Danny Talbott, a multi-sport athlete at North Carolina in the mid-1960s, died of cancer Sunday morning in his home in Rocky Mount. He was 75.
Along with winning ACC Player of the Year in 1965 as a quarterback for the Tar Heels, Talbott played varsity baseball, helping them to the College World Series in 1966, and was on the freshman basketball team.
Coming out of Rocky Mount High School, Talbott was offered a "blank scholarship" by UNC, essentially allowing him to play whichever sports he wanted should he go to Chapel Hill. He eventually settled on football and baseball, though he practiced on Dean Smith's varsity team for a few weeks as a sophomore before focusing on the other two sports.
Talbott went on to play one season for the Baltimore Orioles of the MLB and three seasons for the Washington Redskins of the NFL. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2003, and his No. 10 football jersey hangs in Kenan Stadium.
A cancer care center at Nash UNC Health Care was named for Talbott in 2018.
UNC football head coach Mack Brown tweeted his thoughts upon hearing the news:
As did Governor Roy Cooper:
