North Carolina Rabbit Hole

Shortly after I moved to Charlotte in 2005, I became a Carolina Panthers fan because it was much better than being a fan of the Cleveland Browns. A few years later, I became the producer of the Panthers postgame show on a local television station. A few years after that, the production moved from the station to the stadium. It was there that I first heard a piece of information that I hadn’t actually considered before: The screaming panther sound—the noise that you’d hear during home games whenever the Panthers did something good like get a first down or make a third down stop—was not actually the sound that a real panther makes.

You can read more here.

Closing song: "Riverboat Ron" by Crab Claw

On Sunday night, many Rabbit Hole readers alerted me to the existence of this video. Start watching at :19 seconds, and keep your eye on the woman in black on the far right.

I swear to you, I have never seen an athletic competition so beautiful and so violent in my entire life. If you don’t have time to watch, here’s what’s happening: Someone rolls a large wheel of cheese down a steep hill in England. Then people chase the cheese. Many of them fall and tumble. But whoever gets to the bottom first wins the prize: A fine wheel of Double Gloucester.

One woman, however, really got after it:

And she won! She won the cheese! And immediately after, her first statement was: “I’m from North Carolina!”

I tracked her down. Her name is Abby Lampe. She just graduated from NC State, and soon after, decided to compete in the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake near Gloucestershire, England. There’s a lot of history behind that race, but the headline is this: No American had ever won the women’s race. Until Abby. She even sort of called her shot in a TikTok:

I tracked her down in Barcelona and arranged to talk to her via Zoom, and since so many of you tipped me off about this, I thought it only fair to read her some of your questions. She also sent me some behind the scenes video of her training regimen.

Here is our conversation, edited and condensed for clarity. You can listen above, or read below. A note! This many be too long for your email, so I encourage you to make sure you read the entire message.

Rabbit Hole: My son, who's 7, wants to know, how did you win the race?

Abby: You just have to be the first person down to the hill. You're never going to catch the cheese. The cheese is just a marker. Honestly, the cheese can go up to 70 miles per hour. It just hits the fence and then that's it. And then after you get down the hill, whoever finishes first gets the cheese.

Rabbit Hole: My daughter, who's 5, wants to know: How did you roll down the hill that fast?

Abby: I don't know. Honestly, I think because the hill is so steep, I just caught momentum and I kept going and there was no really stopping it. You couldn't stop if you wanted to.

Rabbit Hole: I have other questions here. One of them is from Rana Cash, who is the executive editor of the Charlotte Observer. She has her own news outlet. I don't know why she's going through me to ask this question, but her question is really easy: “Why?”

Abby: I love participating in events. I grew up very competitive. I played a lot of sports, and this is something I've never done before. This is like a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. And I wanted to do it because I was going to be in the area at the same time. I looked in March to see when the competition would be held this year, and it was during the time where I would be in Europe. So I booked a ticket to Spain and then I also booked a ticket to the U.K.

Rabbit Hole: I've seen that you practiced at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh. Somebody wants to know, specifically, which hill did you practice on at Dix Park?

Abby: I practiced on the hill across the road from Magnolia Room. I think it's a wide open space where you enter Dorothea Dix from Western Boulevard. I'm not exactly sure the name of it. But during like over there, you can kind of see the Raleigh farmer's market. I didn't go to the flower fields or that area, but there's hillier areas across that way.

Rabbit Hole: Here are two questions from Jennifer Moxley:

Abby: So I discovered it through social media a while ago. There are tons of videos on YouTube about this with compilations of people rolling down the hill and the injuries that are inflicted by it. A lot of people have made videos commentating on the event, so those are really funny to watch. I hadn't actually seen the Netflix docuseries until the day before the race. Someone told me about it and I was like, really? So I watched it the night before to get ready. And that definitely helped me prepare mentally, physically, definitely more than Dorothea Dix. On Friday when I came to England, I did a test run. You're overlooking the whole village of Brockworth and there's some really steep parts to get up the hill. So I got to the top, and I was just going to walk down, kind of get a feel for it. I immediately slip and I slide down probably half of the hill itself, and then I look up and I'm like, Wow, this is a lot steeper than I thought. I was just surprised. I didn't realize that it was going to be this difficult, especially with the conditions. It was misty, rainy, very wet, and muddy, and my shoes were getting soaked.

