Berry, McCool and Selmon awarded Patterson Medals by UNC
By Zack Pearson
A trio of UNC athletes were awarded the Patterson Medal for their accomplishments as Tar Heels
Each year the University of North Carolina honors student-athletes with a prestigious award to celebrate the careers they had as Tar Heels. The Patterson Medal is given to those athletes based on career athletic accomplishments.
To receive the Patterson Medal, an athlete must play at least three seasons with the Tar Heels and show leadership as well as excellent sportsmanship in his or her careers.
This year UNC announced that they have awarded Joel Berry, Marie McCool and Kenny Selmon with the Patterson Medal. Each one of those three athletes has won a national championship with the Tar Heels and have successful careers in Chapel Hill.
Berry played four years with the Tar Heels, helping the program reach back-to-back Final Fours before winning the title in 2017. The point guard has had an outstanding career for the basketball program including being named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. Berry is the third-consecutive Patterson Medal recipient for the basketball program joining Justin Jackson (2017) and Marcus Paige (2016).
He becomes the fifth player to receive the medal under Roy Williams joining Tyler Hansbrough, Tyler Zeller, Marcus Paige and Justin Jackson. Following his career at UNC, Berry was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Los Angeles Lakers.
For McCool, her UNC career ended with another trip to the Final Four.
Although the women’s Lacrosse team didn’t achieve their goal in winning it all, McCool still had another successful season in Carolina Blue. She was instrumental in UNC winning the national championship a few years back while being named a finalist for the National Player of the year.
McCool was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the WPLL Draft by Baltimore as she will pursue a professional career.
While Berry and McCool were standouts in team sports, Selmon was a standout athlete in track and field. He won the National Championship in the 400-meter hurdles just weeks ago, putting a stamp on his career at UNC. While a member of the Tar Heels, Selmon set numerous school records.