News-Record.com

For some reason, the issue of smoking in the Coliseum made me think of track meets in the old Tin Can at Carolina.

The Tin Can was a World War II-era Quonset hut next to Woollen Gym. It contained a banked, wooden track where the Tar Heels hosted winter meets.

In my day, the mid-70s, smoking was definitely allowed in the Tin Can. Even our coach smoked.

We ran through a tobacco haze. Talk about your lungs burning. After a two-mile race, I would cough as if I'd smoked a pack of cigarettes.

Funny thing, I don't remember anybody complaining much. It was just something you had to deal with.

I'm glad times have changed. No smoking in the Coliseum!