The University of North Carolina Tar Heels boast one of the most competitive and celebrated sports programs in American collegiate sports history. And whether you’re talking about NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, or NBA GOAT Michael Jordan, the Chapel Hill campus has jump-started the careers of so many class athletes.
The storied history of UNC athletics is just another reason why North Carolina sports betting is so eagerly awaited. It’s no wonder UNC has a ravenous fanbase — including some big-name celebrities known to rock the Carolina Blue
With the new school year under way, and the return of NCAA basketball just around the corner, BetCarolina.com – your source for North Carolina sports betting apps - wanted to find UNC’s most famous supporters. To do so, we utilized the keywords explorer on the marketing analytics site AhRefs.com. This allowed us to pinpoint the most popular celebrities on the internet who are also UNC fans over the past 12 months (October 2022 to October 2023).
We’ve included only living actors/actresses, musicians, athletes, TV personalities, comedians, politicians, dancers, and social media influencers. However, we didn’t include any celebrity whose notoriety was directly related to their time playing UNC sports.
Into UNC sports? Check out our North Carolina Tar Heels Odds for basketball Now, on to the results.
🏈 MORE: UNC Football Odds
North Carolina’s own Luke Combs is the biggest celebrity UNC fan, according to our research. The country music star has made his loyalty to the Tar Heels basketball team abundantly clear over the years. However, you’d be justified to question the “Beer Never Broke My Heart” singer’s loyalty to the UNC football team — especially after he appeared on ESPN’s College Game Day last September sporting the regalia of his alma mater, Appalachian State University. Combs can make up for that by checking out our page on Tar Heels QB Drake Maye’s Heisman odds.
At No. 2 and 3 are rappers Lil Wayne and J. Cole, respectively. Although it’s well known Weezy hails from New Orleans, he’s a huge supporter of UNC basketball, and sports in general. Meanwhile, J. Cole - who grew up in Fayetteville - has been spotted courtside at the Dean Dome on multiple occasions. He’s even been known to hang around with the team before and after games.
Model and actress Brooklyn Decker is the fourth most famous UNC fan. The 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover girl actually was born in Ohio, but she moved to North Carolina in her teens. In fact, Decker was “discovered” in a Charlotte shopping mall. A die-hard follower of Tar Heels basketball, Decker shares a home in North Carolina with her husband, tennis player Andy Roddick.
Another country music star, Eric Church, makes our list at No. 5. There’s no questioning Church’s loyalty to UNC. In 2022, Church canceled one of his own concerts to attend a Final Four game against Duke. While the incident caused a minor backlash, Church was happy with his decision — after all, the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils, 81-77.
Two on-screen performers, who happen to be UNC alums, find themselves next up on our list. During his time in Chapel Hill, comedian and actor Lewis Black studied playwriting, but he eventually would make a name for himself with his highly passionate, off-color stand-up routines. These days, Black might be best known for his voice work in Pixar’s 2015 film “Inside Out,” where he was fittingly cast to appear as Anger.
Another Tar Heel-turned-performer, Billy Crudup, got his undergrad at UNC before heading to New York, where he received an MFA from the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Crudup broke into Hollywood in the early-2000s with roles in “Almost Famous” and “Big Fish.” Most recently he appeared in the Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show,” which returned for its third season last month.
Three other former UNC alumni round out our list. That includes two former Tar Heels football players we included because they’re more famous for their post-NCAA careers. Chase Rice — the third and final country music star to track our list — was a linebacker for the Tar Heels from 2005-2008. And Caleb Pressley was a walk-on QB at UNC whose primarily responsibility was holding the ball for field goals and extra points. By Pressley’s senior year, he was off the active roster, but retained a role on the team as a student-manager and the self-appointed “Supervisor of Morale.” After leaving UNC, Pressley began working with Barstool Sports, where he has become one of the digital media company’s most popular personalities.
Celebrities and fans won’t get a chance to wager on the Tar Heels’ so-far undefeated football team, but there is hope mobile betting will begin before basketball season is over. When it does launch, make sure to be armed with the best North Carolina sports betting promos.
Author
Jeff Parker is a writer for BetCarolina.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a life long movie buff, with an actual Masters Degree in Popular Culture. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
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