No. 3: Art Weiner

*Publisher's note: THI is ranking the top 25 football players in UNC history, gauging each player solely on their careers as Tar Heels. NFL accomplishments do not factor into these rankings.

No. 3

Name: Art Weiner

Position: E

Jersey #: 50

Years: 1946-49

Honors: His number is retired by UNC; Two-time first-team All-America in 1948 and 1949; Three-time first-team All-Southern Conference 1947, 1948, and 1949; Most Outstanding Lineman at the Senior Bowl; Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

Notable Stats: His 106 career receptions and 18 career touchdown receptions were UNC career records for 36 years after he stopped playing until 1997. He averaged 16.3 yards per catch for his UNC career. In 1949, he led the nation with 52 receptions, which tied the all-time college football record at the time. He was named the Most Outstanding Lineman at the Senior Bowl in 1950.

In Closing: Played both ways at end, led the nation in receiving as a senior with 52 receptions and 762 yards. Part of the greatest tandem in UNC history with Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, leading Carolina to 32 wins and three major New Year’s Day Bowls, three top-10 final rankings and a fourth team that also finished ranked. That period is stillr egarded as the golden era of UNC football.

Was called the “best pass catcher I ever saw” by then-Georgia head coach Wally Butts, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Weiner made perhaps the most famous defensive play in Carolina history when he blocked a Duke field goal attempt as time expired preserving a 21-20 UNC victory sending the Tar Heels to the Cotton Bowl. “Duke didn’t assign anyone to block me,” Weiner told the Greensboro News & Record. “I got through the line so fast that I almost overran the play. I just kind of sat on the ball, and (Duke’s kicker) wound up kicking me in the rear end.”