Holding Court: Among Hall of Famers, UNC’s Julius Peppers Is Unique - Chapelboro.com (2024)

Even Among Football Hall of Famers, UNC’s Julius Peppers = Truly Unique

By David Glenn

The Pro Football Hall of Fame now includes 378 members. Even within that illustrious group, North Carolina’s own Julius Peppers is truly one of a kind.

Upon his official induction Saturday, Peppers became the first and only Hall of Famer whose biography includes 1-being born and raised in North Carolina, 2-becoming a high school star in North Carolina, 3-representing a North Carolina-based university at the college level, and 4-playing for the Carolina Panthers, the Old North State’s only National Football League franchise.

There are 20 Pro Football Hall of Famers (see full list below) with various ties to North Carolina. Peppers is the only one for whom those connections extended to every important level of his personal and athletic development, and he emphasized each of those themes during his induction speech last weekend.

Peppers was born in Wilson, N.C., about 50 miles east of Raleigh. He was raised in tiny Bailey, N.C., a nearby Nash County town whose population was only 685 at the time of Peppers’ birth and is even smaller today. Yet Peppers said he always has felt part of something much bigger.

“I want to thank my family for coming up from North Carolina and a lot of other places and being here for this special night. See, the old proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, that’s especially true with us,” Peppers said Saturday. “My mother (Bessie Brinkley) was one of nine kids, and my father (George Kurney) was one of 11. So we have a large village, and a lot of them are here tonight. So thank you all for being here again.”

Peppers became a multi-sport star at Southern Nash, a public high school located right in his own tiny hometown, and that’s where his legend really began to grow.

Basketball was definitely Peppers’ first love as an athlete — he played hoops with distinction at the middle school, high school (four-time all-conference) and college levels — and he also helped (as a sprinter and triple jumper) the Southern Nash track and field squad to a state championship as a senior in 1998, but he didn’t even try out for football as a freshman.

When Southern Nash football coach Ray Davis approached Peppers, already a 6-foot-5, 230-pounder, about playing on the gridiron as a sophom*ore, Peppers said he didn’t like the idea of being forced to play on the offensive line just because of his extraordinary size for his age. Davis, who already had observed Peppers’ unusual combination of size, speed and athleticism in other sports, replied that Peppers could play — wait for it — running back for the Firebirds.

Over the next three seasons, Peppers rushed for 3,501 yards and scored 46 touchdowns, becoming an all-state selection as a junior and senior. He also played defensive end at Southern Nash, although opposing offenses tended to run plays to the opposite side of the field.

During his Hall of Fame speech, Peppers said he encountered one of the biggest forks in the road of his football life during those high school years.

“Another root person in my life has been one of my high school coaches, Brian Foster. He’s here somewhere, too,” Peppers said. “Foster would give me rides home from practice on the days when my mom couldn’t make it, and sometimes he would give me insight on what it would take to play sports on the collegiate level.

“One day, after a bad practice, he told me that I would have two choices in life. I could either be complacent and waste my talents, or I could work harder and one day make it to the Hall of Fame. There will be no in-betweens, he said, and it turns out he was right, because I’m here. And everything that we talked about came true, Foster, so I want to thank you for your guidance, your friendship and your foresight. You guys are our family, too, so thank y’all.”

During his senior season at Southern Nash, Peppers was the top-rated football prospect in North Carolina, with scholarship offers from dozens of the top college football programs in the country. He was named to the Parade High School All-American team (among many others) and received the state’s Male Athlete of the Year honor (all sports) from the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

Peppers’ childhood favorite, UNC, had recruited him in football from the very beginning, and he favored the Tar Heels’ throughout the recruiting process. It didn’t hurt that, during Peppers’ junior year at Southern Nash, Carolina had its best season since the early 1980s, finishing 10-2 and #10 in the final national rankings under ninth-year coach Mack Brown.

Along with assistants Donnie Thompson (defensive line) and Carl Torbush (defensive coordinator), Brown had made Peppers one of the Tar Heels’ top recruiting priorities for two years running.

When Peppers attended North Carolina’s 1997 summer football camp, between his junior and senior seasons in high school, he both met Brown in person for the first time and had an unexpected chat with UNC assistant basketball coach Phil Ford. A product of nearby Rocky Mount and a brilliant point guard (1974-78) during his playing days in Chapel Hill, Ford delivered an important message from legendary hoops coach Dean Smith: if Peppers chose the Tar Heels, a Carolina basketball jersey would be waiting for him, too.

Soon after that meaningful trip to Chapel Hill, Peppers announced his commitment to UNC. Then his story took a few stunning turns.

In the fall of 1997, as Peppers was dominating in multiple sports during his final prep campaign, the 66-year-old Smith shocked the college basketball world (on Oct. 7) by announcing his abrupt retirement. Roughly two months later, after leading UNC’s football team to one of the best seasons in program history (11-1, #4 in the final coaches poll), Brown jolted the college football world (on Dec. 5) by confirming reports of his impending departure from Chapel Hill to take the job at Texas.

Dozens of football programs immediately resumed their pursuit of Peppers, who had not yet signed his national letter of intent (the signing period at the time didn’t begin until mid-December), and he later said he briefly considered Clemson and Florida State.

However, after UNC’s brand-new athletic director, Dick Baddour, opted to promote from within for both the basketball (long-time Smith aide Bill Guthridge, who kept Ford on staff) and football (Torbush, who kept Thompson on staff) head coaching vacancies, Peppers followed through on his earlier pledge and officially signed with the Tar Heels.

