Celebrated Alum

Few entertainers have stayed in the nation’s collective conscience like Andy Griffith ’49. Griffith is best known for his warm and wise television portrayals of Sheriff Andy Taylor and lawyer Ben Matlock.

Griffith began his days as a Carolina student on July 19, 1944.

Hortense McClinton, a retired professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work and UNC-Chapel Hill’s first African American faculty member, has been selected to receive the 2021 Faculty Service Award by the UNC General Alumni Association Board of Directors.

When he put up the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA basketball championship, he was a Tar Heel. When he won six NBA titles, he was a Chicago Bull. And when his playing days were over, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Now Michael Jordan ’86 has joined another stellar roster as a recipient of the nation’s highest civilian honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

On Tuesday at the White House, President Barack Obama bestowed the medal upon Jordan, among the final 21 recipients before the president leaves office in January.