CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — "Tar! Heels!" Jean Service and her family have been cheering that chant since the 1980s. 

What You Need To Know

  • Jean Service, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, is coordinator of alumni reunions and special events for the UNC General Alumni Association

  • The Tar Heels defeated Duke on Saturday in the Final Four and face Kansas on Monday in the championship game

  • Service said alumni are down in New Orleans handing out fan gear to supporters of the Tar Heels

Service is the coordinator of alumni reunions and special events for the UNC General Alumni Association. 

“Got some 'Beat Duke' stickers and some horns,” Service said.

On Saturday, Service handed out 3,500 pairs of ram's horns from her Swag Wagon, which the alumni association came up with back in fall due to COVID-19 and having to cancel the usual giant alumni tailgate for football.

“We loaded up ... and decorated it with Carolina gear, and then we drove around campus and gave pom-poms, stickers and all kinds of things,” Service said.

Other UNC alumni traveled to New Orleans on Saturday so fans there could sport the same horns during the Final Four game against Duke. The Tar Heels won 81-77.

“We just want Carolina to be so visible,” Service said.“We just want Carolina to be so visible,” Service said.

The Tar Heels have made a lasting impression on the Service family.

“I was a freshman in '82 when we won, my husband was in school in '93 when we won, my niece was in school in 2012 when we won,” Service said.

She's hoping UNC can add a seventh national championship banner to the Dean Smith Center. To get to that, they have to defeat Kansas on Monday night.

“We’ve watched them become a team throughout the year as the season’s progressed, so it’s been really exciting,” Service said.

Service is prepared to load up the Swag Wagon for the title game.

“You’ll keep seeing us,” she said.