And after I slid down probably halfway, I got on my feet again and tried to walk down. And when you're walking down this hill, you pick up a lot of momentum just walking and then you're kind of trying not to fall. And then I tumbled a little bit, so I got to feel what it felt like to tumble down the hill two days prior to the race.

The race itself on Sunday started at 12:00 p.m. and they have two downhill men's races before the women's race. So I videoed them and I played them back a little bit to see some similarities between the two events and the winners. Who won? How did they do it? Where did they start and what was the route that they took? So that kind of helped me prepare emotionally and sort of getting a feel for what I'm going to actually do. And I knew that in the competition atmosphere, I would perform a lot better, because I'm very competitive and I've done a lot of sports growing up. I've done intramurals at NC State, so I understand what it's like to be in a competition. I knew I was going to give it my all and I didn't want to half do it, because what's the fun of that?

Rabbit Hole: Is there one way that seems to work better to get you down the hill?

Abby: So in Raleigh, I tried to do head first and I was like, This is it. This gets me down the hill way faster.

But I didn't consider the steepness of the hill when I decided to do that. On Sunday when I participated, I knew that I wanted to be on my feet. But then when I fell, it was impossible to get back up again. Chris Anderson, a 23-time world cheese rolling champion, was there. He gave me a few tips. He said it's anyone's game with conditions as rainy as it was. But his strategy was to get on his feet. When he rolls, he jumps right back up and keeps running. I did not do that. I just kept rolling. I couldn't even stop myself from rolling. And I knew that I was not going straight, but I just went with it. I just was trying to get my body as close to the finish line and as fast as I could down the hill.

Rabbit Hole: How aware are you of what's going on in that situation?

Abby: Gravity really took me. I knew that I was rolling really fast. There's not really much adjustment you can do. When I noticed I was going sideways and the crowd was getting closer to me, I think I did adjust a little bit because I did not want to hit them and I had seen videos of people going into the crowd. And if I had done that, the race would have been over for me. I would never have won. So I had no idea that the girl behind me was so close to me. I had no idea what anyone else was doing. I'm just really grateful that somehow she did not pass me because it looks like she was going to at one point.

Rabbit Hole: Did you think that you could actually win this thing? And then after you won, what's going through your head?

Abby: I definitely wanted to win. I thought I had a chance. From March to June, I was telling my friends and talking about it a lot. I was telling all the people I met in the past month that I was going to be going to England to do this. Just random people on flights and at the airport when we would make small talk and they would ask where I was going and what I was doing this summer, and I was like, Yeah, I'm going to participate in a cheese rolling contest. And I think I even told some people, Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to win this. Just jokingly, of course, though. I didn't have full confidence. I know that there's competitors. If Flo Early—the four time cheese champion—if she were to race or if Casey Anderson, Chris Anderson's niece, who raced in the 2019 last cheese rolling competition, if they had raced, I may not have won. They know the hill a lot better than I do. And so going into it, I was optimistic, but I was hopeful, but I had no idea that I would actually win. And so winning it, I was filled with so much joy and so much happiness. It was honestly a dream come true. It was just amazing to just bask in the glory of the cheese rolling.

Rabbit Hole: The first thing you did afterwards was throw up the NC State sign. And you were wearing an NC State sweatshirt. Like, I mean, you could have worn anything that day. I know you're a recent graduate of NC State, so like why are you repping NC State so hard at this event? Like, the first thing I even heard you say is, “I'm from North Carolina!”

Abby: I grew up a Wolfpack fan. My family has gone to NC State, most of my siblings have gone to NC State. My parents, my grandparents. My great grandfather served as the longest serving dean as the dean of engineering there. So I bleed red. We love NC State.

I really planned my outfit going into England. I wore my NC State sweatshirt to the airport so I wouldn't have to pack it. I only brought a backpack. No carry-on to England for the whole weekend. I deliberately only brought things that I needed. I bought my NC State T-shirt, but it was too cold for it in England. So I wore my NC State sweatshirt.

It's hard being an NC State fan. We've gone through so much stuff and everyone seems to be working against us. So when I won, I just wanted to represent such a great university. I had a great time. My four years there, I made a lot of friends and the professors there are great and my major, which is industrial and systems engineering, helped me a lot actually during the preparation for this event and kind of finding the most efficient way to get down the hill and adapting when I met obstacles.

