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DPS: Crickets and the Klan kept Ewing from becoming a Heel

EPIX Premiere Of Amar'e Stoudemire IN THE MOMENT

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 18: Former New York Knick Patrick Ewing attends EPIX premiere of Amar’e Stoudemire IN THE MOMENT on April 18, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for EPIX)

Theo Wargo

In 1982, Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan were freshman phenoms, and they ended up playing in the national title game against one another. Ewing for Georgetown, and Jordan for North Carolina. At this point, it’s impossible to imagine either man in a different uniform. Ewing in gray, Jordan in blue.

According to a Thursday interview with Dan Patrick, Ewing seriously considered becoming a Heel. Most recruits who make the trip to hoops-mad Carolina will say the visit sealed the deal. For Ewing, his down-south journey had the opposite effect.

“I was close,” Ewing said. “North Carolina was a very good school, but when I went down there they put me in that Carolina Inn and there was a big Ku Klux Klan rally in North Carolina when I was there. I’m like, ‘You know what, I’m not coming down here.’  At night down in North Carolina it gets pitch black and I hear all the crickets and I’m jumping and I’m like what the heck. So I (decided) I’m going back home.”

Watch the rest of the interview here: