Former Heel as good as gold

CHAPEL HILL -- Former UNC basketball player Tar Heel Sherman “Nemo” Nearman, 74, is still playing the game. Nearman won his third Senior Games gold medal in basketball in 1999.

The former 1949-50 Carolina team captain and current West Virginia resident was in town Saturday, along with his former Tar Heel teammates to attend UNC’s game versus Georgia Tech.

The squad, coached by the late Tom Scott, met before the game at The Blue Heaven Basketball Museum on north Airport Road in Chapel Hill.

1950-54 UNC Tar Heels

“They have a Senior Olympics every other year in 17 sports,” Nearman said. “They have state and national competitions. It’s 3-on-3 basketball with a change of possessions at the three-point line. I got into it in 1993, and we beat New Jersey in the finals for the national title.

“After our former coach Tom Scott died, I called us the West Virginia Tom Scott Tar Heels. We won the national title in the 60-64 age group. We won it again in the 65-69 age group in San Antonio (Texas) and then in the 70-74 age group. We won it again in Orlando (FL) in 1999.”

Nearman, who intends on competing again in the 70-74 bracket this year, appeared last year in 1999 Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd” feature. He joked that the success has led to numerous offers from athletics shoe manufacturers. “I’m besieged every day,” he said, laughing. “I had to change my phone number.”

Teammate Hal Ferraro, who arrived from Kansas City, was quick to note that the modern era’s rule changes might have helped his game in the 1940s. “Physical presence, size and the game is much rougher than it was - much more so,” Ferraro said. “But we didn't have the three-point shot. In my day, I could’ve scored a lot of points. “We didn't do it because it was only two points,” he said. “But I would have shot them all day long from three-point range. That was my area.”

Ferraro said that he saw the Tar Heels win all three of the school’s NCAA Championships (1957, 1982 and 1993) in person. “I’ve already got my tickets for this year in Minneapolis,” he said.