Alumnus Ricky May wants Carolina students to have the opportunity to experience the world.
Before he took his first Carolina class, Ricky May ’80 knew that he wanted a career in sports. The Ahoskie, North Carolina, native started his career right away — even graduating a semester early and beginning work for a minor league baseball team.
“My final exam was Dec. 18. The next morning at nine o’clock I was in Kinston as the assistant general manager of the Kinston Eagles,” he said.
Calling on innate entrepreneurial skills, ambition and drive, May rose from there to bigger organizations and more responsibility. He worked for the Durham Bulls when the team was still a single-A Carolina League team. Later, May had successes at Valvoline, a major corporate sponsor of motorsports, and at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He enjoyed every minute. “I can honestly say I never felt like I went to work a day in my life,” May said.
During those busy years, May didn’t have time for international travel. But he never forgot his chance to study abroad. During the summer before his senior year, he visited key European battlefields, monuments and museums from both world wars with professor Jim Leutze, who specialized in military history, and with English professor Christopher Armitage, who exposed students to the London theater scene.
“They were both legendary professors,” he said. “Seeing the stage version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and feeling the weight of the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in one summer made a huge impression on me.”
Since retiring 15 years ago, May has visited 52 countries and all seven continents.
In 2015, to combine his love for sports business and travel, he created the Carolina Blue Honors Fellowship. It is managed by Honors Carolina but supports any undergraduate student who meets the requirements and shares a passion for the business of sports by providing up to $6,500 in funding when they create their own summer internship in a sports business in another country.
Since the program began, fellows have volunteered with a Colombian nonprofit focused on introducing underserved youth to baseball and softball, interned in sports marketing in Australia, organized an e-sports tournament in Denmark, tracked athlete performance data in New Zealand and more.
After a fellow returns, May buys them lunch at Sutton’s and asks to hear everything — the play-by-play, so to speak — about their experience. “Almost universally, they tell me it’s the greatest thing that ever happened to them. Being on their own, learning how a sports business operates, changed their lives,” he said.
There have been 32 total fellows; 16 of them are current students. Three who graduated have pursued careers in the sports business.
In 2024, May expanded his commitment to study abroad by establishing the Point to the Passer Carolina Covenant Honors Study Abroad Scholarship Fund. This new fund creates opportunities for Carolina Covenant scholars to participate in existing Honors Study Abroad programs by contributing $5,000 to each scholar. May’s support comes as the Covenant celebrates 20 years.
“Point to the Passer” is a nod to the late Dean Smith, the legendary Carolina basketball coach who encouraged scorers to acknowledge their teammates as soon as the ball dropped through the net by pointing to them. It was Smith’s way of boosting teamwork.
Like the four corners offense, pointing to the passer is one of Smith’s enduring contributions to Tar Heel culture. “Everybody does it,” May said. “It’s ubiquitous in all of sports now.”
May knows that just as Smith’s actions continue to resonate long after they happened, so do formative experiences during college.
“I hope future Covenant Scholars who receive Point to the Passer scholarships will understand that helping others is a Carolina tradition that was important to Coach Smith,” he said.
To donate to the scholarship, visit go.unc.edu/point-to-the-passer.
Read a story about a Carolina Blue Honors Fellowship recipient, Nathan Townsend, who interned with Hiroshima Toyo Carp, a professional baseball team in Japan.
Learn about the latest class of 2025 fellows.
Originally by Claire Cusick (M.A. 21)
