Pepper’s Pizza on Franklin Street, the start of Mack Brown’s coaching career at UNC, Michael Jordan and camping out for basketball tickets are all part of the good old days at UNC for alumni.
The nostalgia that’s associated with the town of Chapel Hill and the University’s campus is one of the first feelings to come up when some alumni recall their time at UNC.
With Carolina Family Weekend taking place Friday, Sept. 20 to Sunday, Sept. 22, many alumni will get to re-live the glory days at UNC, this time with their own children as students.
Memories
Pablo Cáceres, who graduated in 1989, will be taking part in his first Family Weekend as a parent to first-year son Alex Cáceres.
“It’s not so much that I want him to carry on a tradition, as it is, I think the school is the right fit for him," Caceres said. "He got on the Tar Heel Voices, so he’s going to be singing at the barbecue, so I’m going to see him. It’s just going to be amazing to go back on Family Weekend."
Caceres and his wife both attended the University and were excited when their son, Alex, felt the magic — a father and son trip to the Smith Center solidified Alex’s love for Carolina when he was 12.
“I took him to the Dean Dome, even though we got clobbered by Duke that year," Caceres said. "I mean it was the ugliest game I had ever seen at the Dean Dome. He caught the fever when they started showing the video of everyone saying ‘Hi, I am Joe Wolf, I’m a Tar Heel’ and then it was Dean Smith, and then it went to Michael Jordan, so I think from that point on he was always interested in Carolina.”
Caceres has fond memories of UNC, especially Franklin Street and Four Corners. Still, he remembers controversy during his time on campus.