Rabbit Hole: This is a follow up question from Jeremy Ashton:

Abby: Wow. I don't know if I would go that far. There are some Olympians from NC State. There are some gold medalists. I'm just happy I can get looped in with some of the athletes there. It's just incredible. It's an amazing feeling. I don't think I would call myself the best thing to come out of NC State in the 21st century because there are so many accomplishments. The women's basketball team made it to the Elite Eight this year. They're phenomenal. I loved watching their games. The football team and the baseball team, like, they're incredible. We have a great sports department and I'm just looking forward to just cheering them on next season.

Rabbit Hole: This is from Hayes Permar:

Abby: That's so funny. I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it that much. Camp Seafarer is a great place. I was a counselor and camper there for I think maybe eight years in total. I went there every summer growing up. So that'd be kind of cool if they had a little—maybe there could be mini statues in places, so then they don't have to buy the material for all this. You can actually 3D print at NC State, so maybe they can 3D print little statues.

Rabbit Hole: Here’s one from Electronspin on Twitter: What is your Cook Out order?

Abby: It varies. But my brother-in-law thought of this: So you can get a two chicken quesadilla Cook Out tray with two sides of more quesadillas. And then if the Cook Out people are really nice, you can trade your drink in for another quesadilla. So you can get five quesadillas for one Cook Out tray. But typically I like two chicken quesadillas, maybe a corn dog, maybe some hushpuppies in a huge tea. I love sweet tea. And the Cook Out ice is phenomenal.

Rabbit Hole: Adventuring with Hillary asked: Do you get to keep the cheese? And then here’s another question from Jason deBruyn: Did you declare the cheese at customs?

Abby: I did get to keep the cheese. I shipped it and within the custom form they put it as a personal effect. So hopefully they won't open it. The guy who helped me ship it in England also put it as a “cheese tasting” rather than a whole wheel of cheese to prevent maybe some backlash in customs. But I did not take it on the airplane with me. It's going through shipping.

Rabbit Hole: From Rob:

Abby: I think it mainly was yesterday. It could also have been dehydration. And I was running on 2 hours of sleep yesterday. So there was a lot to play in with my headaches and my head pain yesterday. I'm doing a lot better today. I got probably a little over eight hours of sleep last night, which was great, and I drank water today.

Rabbit Hole: The governor has mentioned you, and you were even mentioned on the state senate floor. NC State has really put out a lot of stuff about you. What interview is this for you? Have you been keeping track?

Abby: Yeah, I have a I have a Google calendar. I think you are 14 maybe.

Rabbit Hole: So I'm 14. And how many more do you have after this that you have set up?

Abby: I have six.

Rabbit Hole: What is that like to get just like your name dropped and like so many places around your home state?

Abby: It's crazy. It's amazing. I never would have thought in a million years that this would happen. I'm just so happy that NC State gets some good rep. I'm amazed that Roy Cooper even mentioned me. My chancellor also mentioned me. Every single day so far I've woken up and I look at my phone and I'm just in shock. I'm still in shock. Like, I just can't imagine that this is my life. It's so funny, too, because it's just from me rolling down a really steep hill.

Rabbit Hole: Here’s a question from Dave Emke:

Abby: I'm going to Greece in July, so I'll miss the Running of the Bulls. But I totally would have thought about doing it at least.

Rabbit Hole: What does your dream charcuterie board look like?

Abby: Oh, that's a good one. I would get some crackers, maybe a little bit. Other assortment of cheeses like Brie, manchego. I would get some fresh meats. I think Raleigh has a good collection of meats in the area. Jams? Yeah. I love jams on anything. Ooh, and the little pickles! But not the sweet pickles. Just like the dill pickles that are typical pickles. But they're, they're the petite ones, I think. Oh, and fresh bread. I love bread.

Rabbit Hole: Last thing. Are you going to eat that cheese?

Abby: Oh, yeah, we're we are going to eat the cheese when I get back. I guess my family is hoping to do an unveiling. I'm going to get back and maybe we can dive in. Hopefully there might be something in the mix with Chancellor Woodson and NC State. Maybe we'll have a collaboration and do a whole cheese thing.

