Former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly serves as the season finale of Season 3 of "Sports Legends of the Carolinas."

Drafted No. 9 overall out of Boston College by the Panthers in 2012, Kuechly had such a remarkable eight-year NFL career that you still see his No. 59 jersey every Sunday at Panthers' home games. Kuechly was the AP’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012, the AP’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2013 and one of the keys to the Panthers’ run to the Super Bowl in 2015. In his first year of eligibility, he’s currently a semifinalist for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kuechly retired early from the NFL, at age 28 in January 2020. In this conversation, he talked about the reasons behind his surprise retirement, as well as about his old Carolina teammates like Cam Newton, his love for bowhunting and what he'd like to do next in his life. 

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A three-time Olympic gold medalist, Heather O’Reilly was also one of the all-time greats at one of the all-time greatest dynasties in college sports -- the UNC women’s soccer team.

O’Reilly helped lead UNC to two NCAA championships, in 2003 and 2006. She was already a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team while in school at Chapel Hill and played on that squad for 14 years, from age 17 to age 31. Besides winning gold medals with the USNWT in 2004, 2008 and 2012, she also won the women’s World Cup in 2015.

After a long national and international soccer career, the 39-year-old O'Reilly has returned to Chapel Hill, where she coaches soccer, pursues a variety of business interests and chases after her two young sons. She talks in this podcast about juggling soccer and family life, as well as her hatred of penalty kicks and how she and her husband helped save the 100-year-old Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street from going out of business.

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NASCAR hall of famer Rick Hendrick is an ultra-successful businessman in the automotive world. But what he’s known for in sports circles is a NASCAR dynasty that is celebrating its 40th year in existence of 2024 and ranks as the winningest team in Cup Series history. Hendrick’s 14 Cup series season titles have come with five different drivers: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

Hendrick is also a leukemia survivor and has overcome a number of personal tragedies, including a plane crash that devastated both his NASCAR operation and his family 20 years ago. At age 75, he remains in charge of both Hendrick Automotive Group - which employs almost 11,000 people - and the Hendrick Motorsports racing operation, which is in contention for another championship in 2024. 

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Jim Nantz is one of the most famous sports broadcasters in America. Since being hired by CBS Sports in 1985 at age 26, he’s become a 5-time national sportscaster of the year and has provided the play-by-play soundtrack for many of the most iconic moments in sports. Nantz has called multiple Super Bowls, Final Fours and the Masters.

The Nantz family also has deep roots in North Carolina. Nantz, 65, not only was born in Charlotte, but both his mom’s and dad’s families are deeply embedded in our state. Nantz was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2024. 

For his "Sports Legends of the Carolinas" interview, Nantz sat with us in Greensboro, where he was broadcasting a golf tournament. We spoke about his family, the time he called a Super Bowl featuring the Carolina Panthers and the origin story about why he opens every telecast with the phrase “Hello friends.”

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As the oldest head coach in college football’s top division, UNC’s Mack Brown now anticipates the question about when he’s going to retire long before recruits or their parents pose it. “It gets asked before they say hello now,” Brown said. 

Brown will turn 73 on Aug. 27th, two days before the Tar Heels’ 2024 season opener at Minnesota. Now that Alabama’s Nick Saban has retired, Brown stands alone as the only Division I head football coach in his 70s. He’s also the winningest active coach in college football with 282 victories, piled up during head-coaching stops at Texas, Tulane, Appalachian State and North Carolina (twice).

Brown won a national championship at Texas and has taken UNC to a bowl game in each of the five years since his return to Chapel Hill prior to the 2019 season. He spoke during this podcast episode about the massive changes that are rocking college football, growing up in Cookeville, Tenn., and the way he's going to retire when he decides to do so.

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Julius Peppers, a fearsome pass-rushing defensive end, was one of the greatest Carolina Panther players ever. We caught up with Peppers at his home in Coral Gables, Fla., where he lives with his wife and children. He is preparing for a big weekend -- on Aug. 3rd, Peppers will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was elected in his first year of eligibility after 17 total seasons in the NFL -- 10 of them with the Panthers. Peppers finished his career fourth all-time in NFL sacks. Before that, he grew up in Bailey, N.C., and was both a football and basketball star for the UNC Tar Heels.

