Hooker Fields
The university's intramural fields have been located along South Road across from the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery since the 1930s. The fields are used by students participating in intramural and club sports. To accommodate increasing demand for use of the fields, lights were added in the 1960s and artificial turf was installed in 2000.
The fields are named in honor of former chancellor Michael Hooker, who graduated from UNC—Chapel Hill in 1969 (a semester later than many of his classmates, after Hooker put off the then-required swim test until the last minute and failed on his first try). Hooker earned his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts and soon moved into higher education administration. He served as president of Bennington College and chancellor of the University of Maryland—Baltimore County and the University of Massachusetts system before returning to Carolina as chancellor in 1995. Hooker's tenure was marked by an emphasis on advancing technology on campus and a commitment to statewide service. While chancellor he visited all of North Carolina's 100 counties. Only forty-nine when he was named chancellor, Hooker was successful in connecting with students. He was a fixture at UNC sporting events and on several occasions crowd-surfed in the student section at men's basketball games. He was only a few years into his tenure as chancellor when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Hooker died in 1999.