Former North Carolina basketball standout Bill Chamberlain dies at 75
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- UNC confirmed Bill Chamberlain, second Black recruit under Dean Smith, died at 75
- Chamberlain led UNC to 1971 NIT title and 1972 Final Four before short pro career
- After playing in ABA and NBA, Chamberlain served as a state emergency trainer
Bill Chamberlain, the second Black player recruited by the late Dean Smith to play basketball at North Carolina, has died. He was 75
Chamberlain, a 6-foot-6 forward, was the MVP of the 1971 NIT and a member of the Tar Heels’ 1972 Final Four team. He later played a few seasons in the ABA and NBA.
Chamberlain, who honed his game on the hardtop courts of Harlem, came to UNC from Long Island Lutheran High in Brookville, New York, in the late 1960s. Smith had brought in another native New Yorker, Charlie Scott, as UNC’s first Black scholarship player, and Chamberlain followed as the second as more Southern schools looked to integrate their sports programs.
In the 1971 NIT, Chamberlain outplayed Julius Erving of Massachusetts in the opening round at Madison Square Garden. Chamberlain had 24 points and Erving 13 as the Tar Heels took a 90-49 victory.
The Heels later beat Duke 73-69 in the NIT semifinals. UNC then pounded out an 84-66 win over Georgia Tech, not then an ACC member, for the championship at the Garden as Chamberlain had a career-high 34 points.
The News & Observer reported that Chamberlain received a standing ovation from the Garden crowd of 18,000 when he left the title game in the final minutes.
Chamberlain and the Heels reached the NCAA semifinals in 1972 before being beaten by Florida State at the L.A. Sports Arena. UNC topped Louisville in the third-place consolation game.
Chamberlain, named a second-team All-American in 1972, later played for the Kentucky Colonels and Memphis Tams of the ABA and Phoenix Suns in the NBA. His pro career was cut short by a back injury.
In a 2008 News & Observer story on Chamberlain, it was reported that after Chamberlain‘s wife died suddenly in 1988, he was personally buoyed by the support of his former teammates and others at UNC. Chamberlain remarried and later worked in Raleigh as a state training officer in the Division of Emergency Management, preparing first responders, according to the N&O.
Chamberlain’s death was confirmed Monday by UNC.
Chamberlain once was asked to name his top athletic highlight. He didn’t mention the head-to-head battle with the future “Dr. J” or the 1971 NIT championship, instead saying, “That I was lucky enough to go to Carolina.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Former North Carolina basketball standout Bill Chamberlain dies at 75."