Peppers is one of the rare athletes to have played in both the Super Bowl and the Final Four, and he thinks he could have been an NBA player if he pursued that avenue. He also talks about chasing Michael Vick, Carolina's 2003 Super Bowl season and what being a hall of famer means to him.

Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends.

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It’s almost time for the Summer Olympics to take over the sports world, as it does every four years.

The opening ceremonies are July 26th in Paris. And so for the first time in the three seasons of “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” we went poolside to have a a candid conversation with Olympic swimmer and two-time gold medalist Cullen Jones.

Formerly a star college swimmer at N.C. State, Jones previewed the Paris swimming competition, talked about his own experiences in the Olympics and told us his origin story as to how he became one of a handful of African-American swimmers to succeed in the water at the sport’s highest levels.

Jones owns both two gold medals and two silver medals from the Olympics, where he competed for Team USA in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London. He also said the most important lessons from his athletic career came not during his record-setting wins, but from his losses. "Losing is great," he said at one point.

Now 40 years old, Jones lives in Charlotte with his wife and their five-year-old son. Our interview came at Life Time’s fitness center in Charlotte, and that excellent facility also let us borrow one of its several pools for our photo session.

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In North Carolina’s mountains, a football coach named Jerry Moore led Appalachian State to new heights two decades ago.

Now 84, Moore coached the Mountaineers from 1989-2012 and built a dynasty in Boone, N.C. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, he directed the Mountaineers all the way to the top of the mountain, winning three straight national titles at the FCS level. Those were the first three NCAA football championships any institution from the state of North Carolina had won, at any level.

Moore also coached the Mountaineers to arguably the most famous upset in college football history — a 34-32 win against No. 5 Michigan, in the 2007 season opener. Moore earned his way into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

In this interview, Moore talked about all of those championships, the brilliance of star quarterback Armanti Edwards and the upset in Ann Arbor, as well as making peace with his difficult departure from Appalachian State after the 2012 season and why he again fully embraces the program today. 

Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends.

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Long before he became one of the biggest names in footwear, Stan Smith dazzled on the tennis court.

Smith, 77, is a tennis hall of famer who won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the early 1970s and was once ranked as the world’s No. 1 tennis player. He grew up in California but has lived for more than 50 years in Hilton Head, S.C., where he remains very active in the community and in his Smith Stearns Tennis Academy.

But if you’re not a tennis fan, what you likely know Stan Smith for is the iconic Adidas shoe that bears his name — a classic white leather shoe with green trim around the heel that also includes his likeness and signature. In fact, the name of his 2018 book was: “Stan Smith — Some people think I’m a shoe.”

Smith is much more than a shoe, though, and LeBron James’ production company recently made a documentary about him. We traveled to the S.C. coast to talk to him in the latest episode of “Sports Legends of the Carolinas.”

Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends.

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Jimmie Johnson is, without question, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. Three drivers rank at the very top of the all-time NASCAR Cup series champion standings, each with seven season titles apiece. They are Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Johnson.

Of those three legends, Johnson is the only one who won five titles consecutively, from 2006-2010. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte in January. Johnson is now 48 years old, the same number that he made famous driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He still competes in select events and plans to do so in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday, for Legacy Motor Club, which he co-owns.

This interview with Johnson, where he spoke about racing, family and the two times he thought his life might be over, was conducted in Daytona Beach, Fla. It occurred before the recent announcement that Johnson plans to pull off an unusual double on Sunday. He will first be part of NBC’s announcing team for the Indy 500, then will fly directly to Charlotte in time to drive in the Coke 600. Johnson and his family — wife Chandra and their two daughters, Genevieve and Lydia — plan to return to live in Charlotte later this year, but are spending this school year overseas in London. Chandra is also an art connoisseur and founded SOCO Gallery, based in Charlotte.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity; a longer version is available on the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast. The Johnson podcast episode is sponsored by Queen City Audio, Video and Appliances.

Sports Legends of the Carolinas is hosted by Scott Fowler. It's produced by Loumay Alesali, Jeff Siner and Kata Stevens. For lots more on the show, visit https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportslegends.

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