I know I'm behind, missing a key date of March
26th, which I will come back soon and blog about, but I gotta, gotta do this
one on time.
The whole story of the N.C. State
1) This was Ralph Sampson's senior season at the University of Virginia Charlottesville
Sampson and the Cavs made the Final Four in '81
only to lose to an ACC nemesis, North Carolina
UVA's surprisingly quick exit to, of all teams, UAB,
in the '82 Tournament helped pave the way for UNC to finally get Dean Smith his
first title, albeit with some timely help from Freddy Brown and his errant pass
of renown...
So, when N.C. State, losers of seven straight to
Virginia, not only beat them in the ACC Tournament final, but again in the West
Region Final to get to the Final Four ended what became an era of promise
turned disappointment in C'Ville. No skin off my back; I couldn't stand Virginia Maryland Maryland
2) North Carolina Georgia
3) Duke was a mess in 1983, its third under
"Coach K", who back then was just another young coach, and one who
heard the calls for his dismissal grow. The Blue Devils lost in the ACC
Tournament quarterfinals that year by 46 points, but, as history would soon
show, the freshmen who learned from that beating, Jay Bilas, Johnny Dawkins, et
al, would learn quickly, and soon, Duke was back.
4) The first win in the run to the title was
against a Wake Forest
SO......
All that to say, the story of the 1983 N.C. State
team is made all the more surreal when looking around them in the ACC at
everything they overcame, and the teams, all of which once, and some twice,
stood in their way.
After an afternoon trip into Beaverdam via a nice
walk along Route 715 to shoot hoops with Lyn Buchanan and Brian Luck, I
returned home and nervously got ready to watch the game. A 9pm tip meant a longer wait.
We played an awesome first half, and had we been
able to shoot the ball better the first ten minutes, our halftime lead could,
could have been more significant than 33-25.
Then what I feared happened; Houston
Fatal mistake.
When he put on the brakes, in spite of Olajuwon
needing rest and Drexler having four fouls due to incompetence, they had enough
horses to push another three or four minutes, go PSJ on a Wolfpack team with
little depth, build the lead, THEN hold on. Nine minutes, against an N.C. State
You see, N.C. State Houston
And meanwhile, N.C. State
What if Houston N.C. State
The Houston Cougars played like overwhelming
favorites who didn't know how to act like overwhelming favorites. That
was exactly what the N.C. State
Not that the Pack didn't almost squander the whole
thing. Go back and watch the final 40 seconds and see bad pass after bad
pass after bad pass. I remember standing up in my room now, no longer on
my pull out chair bed on the floor, listening to the game loudly in stereo
headphones (back in the days when our CBS TV affiliate's audio could be heard
at 87.7 FM) because my folks were long asleep.
I remember these moments, these images, these
reactions.....
---The pass into the corner to Thurl Bailey, who
had no intention of shooting...
---His baseball pass out to Whittenburg, which
almost went horribly awry...
---His desperation shot from 35
feet and me thinking, "overtime".....
---Out of nowhere, there's Lorenzo Charles on my 19
inch black and white television set, grabbing the ball out of the
air and slamming it home on Phi Slamma Jamma...
---I froze for about three seconds, watching the
clock go from 02, to 01, to 00, wondering:
---Did it count?
---Did the clock really
run out before Houston
---And suddenly, one of the voices of my childhood,
longtime ACC analyst Billy Packer, said in my speakers, "THEY WON IT!!!!
ON THE DUNK!!!"
I threw my arms up in the air, watched Jimmy V look
for a hug partner, stunned and amazed by what I saw.
The first words out of my mouth (in the most
whispered yell I could muster) were, "LORENZO!!! LORENZO!!!"
And then the phone starting ringing. UT OH.
I ended up fielding two congratulatory calls from
great friends, friends who knew how much this meant to me. I also had to
hope and pray their good will gestures wouldn't ruin the night's sleep of my
Dad and Stepmom....
In the end, all was well. I watched the
interviews, the nets being cut down, then it was over.
I was in Beaverdam, so no early cable for me, no
"flip it to SportsCenter". You watched the 11pm news that came on late due
to the length of the game and waited for the sports segment to see the
highlights one more time, all the while jamming loudly to my favorite tunes of
the day on my stereo in surreal celebration.
So, while the team that EARNED this most improbable
of titles celebrated in Albuquerque, one of their more die-hard fans partied
alone in a small bedroom just west of Beaverdam, Virginia deep into the night,
knowing these type of things usually only come along once in a lifetime.
I was blessed enough that mine came sorta early, on
a high school spring break, and I had the boundless energy of a 15 year old to
jump, dance, shout, and celebrate.
And, rolling all this back to present day, I think
that's why I'm so apopletic about the latest version of N.C. State
Ever since, there's been no magic. I don't
expect a title run as a six-seed every ten years, but I do expect a cohesive
program that seems to have short and long-term vision. They've had
neither in Raleigh
No regular season titles, no ACC Tournament titles,
multitudes of appearances in the "Thursday night play-in game" in
March, and just enough Sweet Sixteen appearances (two) to briefly get one's
hopes up, only to find them dashed with 12 months.
So, from the perspective of 45-year old Rob Witham
looking back on one of the greatest nights in the life of then 15-year old
Robbie Witham, I appreciate four weekends in March/April, 1983 even more now
than ever, mindful that many people never get to see their beloved team have
their "One Shining Moment".
Just ask any Cubs fan under the age of 112.......
P.S.---So it was poetic that, five years to the day later, on another Monday April 4th, I began my first full-time job ever in radio, my career dream, and in Christian radio in my hometown no less, Operations Manager for WDYL-FM/WGGM here in
And for my son to finally begin his first full-time job post high school exactly 25 years later, on this
