Lennie Rosenbluth played an integral part in establishing the famed New York to North Carolina pipeline started by former coach Frank McGuire and continued under Dean Smith that helped UNC basketball cement itself as a national brand.
McGuire plucked Rosenbluth out of the Bronx without ever seeing him play. It turned out to be the right move for Carolina basketball, as Rosenbluth led the Tar Heels to their first NCAA national championship with a school single-season scoring average that is still unbroken.
A fixture at UNC home games for the past decade, Rosenbluth died on Saturday at the age of 89, the school confirmed. His No. 10 jersey hangs in the front row at the Dean E. Smith Center partially thanks to being named the Helms Foundation national player of the year in 1957.