As you may know, North Carolina and Duke are playing a basketball game on Saturday night. This in itself is not unusual—these guys meet at least twice a year, and sometimes play for a third time in the ACC Tournament. What is unusual is that, for the first time ever, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils are meeting in the NCAA Tournament. Also, they’re playing each other in the Final Four. This rivalry is already overheated. Saturday’s game is now approaching nuclear fission levels of hype.

Nobody can say for certain who is going to win. What everyone can say is that this game is going to generate an intolerable amount of hot takes. So, what EXACTLY is a hot take, you ask? “Giving an honest opinion that might not be popular, that's not a hot take,” says Joe Ovies of 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh. “Like, if I say ‘Carolina beating Duke on Saturday will completely redefine how the rivalry is discussed, because not only did they beat Coach K at home for his final game, they literally ended his career’? That's not a hot take. That is just an honest opinion. A hot take would be: ‘Well, if Carolina beats Duke again, and it happens to be the last game in Coach K's career and it happened twice, I think Duke has to shut down their program.’ That would be a hot take.”

So, because we know a lot of people in North Carolina are going to become unhinged after the game, it’s best to plan ahead. That’s why, as a public service, Ovies agreed to help us stockpile some hot takes for every potential Duke-Carolina scenario. Now, to be fair, these are not the personal hot takes of Ovies himself, but rather the most outrageous hot take that each scenario would generate. As Ovies puts it: “What you want is, like, day four of the discourse on Twitter, where everybody gets to one up each other.” Since it’s going to get ridiculous after the game, why wait? Let’s jump ahead now, kick the tires, and light the hot take fires.

You can listen to our entire interview in podcast form by clicking on the player at the top, or you can read the takes below and file them away for next week. That way, you can calmly prepare to deliver an opinion that’ll generate as many “This guy’s havin’ a normal one” quote-tweets as possible.

A NOTE: These takes have been edited for brevity and clarity, but retain their spiciness.

RABBIT HOLE: Duke wins.

OVIES: Mike Krzyzewski gets his storybook ending. That loss to Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium was actually all part of the master motivational plan.

RABBIT HOLE: Carolina wins.

OVIES: [Former UNC coach] Roy Williams was the shadow puppet master behind the scenes the entire time. He knew in order to get this next national championship, to get to these players to finally fulfill their greatness? He had to fake his own retirement and actually coach through [current UNC coach] Hubert Davis to get to that title.

RABBIT HOLE: Duke wins by double digits.

OVIES: If Duke wins by double digits, I feel as though Carolina fans will say, “You know what? I was right about Hubert Davis all along. He couldn't win the big one. This is just only going to go downhill from here. Thank him for the Cameron indoor win. But let's go get Wes Miller right now because Wes Miller would have won that game.”

RABBIT HOLE: Carolina wins by double digits.

OVIES: Can I give you two?

RABBIT HOLE: Yes.

OVIES: Alright. So the first reaction is: Coach K is so embarrassed by losing at Cameron and then losing in the Final Four to Carolina that he actually tells Jon Scheyer, “Hey. Dude. I know we had this arrangement. You're supposed to be coaching next year, but let's be honest, I helped you get that recruiting class. I need to run this back. I can't let this be my last game, so you let's defer this one more year. You okay with that? Cool with that?” So that's that's number one.

The other option is that Coach K does come back, but he says, “Screw it, I can't come back to Duke.” So he goes to… I don't know… [St. Peter’s coach] Shaheen Holloway took the Seton Hall job, so [Coack K] is going to go coach St. Peter’s. He's going to really prove how great of a coach he is by taking a smaller school and going on a real Cinderella run.

RABBIT HOLE: Duke wins on a buzzer beater.

OVIES: That's probably the best self medicine that Carolina fans can have. You know, if it bounces out, you know what? It was still a close game. These guys fought really hard. It was all gravy. This team was playing with house money. They took this Duke team that was super talented with all these NBA guys on a farewell tour. They took them to the brink. We still beat you at home. I think there’ll be a lot of self-medication from Carolina fans on a buzzer beater.

RABBIT HOLE: Carolina wins on a buzzer beater.

OVIES: [There will be] some level of karmic balance for people who say, “You know what, Coach K? In 2010, man, you robbed one in 2010. There was no reason for you to win that [national championship]. Come on now. That's karma coming back to you in your last in your last Final Four appearance as a coach. The karma was due. The balance was due.” And Carolina's shot from the half court? That buzzer beater actually goes in, as opposed to the Butler one that bounced out.

