Bill Gammon, a Raleigh attorney and graduate assistant coach on Bill Dooley's staff in the early 1970s, died Aug. 23 of complications from acute pancreatitis.

            Gammon was a 1970 graduate of Davidson College, where he played center on the 1969 Southern Conference championship team. He went to Law School at UNC, graduating in 1973 and spending three years working with the Tar Heel football program.

            He remained an avid Tar Heel fan throughout his life and was especially fond of the football Tar Heels. Gammon corresponded frequently through email with Lee Pace about the trials and tribulations of the program over the last 15 years. Gammon wrote the following to Pace last December, shortly after the appointment of Larry Fedora as Carolina's new head coach.

            "Have not corresponded with you in some time," Gammon wrote. "But, I just finished reading your Extra Points on 'High Energy Fedora' and felt I had to acknowledge one point. You were right when you said that 'you had to be there' on Jim 'Maddog' Carmody or, as us grad assistants called him (not to his face), 'ModyMan.' That was a great time to be with UNC Football--Three Bowls when there were not that many bowls, two ACC Championships, and 8-4, 9-3, and 11-1. Hard to believe that we are now talking about four decades ago.

            "On your article, it is clear that you like Fedora, and I do also. We need excitement and drive. The college game is won on offense with the exception of a very few teams. We need a coach who will make 'the sum be greater than the parts,' rather than 'the sum be less than the parts' (as in a great number of NFL prospects but with a team that only goes 8-5.) However, I must admit that the 2010 season will always be a 'What if ...').

            "Regards and Holiday wishes.

            "Bill"

            Here is a link to the obituary in the News & Observer.