What’s your fondest UNC football memory?

North Carolina's Johnny White (34) ran 67-yards for the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter against William & Mary on Saturday October 30, 2010 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Tar Heels won, 21-17. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) UNC football watercooler conversations have gone remote. My UNC football text chain has been chirping more lately, and it’s been a litany of profound sadness. Wallowing in woe. Someone brought up UNC’s collapse against State in 2021, followed by game clips, followed by a therapy session. That triggered a string of infamous drops and overthrows at key moments. Josh Downs, of all the hands, dropping a winning touchdown pass? How? More therapy. Do I really want to have a lovely Sunday afternoon interrupted with the reminder of Jamal Haynes running 63 yards up the gut for a touchdown on a play designed to run out the clock and get to overtime? I lived it once. Don’t want to live it twice. It’s gone on and on. I’m thinking low expectations for this season, on top of the sheer embarrassment of last season, has my tiny corner of the Tar Heel community feeling very, very down. So, I’ve tried to take things in the other direction. What’s your fondest UNC football memory? It doesn’t even have to be anything on the field. I could list about a dozen great game moments here, but I suspect those will show up in the comments at some point. I’m going in a slightly different direction. In 2010, my son and I were comped some seats just below the press box for the William and Mary game. We’d watched UNC RB Johnny White play some high school ball, and my son was excited to see him live in his senior season. It was one of our first father-son overnight excursions. The game through the first half was a complete disaster. William and Mary jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter, and they extended the lead to 17-7 at the half. UNC kept shooting itself in the foot, throwing an interception, missing a FG, getting stuffed on a 4th and short. Boos rained down. My 9 year old son got an education in new words and why he never heard them in our family, most of them directed at QB TJ Yates and OC John Shoop. The lone bright spot was a touchdown drive featuring White, who anchored a 14 play, 82 yard drive for UNC’s first half score. The third quarter was more of the same, with UNC possessions ending in a fumble, another missed field goal, and a punt. The boos got louder. The education in profanity continued. That’s when White took over. He helped cap a 90 yard touchdown drive early in the fourth, getting Carolina from the W&M 33 to the three yard line to set up a short Yates touchdown pass. Then, on the next drive, with about five minutes remaining, White shook a tackle and burst into the open for a 67 yard touchdown run to put UNC in front. The sheer joy on my son’s face in that moment, jumping up and down on the bleachers and waving his pom pom frantically as White ran away from the W&M defenders, is something I’ll never forget. That’s my fondest UNC football memory. What’s yours? Let us know in the comments below.