RABBIT HOLE: Carolina's best player gets hurt, and Duke wins.

OVIES: I bet you they would say that Coach K called in the Code Red. [They’d say] he specifically said, “Go take this guy out.”

RABBIT HOLE: Duke's best player gets hurt. And Carolina wins.

OVIES: Zion jokes.

RABBIT HOLE: The game goes to overtime.

OVIES: Everybody's gonna tweet in unison: “Free basketball! I hope this game goes on forever! The greatest rivalry! This is the best thing ever!”

RABBIT HOLE: The game goes to multiple overtimes.

OVIES: You will see me take the court, try to grab the microphone from Jim Nantz and say that this game is going to continue on until we get engulfed by the sun.

RABBIT HOLE: The game goes to so many overtimes that the NCAA changes its rules, declares a draw and names both teams national champions.

OVIES: No, I disagree. If the game goes to multiple overtimes to the point where the NCAA has to step in, it actually will result in former Duke players and former Carolina players who are in the building playing a three-on-three tournament until a winner is determined.

RABBIT HOLE: Coach K leaves the game early.

OVIES: The ultimate test of Jon Scheyer to see if he actually can be the next head coach at Duke. It was all planted, and if they don't win it, then they're going to find a new coach next year.

RABBIT HOLE: [North Carolina coach] Hubert Davis is ejected.

OVIES: That was actually something that was agreed to by Roy Williams and Hubert Davis ahead of the Final Four games. [Roy would say] “Look, you got us this far. Now I get to coach it.” It's kind of like the Stone Cold Steve Austin glass breaking thing. “Bah gawd! That's Roy Williams’s music!” I think that's what's going to happen. It's all part of the work.

RABBIT HOLE: Hubert Davis is ejected and the ghost of Dean Smith materializes on the sideline and starts to coach.

OVIES: Well, [the Final Four is in] New Orleans, so I think if that happens, Mike Krzyzewski is prepared to say, “Look, you don’t win five national titles without having a plan.” I bet you that Coach K thought about this. And before the game, he went to the French Quarter and he found himself some sort of spiritual advisor, a witch doctor of sorts. I think he's going to do a cord cutting. If I'm not mistaken, he'll actually have the two candles he had prepared for this, with a string between the two candles. And that will actually cord cut Dean Smith from this world and we'll get back into reality, and that's how he'll take care of that.

RABBIT HOLE: That was well thought out.

OVIES: He’s thought of everything.

RABBIT HOLE: After the game, Coach K announces that he's not retiring.

OVIES: I would like Jon Scheyer to announce, in that situation, that he’s actually joining the Carolina staff. In that moment.

RABBIT HOLE: Coach K is spotted talking to Tom Brady before the game.

OVIES: I would check the basketball inflation.

RABBIT HOLE: Hubert Davis and Coach K do not shake hands after the game.

OVIES: I will not have to prep for my show for a week. It will be the easiest radio ever. I'll just take phone calls. Fingers crossed.

RABBIT HOLE: Hubert Davis and Coach K shake hands vigorously for 10 seconds after the game.

OVIES: A total test of manliness. The only thing that would be better is if Hubert Davis wins and smacks Coach K on the ass like [former NC State coach] Mark Gottfried did several years ago. That would also give me a week's worth of radio too.

RABBIT HOLE: Hubert Davis and Coach K perform an elaborately choreographed handshake after the game.

OVIES: Is Red Panda involved?

RABBIT HOLE: The one that performs at halftime? You know what? Yes.

OVIES: I would like to see Red Panda come out, and Hubert Davis and Coach K hand her the bowls.

RABBIT HOLE: Before the game, the ACC names this a “Loser Leaves Town” match and says the losing team is kicked out of the conference.

OVIES: See, I hope that doesn't happen because I’m gonna hear from ECU fans about how it's their turn to join the ACC. I don't want that. I don't want that, Jeremy. Don't put that in my timeline.

RABBIT HOLE: You’ve got to prepare. You’ve got to be ready for it.

OVIES: If it's a loser leaves town match, how do they get back in? In wrestling, they always find a way back in. So is it like the next ACC tournament?

