Every offseason, we run historical ranking series focusing on North Carolina basketball and football.

The purpose each spring isn’t to make declarative statements, but to have fun offering a subjective look at the best teams and players ever at Carolina. This effort is to generate discourse, debate, and take UNC fans down memory lane.

This season, we are doing something a little different, combining football and basketball, as we offer our take on the Top 40 UNC football and basketball players of all time. The criteria is quite simple: The process includes playing careers with the Tar Heels and professionally, other relevant impacts they’ve had on their sports, coaching, and championships. We also gave a lean toward all UNC accomplishments.

So, this isn’t a UNC-only list, a pro-only list, or a straight up purely best ever list. Some Tar Heels on this list didn’t have great pro careers but were so good and historic at UNC, they simply had to make the cut. Some on this list weren’t stars at UNC, but had outstanding and/or highly distinguished pro careers, that it warranted their place among these 40 athletes.

We hope you enjoy the list and feel free to disagree, as we know many will.

We continue our countdown with:

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Perkins was a three-time first-team All-America and three-time first-team All-ACC performer. He was the MVP of the 1981 ACC Tournament, the 1981 ACC Rookie of the Year, and was the starting center on the 1982 national championship team and 1981 club that lost in the national title game. The 1984 Tar Heels went unbeaten in ACC play and finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation.

UNC won two ACC Tournament titles with Perkins and two regular season titles. He won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics and the 1983 Pan American Games. He made the NCAA all-tournament teams in 1981 and 1982. Was named the 1984 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year.

Overall, Perkins averaged 15.9 points and 8.6 rebounds as a Tar Heel. He’s UNC’s third all-time leading scorer with 2,145 points, second all-time leading rebounder with 1,167 and third all-time leader in blocked shots with 245. The 6-foot-9 lefthander shot 57.6 percent for his career.

The No. 4 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, Perkins spent 17 seasons in the NBA. He was on the All-Rookie team in 1985 and played in the NBA Finals for three different teams – Lakers, Sonics and Pacers. He was considered a fantastic glue guy and a winner, as he routinely played on contending teams.

He averaged 14.2 or more points in six seasons and averaged double figures in 13 seasons.

In 1,286 career games, Perkins averaged 11.9 points and 6 rebounds per contest. He scored 15,324 points and grabbed 7,666 rebounds for his career. Was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. This past March, he was elected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

In 2018, Perkins was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.