Henry Kritzer reflects on 50 years of ushering UNC men's basketball and football games

There is one man who nearly everyone in the Dean E. Smith Center knows — or at least, nearly every usher knows. 

Ask any of the vest-clad employees about him, and their faces immediately light up as they start to tell you countless stories. There's a reason that everybody knows Henry Kritzer. The 93-year-old has been ushering at UNC football and men's basketball games for the past 50 years. 

Kritzer has been a North Carolina fan for as long as he can remember. Despite growing up in Maryland, he always knew he was going to follow in his father's footsteps and attend UNC. 

"I didn't have a choice in where I was going to go to school — I was told ‘This is where you are going,’” Kritzer remembered. 

After graduating alongside his wife, Mary Lou, in 1952, he moved back home to Maryland to pursue a career as an assembly line coordinator at an aircraft plant. However, after a couple of years he returned to North Carolina, this time settling down in Greensboro and working for Burlington Industries, a textile company.

One day, a colleague named Jim asked Kritzer if he had any interest in ushering UNC football games, something that Jim himself enjoyed in his free time. Kritzer did, so he filled out the application and went to his first football game — and the rest is history.  

Throughout his career, he has seen the men's basketball team play in both Carmichael Arena and the Smith Center, witnessed Kenan Stadium get bigger and bigger, watched legendary coaches like Dean Smith and Roy Williams at their peaks and legendary players like Michael Jordan, Phil Ford and Walter Davis hit the court. 

But despite witnessing five decades of UNC athletics, Kritzer maintains that his job "really hasn't changed much" over the years. His routine has remained utterly constant since the day he started ushering in 1963. 

Four hours before tipoff, Kritzer gets into a car and starts the 50-mile drive to Chapel Hill. (These days, he carpools with three other ushers who pick him up from his retirement community in Greensboro, but still). They drive for anywhere from an hour and 15 minutes to two hours, depending on traffic, to get to campus and park in a designated garage. Then, they all load onto a bus that takes them to the arena two hours in advance of the game. 

Couple the long journey with standing for the duration of his shift, and it can be a tiring experience. From start to finish, the total process takes about eight hours.

But Kritzer takes it all in stride, making sure to never miss a home game (except for rare medical emergencies, like the time he had to get surgery at the same time that UNC was playing.)

He has ushered all over the arena, from the floor, to the rafters, to section 227 — which he currently calls home. In that time, he has gotten to know people from all different walks of life, many of whom he now calls friends. 

Kritzer can joyously recount different memories of people he has met over his years at UNC, from the good, to the bad, to the strange. One year, when he was ushering next to a box in Kenan Stadium, the UNC athletic director at the time would frequently bring him plates of food. Another year, he remembered sheriffs coming to arrest a pair of wanted criminals who were hiding in his section in the Smith Center. 

He got to know some of the coaches as well, saying that he especially liked Smith because he would always make sure to speak to him before the game. 

But most memorably, Kritzer thinks back to his interactions with hall-of-fame UNC football player Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice. The two had gone to school at the same time, and had been in the same class, leading them to become distant friends. 

When Kritzer returned to UNC to usher, Justice had tickets in his section. The two always chatted, catching up on life before the game started. Then, Justice got diagnosed with Alzheimer's. His wife would still bring him to games, even as his mental state started to decline. 

But even still, Justice remembered his former classmate.

“When he walked in [he would say] ‘Henry how’re you doing,’" Kritzer said, "And then his wife [would say], ‘He doesn't know anybody’s name but yours.’"

That's just the kind of man Kritzer is — a memorable one.

Apart from ushering, Kritzer is heavily involved in his community. He volunteered for the Wesley Long Emergency department for over 20 years. He also plays a major role in caring for his church, the First Lutheran Church of Greensboro. He's also gotten multiple of his congregation members to join him as ushers, continuing on the legacy that he was handed all those years ago.

One of those people is Connye Post, who has known Kritzer since she was born. So, what's her favorite thing about him? 

“Oh gosh, I don't even know," she said. "He’s just an all-around great guy.” 

Frank Moore, another one of Kritzer's recruits, simply said it was his enthusiasm for UNC that he loved about Kritzer. 

This year at UNC, though, will be Kritzer's last.

“It’s time to retire," he said, after recounting all his favorite memories. 

It's gotten increasingly hard for the 93-year-old to stand for so long with no breaks, and he's decided it's finally time.

"He’s going to be really missed," Post said. "He knows everybody, all the ushers, he calls them by name. They know him — he collects more hugs at these things than everybody I know."

Kritzer is planning on making the most of his time left as an usher and enjoying every game he gets to watch. And while he's certainly looking forward to the atmosphere of the Duke game, he mostly just wants to savor every moment he has left inside the Smith Center. 

“I enjoy them all," Kritzer said. "They're just fun. That, and the people I know here.” 

@peacegwen

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