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.
Rosenbluth, who played at UNC from 1954-57, once called the Tar Heels’ 1957 national title team the “most important” in school history.
“Bar none, it all began there,” he told The Charlotte Observer in 2020.
The ‘57 squad went 32-0 and capped off its title with back-to-back triple overtime wins over Michigan State (74-70) in the semifinals and Kansas (54-53) in the finals despite the Jayhawks featuring legendary 7-foot center Wilt Chamberlain.
Rosenbluth was the star on that team that started five New Yorkers. He’d score 20 points in the title game, but fouled out late in regulation.
McGuire told The Associated Press in the story that was published from the game, “It was really remarkable that we won, with Lennie Rosenbluth on the bench, since he was our key man all season.”
It was not only the first national title for UNC, it was the first among the members of the fledgling Atlantic Coast Conference. The Heels’ win was boosted by the fact that a TV visionary named C.D. Chelsey helped get some of their games televised. The combination helped grow the game in the state.
Rosenbluth also inspired the Jewish community nationwide with his play. He was arguably the “preeminent Jewish athlete in the United States,” according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency before pitcher Sandy Koufax began dominating Major League Baseball. Rosenbluth was a 2003 inductee in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Rosenbluth, a 6-foot-5 forward, led the team with 28.0 points per game his senior season. It’s a record that still stands in program history along with his career scoring average record of 26.9 points.
He was chosen No. 6 in the 1957 NBA draft by the Philadelphia Warriors, but his pro career lasted just two seasons. It was partly due to its pay — Rosenbluth’s annual salary was just $5,000. And partly due to the fact he played behind future Hall of Famer Paul Arizin.
His playing days over, Rosenbluth began coaching high school basketball in North Carolina and in Florida, where he once coached N.C. State great Chris Corchiani.
Rosenbluth and his wife, Dianne, moved back to the Chapel Hill area in 2010, where he remained until his death.
