Dean Smith, Frazier, Martin receive NC Awards

DURHAM, N.C. — Former Gov. Jim Martin, ex-University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith and "Cold Mountain" author Charles Frazier were among 10 people who received the North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor.

Gov. Mike Easley and first lady Mary Easley, who presented the annual awards during a dinner at a Durham hotel Monday, honored individuals for their contributions to the arts, public service and science. There have been more than 230 recipients since the first presentation in 1964. Honorees receive a medallion.

The awards "are given to those North Carolinians whose contributions to the state are enduring and truly significant," the governor said in a news release. "We are fortunate to live in a state with so many outstanding individuals who, through their leadership, their talents and their time, have helped make North Carolina a better place to live."

Martin, the only Republican governor in North Carolina to serve two four-year terms, was a chemist and Davidson College professor who later became a Mecklenburg County commissioner and congressman. Martin was elected governor in 1984 and worked to raise teacher salaries, complete Interstate 40 to Wilmington and push for a gubernatorial veto ultimately passed by voters in 1996.

Smith led the Tar Heel men's basketball team for 36 years, guiding them to 879 victories, two NCAA championships, 11 Final Fours and 13 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament titles. A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Smith also coached the 1976 U.S. Olympic basketball team to a gold medal.

Frazier, who lives in Asheville, won the National Book Award for fiction in 1997 for "Cold Mountain," the story of a wounded Confederate soldier who deserted to go home to western North Carolina. The book later was adapted into a movie.

Other award recipients include:

— Education advocate and philanthropist Ann Goodnight, the wife of SAS Institute founder Jim Goodnight. Ann Goodnight is a member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and helped develop a park at the N.C. Museum of Art.

— Maurice Brookhart, a chemistry professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and member of the National Academy of Sciences. His research has helped improved industrial chemical processes, such as the discovery of one of the building blocks of a nylon used in automotive and chemical fields.

— Fred and Alice Stanback, husband-and-wife land conservationists from Salisbury. They have helped protect North Carolina's leading natural and recreational areas, served on various environmental boards and helped establish Catawba College's Center for the Environment.

— Gerald Freeman, dean of the drama school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem since 1991. A former teacher at the Juilliard School of Drama, Freeman has directed nearly 50 Broadway and off-Broadway plays.

— Alexander Rivera Jr., a longtime photographer in the black press who covered the civil rights movement. Rivera, who died Oct. 23 at the age of 95, also was public relations director at N.C. Central University in Durham until retiring in 1983.

— Margaret Maron, a crime and mystery novelist from Johnston County. She has written 25 novels, including the award-winning "Bootlegger's Daughter" in 1993, which started the popular Deborah Knott series.

Award recipients are chosen from citizen nominations statewide.

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Nov 17, 2008 - 08:42 p.m. EDT

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