RABBIT HOLE: See, I think the scenario is you have to beat Maryland in some way, shape, or form, and then you can come back in. You have to beat all of the former ACC teams.

OVIES: South Carolina and Maryland are involved in this.

RABBIT HOLE: Yeah, like some kind of unity belt.

OVIES: You know what? Ladder match. What you put at the top of the ladder is one of John Swofford’s old golf polos. The old commissioner. You do this in Greensboro. Do it at the Grandover, in one of the ballrooms.

RABBIT HOLE: It's like Starrcade. But for the ACC.

OVIES: Yes. I like this. So: Starrcade, ACC, Grandover ballroom, ladder match. And would you rather have a John Swofford polo or a Bojangles Bo Box hanging from the ceiling?

RABBIT HOLE: I think the polo descends from the ceiling in a Bojangles Bo Box.

OVIES: Whoever manages to get the polo on first gets to rejoin the ACC.

RABBIT HOLE: That sounds like either a Nickelodeon game show or a wrestling work.

OVIES: Instead of the Aggro Crag, it's a Food Lion gift card.

RABBIT HOLE: Next scenario: the game is played under Rock N’ Jock rules, and there's a 10-point pod.

OVIES: Now you got me thinking about who the Dan Cortese of each school would be. Serge Zwikker would come out for Carolina. Cherokee Parks on the other end.

RABBIT HOLE: Brady Manek shaves his beard and scores 30.

OVIES: I don't believe it. The beard gives him power. If he shaves and scores zero, that'll be more believable. It's a total Samson situation. If you shave the beard, Manek loses his powers easily.

RABBIT HOLE: Wendell Moore discovers a P-Wing from Super Mario Brothers 3 behind his bench, is able to fly effortlessly, and scores 60 points.

OVIES: But does he does he find the flute in World 1 that actually gets him to the first round of the NBA draft? That's the question.

RABBIT HOLE: Before the game, Chapel Hill and Durham announce that they are merging.

OVIES: That's easy. Carrboro gets more obnoxious.

RABBIT HOLE: Every team in the tournament is declared to be ineligible and NC State is declared national champion.

OVIES: People would still want Kevin Keatts fired.

Did we miss something? Leave your potential Duke-Carolina scenarios and your hot takes in the comments.

In the season finale, our hikers reach the Outer Banks of North Carolina and end of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Now, more than a year later, we see where they've ended up and how the trip has affected their lives.

As our Mountains-to-Sea Trail thru-hikers approach the end, one final challenge remains: A kayak trip down two of North Carolina's most well-known waterways. All will have to grapple with problems that could potentially stop them from reaching their final destination.

In this bonus episode, host Jeremy Markovich talks with long-time hiking guide Jennifer Pharr Davis about how anyone can prepare for and pull off a trip on a trail, from day-trippers to thru-hikers on North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Read Davis's story about hiking the Appalachian Trail from the October 2015 issue of Our State magazine.

Read more about her 2017 hike of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Learn more about Davis and her company, Blue Ridge Hiking Company.

Contact Jeremy via email, Twitter, or Facebook, and take a survey about the show.

In this episode, we travel to Roseboro, a small eastern North Carolina town that sits on the route of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail but doesn't actually have any good places to hike. Yet. We also meet the trail angels that hikers depend on to get to the end, and talk to a woman who's attempting to finish the MST in just 30 days.

Find out more about Tara Dower's attempt to beat the fastest known time on the MST here.

As Erin Brennan and Aaron and Lexi Harris pass the halfway point on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the path undergoes a dramatic shift from footpath to roadside. In this episode, we take a closer look at the parts of the MST that only attract the most intrepid hikers, and discover what it takes to bike and hike your way through a world built for cars.

When it comes to trail towns along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Elkin stands out. So how did a quiet place in the North Carolina foothills go trail crazy? We find out, thanks to the men who are building footpaths as fast as they can.

In 1955, a dentist and five of his friends played a round of golf. They were black. The course was white-only. What happened next changed the course of one man's life, and in turn, helped integrate an entire town. This originally premiered in July 2018 under the title "The Round of Golf That Changed a City."

To read a written version of this story, visit ourstate.com/simkins. There you can find the complete 2000 interview with George Simkins, along with a transcript.