UNC alumnus Dan Costello has been playing pickup basketball in Woollen Gym — a court dating back to the 1930s — for 10 years.
“Woollen is historical … the Heels used to play here before you were born,” he said.
For Costello and others, the unique culture of pickup basketball at UNC emerges from open courts and groups of students, teachers and Chapel Hill residents that come together to play.
While students also have the option to join intramural and club teams, pickup student recreational basketball teams have no official structure besides the players who play, many of whom don’t know each other off the courts.
“If you give them a basketball and courts, they know what to do from there,” said Reggie Hinton, director of facilities and operations for Campus Recreation.
There are many open courts on campus, including Woollen, Fetzer Gym, Rams Head Recreational Center and outdoor courts next to the Smith Center.
“It is the product of UNC deep in basketball tradition,” Hinton said. “People want to play — pickup or otherwise.”
Woollen has hosted a pickup game played by faculty, staff, alumni and graduate students during lunch hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for more than 20 years.
“Lunch is the time I don’t teach classes,” said communications graduate student Armond Towns.