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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 Eric Montross, a former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NBA big man, has died of cancer, his family said. He was 52.<\/p>\n
The school released the family\u2019s announcement Monday morning, saying Montross died Sunday surrounded by loved ones at his Chapel Hill home.\u00a0He had been diagnosed with cancer in March, leading to him stepping away from his duties as a radio analyst for UNC game broadcasts.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo know Eric was to be his friend, and the family knows that the ripples from the generous, thoughtful way that he lived his life will continue in the lives of the many people he touched with his deep and sincere kindness,\u201d\u00a0the announcement said.<\/p>\n
Montross played for the Tar Heels under Dean Smith from 1990-94 and was a two-time Associated Press second-team All-American. He started on Smith\u2019s second NCAA championship team in 1993 before being the No. 9 overall pick by the Boston Celtics a year later and playing in the NBA until 2002.<\/p>\n
In addition to his broadcast duties, he worked as senior major gifts director at the Rams Club, the fundraising arm of UNC\u2019s athletics department. He was also known for charitable efforts, such as helping launch a father-child basketball camp for Father\u2019s Day weekend to support the UNC Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cEric was a great player and accomplished student, but the impacts he made on our community went way beyond the basketball court,\u201d the school said in its own statement. \u201cHe was a man of faith, a tremendous father, husband and son, and one of the most recognizable ambassadors of the University and Chapel Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family announced Montross\u2019 illness when he was diagnosed, but didn\u2019t specify the nature of the cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[ad_1] CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 Eric Montross, a former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NBA big man, has died of cancer, his family said. He was 52. The school released the family\u2019s announcement Monday morning, saying Montross died Sunday surrounded by loved ones at his Chapel Hill home.\u00a0He had been diagnosed with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}