McGuire's Miracle - UNC's 1956-1957 Championship Basketball Season

The season started on December 4, 1956, and ended on March 23, 1957. In between, North Carolina and the nation witnessed a perfect season—“McGuire's Miracle.” The University of North Carolina men's basketball team, which was led by Coach Frank McGuire and featured All-American Lennie Rosenbluth, finished the season 32-0. The Tar Heels won games in almost every imaginable way: they soundly defeated teams, such as their 32-point win over Clemson University in Chapel Hill; they won four overtime games, including two triple overtime wins in the Final Four; they won the coveted Dixie Classic, beating Wake Forest for the first of their four wins against the Demon Deacons that year; they won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championship; and, finally, they outlasted a Wilt Chamberlain-led University of Kansas team in a triple overtime contest played before a decidedly partisan Jayhawk crowd in Kansas City, Missouri, to secure the Tar Heels' first NCAA national championship.

	The 1956-1957 University of North Carolina Team	The 1956-1957 University of North Carolina Team
	"Basketball Tournament 1957 Team." University of North Carolina	1957 Tournament Starting Five and Coach McGuire
The Starting Line-up
	Lennie Rosenbluth	Lennie Rosenbluth
	Tommy Kearns	Tommy Kearns
	Pete Brennan	Pete Brennan
	Joe Quigg	Joe Quigg
	Bob Cunningham	Bob Cunningham
Men off the Bench
	Tony Radovich	Stan Groll
	Danny Lotz	Bill Hathaway
The Coaches
	Coach Frank McGuire & Coach James Ambrose "Buck" Freeman on the bench	Coach Frank McGuire & Coach James Ambrose "Buck" Freeman
Team Photos
	"1st Team and Coach McGuire" with Tony Radovich	Coach Frank McGuire with Gerhmann Holland (#31), Ken Rosemond (#11), Stan Groll (#43), and Bill Hathaway (#30). In the background, Lennie Rosenbluth (left) and Joe Quigg looking on.
	Tall Team & McGuire	Tall Team & McGuire
	Kearns, Brennan, Rosenbluth, Cunningham	Sophmores and Coach Freeman
	Frank McGuire and Lennie Rosenbluth at Raleigh-Durham airport, 1957.	Coach Frank McGuire & Forward Lennie Rosenbluth
The Regular Season
	Regular Season Game against Duke	Regular Season Game against Duke
1956 Dixie Basketball Classic
	Second round of the Dixie Classic vs Duke	Second round of the Dixie Classic vs Duke
	Tommy Kearns shooting a layup Wake Forest Championship Game	Lennie Rosenbluth Dixie Classic
	Lennie Rosenbluth Dixie Classic - Cutting down the net	The team with the net
	Coaches McGuire and Bradley (Duke) after Dixie Classic	Team after the Dixie Classic Semifinal against Duke
1957 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
	Round one of the ACC Tournament vs Clemson	Round one of the ACC Tournament vs Clemson
	Semifinal of the ACC Tournament vs Wake Forest	Semifinal of the ACC Tournament vs Wake Forest
	ACC Tournament championship game vs South Carolina	ACC Tournament championship game vs South Carolina
	Bob Cunningham shooting from foul line during pre-game practice vs South Carolina for the ACC Tournament championship, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, 1957.	ACC Tournament championship game vs South Carolina Tommy Kearns with Pete Brennan and Danny Soltz
Celebrating the National Championship
	Crowd scene, including person waving a "rebel flag," during the victory celebration on Franklin Street near campus of the University of North Carolina after the basketball team defeated the University of Kansas for national championship, 23 March 1957. Photographer Roland Giduz.	People in trees during the victory celebration on Franklin Street near campus of the University of North Carolina after the basketball team defeated the University of Kansas for national championship, 23 March 1957. Photographer Roland Giduz
	"Victory—Kansas–U.N.C. Basketball celebration" (identification on mounted photograph)	1957 License Plate presented by the Knights of Pythias
	Coach and Mrs. McGuire with their blue and white cadillac	Coach and Mrs. McGuire with their blue and white cadillac