May Tar Heel History
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
May 1, 2022
After scoring his third goal of the game, UNC attacker Chris Gray sets the NCAA men's lacrosse record for career points with 401 in a 19-11 loss at Duke.
May 6, 1970
UNC's Student Legislature votes to impose a one-day student strike to protest the Vietnam war. About 5,000 students convened on the steps of South Building. It was almost a total shutdown of the University. Only a few classes were in session, and those were stopped by roving bands of marching students.
May 7, 1989
Michael Jordan breaks the hearts of Cleveland Cavaliers players and fans by hitting "The Shot." With the Chicago Bulls trailing the Cavaliers in the final seconds of Game 5 of their first-round playoff series, Jordan hangs in the air long enough to avoid Craig Ehlo's block attempt and knocks down the jumper for the win.
May 7, 2022
Jamie Ortega sets the ACC career points record with 446 as No. 1 UNC scores 11 straight goals to defeat No. 2 Boston College, 16-9, for the 2022 ACC Women's Lacrosse Championship in Chapel Hill.
May 9, 1960
Invited to UNC by campus religious organizations and the Carolina Forum, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spent May 9, 1960, meeting with community leaders, conducting discussions in University classrooms, and speaking on "The Struggle for Racial Justice" to an overflow crowd at Hill Hall.
May 10, 1949
UNC's Morehead Planetarium opened on May 10, 1949 and was used to train Gemini and Apollo program astronauts in celestial navigation. Until the late 1990s, it contained one of the largest working Copernican orreries in the world. The facility was donated to the university by alumnus John Motley Morehead III who invested over $3 million in the facility.
May 12, 2015
UNC Baseball coach Mike Fox becomes the 15th coach in NCAA history to win 1,300 games as the Tar Heels defeat UNC-Wilmington 7-2 at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill.
May 12, 2015
Former UNC basketball head coach and longtime assistant Bill Guthridge passes away. Guthridge served as Dean Smith’s assistant for 30 years before replacing his mentor in 1998. As UNC’s head coach, Guthridge earned consensus National Coach of the Year honors in 1998 and led the Tar Heels to two Final Fours in his three seasons.
May 20, 2001
Vince Carter of the Toronto Raptors graduates from North Carolina, then immediately flies back to Philadephia to play in Game 7 vs. the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, posting 20 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds in an 88-87 loss.
May 20, 2023
UNC Women's Tennis avenges its only loss of the season (35-1), beating NC State, 4-1, for its first NCAA championship. It's North Carolina's 49th NCAA title across eight different sports, 17 more than any other ACC school.
May 25, 2013
It took 18 innings and over six hours but the Tar Heels beat NC State 2-1 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to advance to the ACC Baseball Tournament Championship game. The game ended after 1:00 AM making it the longest game in ACC tourney history and the highest attended baseball game ever in the state of North Carolina (11,392).
May 25, 2015
North Carolina’s Jamie Loeb defeated No. 2 seed Carol Zhao of Stanford to win the 2015 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles National Championship. Loeb (31-5) is the first singles national champion in Carolina women’s tennis history.
May 26, 1986
UNC Men's Lacrosse wins its third NCAA championship, as the No. 5 seed Tar Heels upset No. 3 seed Virginia 10-9 in overtime at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware. Gary Seivold, who scored the game winner, had two goals and two assists for North Carolina.
May 27, 1991
UNC Men's Lacrosse, led by Dennis Goldstein's 4 goals, defeats Towson, 18-13, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York to complete the perfect 16-0 season and win the Tar Heels' fourth NCAA Title.
May 29, 1982
UNC Men's Lacrosse, led by MOP Dave Wingate's 5 goals, defeats Johns Hopkins, 7-5, in Charlottesville, Va. to claim back-to-back National Championships.
May 29, 2016
The UNC women's lacrosse team dominates previously undefeated and defending champion Maryland 13-7 in Philadelphia to win their second national championship in school history.
May 29, 2022
Vance Honeycutt homers twice and drives in 5 runs to lead UNC to a 9-5 win over NC State in the ACC Baseball Tournament title game. Honeycut is named Tournament MVP and becomes the first Tar Heel to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a single season.
May 29, 2022
UNC Women's Lacrosse caps a perfect 22-0 season with a 12-11 win over Boston College to claim the 2022 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship, the third national title in program history.
May 30, 1981
UNC Men's Lacrosse defeats Johns Hopkins, 14-13, in Princeton, NJ to complete a perfect 12-0 season and capture the program's first national title. Mike Burnett led the Tar Heels with 4 goals.
May 30, 2016
Chris Cloutier scores the dramatic game-winning goal in overtime as the UNC Men's Lacrosse team defeats #1 Maryland 14-13 in Philadephia, becoming the only unseeded team in 43 years to win the NCAA Championship.