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 are 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:
No. 36: Amos Lawrence
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The second player in college football history to run for 1,000 or more yards in each of his four seasons, as Pittsburgh star and 1976 Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett was the first.
With increased number of regular season games, seven other players have done it since: Justin Jackson, Northwestern, Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, Cedric Benson, Texas, Damion Fletcher, Southern Miss, Dontrell Moore, New Mexico, Denvis Manns, New Mexico State, and Tyrell Fenroy, Louisiana-Lafayette.
Neverthe less, it was an amazing accomplishment at the time, and took nearly two decades for another player to do so again. It was also part of helping UNC establish itself as a player nationally and gaining an identity as a tough, physical program.
Lawrence was third-team All-America by several magazines in 1980, ACC Rookie of the Year in 1977, and named to the 50-year 50 Greatest ACC Players Ever team. His 4,391 rushing yards remains UNC’s all-time career mark. He scored 40 career touchdowns (34 rushing, six receiving), averaged 5.2 career rushing average on 881 attempts, and threw a TD pass in his freshman season.
“Famous” Amos set an ACC single-game rushing record with 286 yards as a freshman, a mark that has since been eclipsed. He was the co-MVP of UNC’s 1979 Gator Bowl victory over Michigan after running for more than 100 yards, and was the MVP of UNC’s 1980 Bluebonnet Bowl win over Texas.
He ran for 200 or more yards three times and ran for 100 or more yards in 23 contests, which also remains a UNC career record.
Lawrence helped give UNC stability in the latter Bill Dooley years leading into the Dick Crum era. His last Carolina team finished 11-1 and ranked No. 9 in the nation, the first of consecutive top-10 finishes for the Tar Heels. UNC was 19-4-1 in Lawrence’s last two seasons.
Played two seasons in the NFL, including in Super Bowl XV, winning a ring with the San Francisco 49ers. He didn’t have a successful NFL career, but his impact at UNC, and the time he was there, is enough to warrant him making this list. His impact while at UNC has few peers.
