The school's sports teams are called the Tar
Heels, and the mascot is Rameses the ram. They participate in the NCAA's
Division I-A and in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The University of North Carolina has won 36 team national championships
in five different sports and 51 individual national championships. The
women's soccer team has won eighteen national championships since 1981;
the men's soccer team won the championship in 2001; the women's
basketball team in 1994; the men's basketball team in 1957, 1982, 1993,
and 2005; the men's lacrosse team in 1982, 1986, and 1991; the women's
field hockey team in 1985, 1995, 1996, and 1997; the women's team
handball team won in 2004; and the men's team handball team has won the
last three National Championships in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The men's
crew team won the 2004 ECAC National Invitational Collegiate Regatta in
the varsity eight category. The North Carolina Men's Baseball team is
also a perennial power, and in 2006 made it to the Championship round of
the College World Series.
The men's basketball team was additionally awarded the national
championship by the Helms Foundation in 1936 for the undefeated (26-0)
1924 season. The team defeated Kansas 54-53 in triple overtime in 1957
to finish undefeated (32-0) as NCAA Champs. In 1982 they defeated
Georgetown 63-62 in the championship game to go 32-2 overall for the
season. In 1993 the (33-4) NCAA Champs defeated Michigan 77-71 to win
the title. And in 2005 the Tar Heels finished (33-4) and were NCAA
Champs defeating Illinois 75-70.
Notable graduates from the athletic programs include Mia Hamm, Davis
Love III, Eddie Pope, Roy Williams, and Marion Jones. Notable athletes
that attended UNC but did not graduate include Lawrence Taylor, Julius
Peppers, and Dre Bly. Notable athletes from the men's basketball
programs include Michael Jordan, Larry Brown, Bill Cunningham, Brad
Daugherty, Vince Carter, Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Jerry
Stackhouse, Marvin Williams, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood, Joseph
Forte, Bob McAdoo, Sam Perkins, Rick Fox, Kenny Smith, James Worthy,
Phil Ford, and Rasheed Wallace. Overall UNC has had 68 players go on to
the NBA, which is the most of any college.
