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Woody Durham was a friend of Hendersonville through WHKP broadcasts

Woody Durham visits with two Hendersonville High basketball coaches, Jay Merrill and the late Jim Pardue.

By Bill Moss, Published: March 7, 2018

"I can only imagine the conversation in blue heaven today between Woody and Dean Smith," longtime WHKP sportscaster Richard Rhodes said today upon the news that Woody Durham had passed away at the age of 76.

Durham died at his Chapel Hill home from complications of Primary Progressive Aphasia, a neurocognitive disease that in his later years robbed him of his ability to speak. After struggling with his speech for years after his retirement in 2011, Durham was diagnosed with the disease in January 2016, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

“Woody loved the Tar Heels and players, coaches and fans of all ages loved him right back,” UNC basketball coach Roy Williams said in a statement. We should all ‘go where we go and do what we do’ and say a prayer for Woody and his family. There will never be another quite like him.”
 
WHKP joined the Tar Heel nation in mourning the one man who brought UNC football and basketball to life from 1971-2011.
 
WoodyDurhamRhodesWoody Durham signs a basketball for Will Rhodes, who sits with his dad, Richard Rhodes."Woody Durham was a friend of WHKP coming to Hendersonville on numerous occasions to have a meal, enjoy a round of golf and tell us all the untold stories behind the Heels," Rhodes said. "Woody was a guest of WHKP at Broadcast House only a few years ago selling his new book...he in fact sold out of books that day. I remember Woody as the finest broadcaster to ever set behind a mic in the state of North Carolina.He won numerous awards over the years the most prestigious of those..the Curt Gowdy award."
 
"Woody's famous words "and the Tar Heels are National Champions!" back in 1982 are forever etched in the memory of UNC fans everywhere. Woody was a treasure. He was the man whos blood ran Carolina Blue and he was the bridge between the coaches, athletes and fans.
 

A special celebration of Woody's life is scheduled for Sunday, April 8, at Carmichael Auditorium on the UNC campus. Memorial gifts are asked to be sent to Medical Foundation for NC Woody Durham Fund P.O.1050 Chapel Hill 27514 or UNC Hospice 287 East Street Suite 221 Pittsboro, N.C. 27312.