During his “storybook career” in Chapel Hill, Peppers actually redshirted as a freshman in 1998-99, in part to get acclimated academically, and at football practice he spent time at both tight end and defensive end. After settling in on defense, he became a Freshman All-American for the Tar Heels in the fall of 1999, a first-team All-ACC selection in 2000, and a consensus All-American in 2001.

For the basketball Tar Heels, Peppers happily played on a Final Four team during the 1999-2000 season under Guthridge, then experienced (after Guthridge retired) an infamously volatile 2000-01 season under Matt Doherty, whom Peppers unsurprisingly left out of his Hall of Fame speech entirely. Peppers didn’t play basketball during his final year (2001-02) in Chapel Hill.

Somewhere along the way, Peppers also met his childhood idol, fellow UNC legend Michael Jordan, who also attended the Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday in Canton, Ohio.

“I want to thank coach Mack Brown and coach Donnie Thompson for recruiting me to North Carolina and making me realize that Chapel Hill is where I needed to be,” Peppers said. “And my thanks go to my head coach, Carl Torbush, who we lost last year, and my basketball coach, Bill Guthridge. They were great coaches and great men.

“And this ain’t in my speech, but I’m going to say it anyway. While I’m talking about Chapel Hill and North Carolina, and I know this is the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but I ain’t going to sit up here and act like my idol — and one of the reasons that I went to Chapel Hill — is not in the building: the GOAT, His Airness, Michael Jordan. MJ, I want to thank you, for the inspiration and the memories. Love you, big bro.”

Finally, Peppers completed his truly unique birthplace-high school-college-NFL quartet by spending the majority of his stellar NFL career with his home-state franchise. The Carolina Panthers selected Peppers with the #2 overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft, and he spent 10 of his 17 professional seasons (2002-09 and 2017-18) in Charlotte. Four of his six All-Pro seasons and five of his nine Pro Bowl campaigns came while he was wearing a Panthers uniform.

Four of the Panthers’ eight all-time playoff trips (2003, 2005, 2008, 2017) came with Peppers — at his peak, a 6-foot-7, 295-pounder who could still run(!) — on the roster. In 2019, about one year after the franchise’s ownership change from Jerry Richardson to David Tepper, Peppers accepted an administrative role (“special assistant of business operations”) with Carolina. Peppers was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Honor last October.

“Panthers Nation: You can travel the world, but there’s no place like home,” Peppers said. “So thank you for having my back since the day I was drafted and always showing me love. So to all of the fans, thank you for your passion, your loyalty, your enthusiasm and your own way for showing support. You guys are the reason that we do what we do, and this game is nothing without you. So thank you to all the fans.”I want to thank Dave and Nicole Tepper for your support and your friendship. You know, nobody had it all figured out from the start, but I believe in you guys and just know our time is coming. So in the words of the great Sam Mills, just Keep Pounding.

“And last, but not least, I want to thank the Carolina Panthers founder, the late Jerry Richardson. If not for him and his vision, the Panthers don’t exist. He brought an NFL team to my home state and gave me a platform to chase my dreams, so for that, I want to say thank you to the Big Cat.”

Peppers and his family now live in Miami, where his long-time fiancé, model and reality-TV personality Claudia Sampedro, has lived since her childhood.

He remains a North Carolina guy at heart, though, as he shared repeatedly from the Hall of Fame podium, on one of the most special days of his truly remarkable life.

Pro Football Hall Of Famers With NC Ties (20 Total)
(NFL Tenure In Parentheses)

North Carolina Natives (9)

LB Bobby Bell*, Shelby (1963-74)
DE Carl Eller*, Winston-Salem (1964-79)
HC Joe Gibbs, Mocksville (1981-92, 2004-07 as head coach)
LB Chris Hanburger*, Fort Bragg (1965-78)
QB Sonny Jurgensen*, Wilmington (1957-74)
OL Bruce Matthews, Raleigh (1983-2001)
DE Julius Peppers*, Wilson (2002-18)
TE Charlie Sanders*, Richlands (1968-77)
OC Dwight Stephenson, Murfreesboro (1980-87)

North Carolina High School Products (5)

LB Bobby Bell*, Cleveland HS inShelby(1963-74)
DE Carl Eller*, Atkins HS inWinston-Salem (1964-79)
QB Sonny Jurgensen*, New Hanover HS inWilmington(1957-74)
DE Julius Peppers*, Southern Nash HS inBailey (2002-18)
TE Charlie Sanders*, Dudley HS inGreensboro(1968-77)

North Carolina College Products (9)

QB Sonny Jurgensen*, Duke(1957-74)
RB/DB George McAfee, Duke (1940-41, 1945-50)
QB/RB/DB/P Clarence “Ace” Parker, Duke (1937-41, 1945-46)
LB Chris Hanburger*, North Carolina(1965-78)
DE Julius Peppers*, North Carolina(2002-18)
LB Lawrence Taylor, North Carolina (1981-93)
DE Elvin Bethea, North Carolina A&T (1968-83)
LB/HC Bill Cowher, NC State (1979-84 as player; 1992-2006 as head coach)
LB Bill George, Wake Forest (1952-66)

Carolina Panthers Players/Top Executives (6)

DE Kevin Greene (1985-99; 1996 and 1998-99 with Panthers)
GM Mike McCormack (1951-97 as player/coach/executive; 1993-97 with Panthers)
LB Sam Mills (1986-97; 1995-97 as player and 1998-2004 as assistant with Panthers)
DE Julius Peppers* (2002-18; 2002-09 and 2017-18 with Panthers)
GM Bill Polian (1985-2011 as administrator; 1995-97 with Panthers)
DE Reggie White (1985-2000; 2000 with Panthers)

*—appears in multiple categories

David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com,@DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.

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