and second overtimes it was 48-48.

In the third overtime, things were different. Kearns' basket and two free throws stunned the crowd and gave Carolina a 52-48 lead. On the other end, Chamberlain scored with Tar Heels all over him, and made the free throw to complete a three-point play. Guard Maurice King made one of two free throws to retie the score.

As it had done in the first overtime, Carolina held on for the final shot. Kansas' John Parker deflected the ball away from Quigg and passed to Gene Elstun, who was knocked down by Kearns with 31 seconds left. A deliberate foul was called, but Elstun made only one of the two shots.

UNC came down and Kearns drove on Chamberlain, who swatted his shot away. The ball went to Quigg, who was trailing the play. He went up for the shot and was fouled. With six seconds left.

McGuire called his players over. According to Rosenbluth, McGuire said, "Joe, when you make these two shots, here's what we're going to do.'

"There was no doubt in his mind, or any of our minds, that he was going to make them," Rosenbluth said.

Quigg, who would become a dentist in North Carolina, drilled both, giving the Tar Heels a 54-53 victory and a 32-0 season.