Maybe these 5 North Carolinians deserve a statue ...

There’s a movement to put a statue of evangelist Billy Graham in the U.S. Capitol, replacing the one of Charles Aycock – a former NC governor who did good for education (yay!) but was a white supremacist on the side (boo).

Every state gets two statues in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection. Graham isn’t a bad choice — he’s done good deeds, prayed with presidents, is beloved by millions. (The other is of Zebulon Vance, a former Confederate officer, governor and U.S. senator.)

But we have a lot of famous Carolinians. Maybe we should think out of the box and go with someone the young folk might like:

(1) Zach Galifianakis: Wilkesboro boy, done (sorta) good with Hangover movies and really good with Between Two Ferns.

(2) Michael Jordan: Grew up in Wilmington, UNC grad and really rich – he’s on the Forbes billionaire’s list!

(3) George Clinton: The P-Funk man himself, born in Kannapolis. Much sampled by Dr. Dre.

(4) Stuart Scott: ESPN “Boo-Yah” anchor, graduated from UNC Chapel Hill.

(5) Brooklyn Decker: Graduated from Butler High in Charlotte, discovered at the mall and landed the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

Photos: UNC Library, Warner Bros., Todd Sumlin/Charlotte Observer, Kevin Winter/Getty Images, John Shearer/Invision/AP, Jason Merritt/Getty Images, AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Maybe these 5 North Carolinians deserve a statue ...."