share.triangle.com - N.C. State's 1983 Championship remembered - Comments

Jim Valvano - He is always in my heart!

Sofia — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:03:54 -0400

I was an NC State Student in 1983....it is so memorable that anytime I see the final moments of that game on TV, I get choked up. Many people do not understand the intensity of college sports when attending a great university. Jim Valvano and his family will always be in my heart because he created precious memories that have lasted a lifetime. I don't care about the violations, I don't care about what the program has or has not done....I am proud to say I was in Alexander Hall (international dorm) screaming my head off with my friends.

Last Championship for awhile

John — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:37:07 -0400

I remember that it was a great win in 1983 and a great run. I remember that it was the last great run the Pack made. I remember that it's been 25 years and will most definitely be 25 more before the Pack has even a chance to go back the Final Four. I remember it sucks to be a Wolfpack fan. Hahahahaha...second rate at best!

They did not get "pulled"

Visitor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:07:32 -0400

They did not get "pulled" into it - they jumped in. This was a thread about NC State. UNC is NOT the only university in North Carolina but they just can't seem to stand that fact. Why are you even on this thread??? Go away and GO PACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing that UNC gets pulled into this

Visitor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:52:13 -0400

Will NCSU fans get over it!!!!!! Grow UP!!! Please!!!!

I Remember George McClain... What a GREAT Guy!

Mark Fisher — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:57:00 -0400

I didn't arrive at State until the Fall of '83, the semester after the championship. For whatever reason, though, it seemed like George McClain and my schedules were somewhat in synch during the following semesters, because I remember crossing paths with him a number of times. He ALWAYS said hello! He didn't know me from Adam. He was a national champion, and he didn't have to give me the time of day. We didn't even attend a class together. Yet, he always went out of his way to acknowledge me in some way. Unbelievable! I remember it like it was yesterday, and I'll never forget George McClain... what a GREAT GUY! Thanks, George! God bless you! Mark Fisher Wake Forest, NC

Leave it to Carolina fans to

Visitor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:10:52 -0400

Leave it to Carolina fans to hijack a thread and start talking their usual crap. Jimmy V. was a great guy. I was just a kid in '83 but remember it all very vividly. I had the pleasure of speaking with Jimmy V on more than one occasion and he was just as awesome in person as he was on TV during a basketball game. He and tbe '83 team were inspirations and to this day, I get great joy in looking back at the photos in my personal scrapbook of that season! I know LOTS of stories of less than appropriate behavior from other college programs in the area but Carolina fans are still so bitter that we won that year (just a year after they did) that all they want to talk about is a book written by a guy who couldn't even come close to getting the facts right and therefore has little credibility when it comes to allegations. The only proven infractions were minor and I can guarantee happen all of the time! At any rate, for some classless jerk to get on this thread and bash a man who was a great guy and died much too soon of a horrible disease shows just what kind of character "they" have over there. The '83 season was a thrilling ride, Jimmy V was an incredible coach, the '83 team was AWESOME, and The Jimmy V Foundation should be commended for its amazing work. Thanks for the memories!!!

My memory is a little

Benjie — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:25:33 -0400

My memory is a little different. I’m an East Carolina graduate. I was pulling for State because I had great friends that went to State, and I knew one of the coaches. I think I was a Virginia basketball fan at the time. However, I lived in Raleigh at the Methodist Home and graduated from Broughton High School. As a student at Broughton, I ran cross country, track, and was the basketball manager all under legendary Coach Ed McLean. Coach McLean left Broughton and was on Valvano’s staff, and in my opinion, may have been the reason they won the championship.
I was working for the McCormick spice company and was on the N.C. State campus as they were boarding the bus for Albuquerque. I spoke with Coach McLean, and what he said was prophetic. I asked him who was going to win. He said, “We think we are”. However, his reason was not that they were peaking and had momentum, blah, blah, blah, coach speak. It was that they were glad Carolina had been beaten by Georgia. He said, “We thought it would be mighty tough to beat Carolina three times in a row”.
Remember, this was Jordan’s last year at UNC. State beat UNC in the last game of the series and in the ACC tournament. Considering the context that State would not have even been invited to the tournament if they hadn’t won the ACC championship, and who was going to be in the NCAA championship, no one in their right mind gave State a snow ball’s chance. But, Coach McLean called it, and he was right.

Remember the PEPPERDINE game??

Visitor — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:18:46 -0500

One memory that stands out is the nail-bitter game State played against PEPPERDINE.

It was on TV late on a Friday night. It went into THREE overtimes...and State won!! Does anyone else remember watching it?

I also remember going to the brickyard after the win...and some guys tossed an old sofa into the bonfire. It was funny and exciting. Valvano was an inspiration and we miss him.

- member of NCSU class of 1988

i remember how they kept

Visitor — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:47:37 -0500

i remember how they kept fouling at the end, hoping the other team would miss free throws, which they did. this perfected the current crappy game we have now know as college basketball.

There are those who

Visitor — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:15:47 -0500

There are those who supported the program when Coach V was there and feel that he got shafted by the University and the N&O. Check facts about the actual violations during that time. Basically, nothing to it. Yea, there were some questionable playes like Washburn, who might have went to UNC had they not saw the writting on the wall. Many of those supporters back then left the wolfpack club and have never attended another game at NCSU. People who didn't know Coach V just don't understand.

Aways second class

Visitor — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:48:11 -0500

You Wolf pups will always be second class to the light blue. Both of your National championships are surrounded by NCAA violations. You have the one with David T. and the one with Jimmy V. Didn't the 83 or 84 team sell there shoes? When your team consist of gangsters you get into trouble. Shot anyone lately?

To the guy who said UNC was lucky to win their National Championships should just look at the end of the 83 game. The ball was almost tipped at the end of the game and Whittneburg shot an AIR BALL. LC was just lucky to be where he was to get the shot. Oh wait I am sure Jimmy V drew that play up in the timeout.

what???

Visitor — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:35:06 -0500

Les Robinson Elite Eight run??? what?? not quite.

GET OVER IT

Visitor — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:04:15 -0500

First off if you are going to use a players name at least get it right. McCally?????? Second Jim Valvano, Norm Sloan and Everett Case did more to promote the Carolinas and the ACC than any coach UNC or Duke have had. You are most likley like 90% of Tarheel and BlueDevil fans in the sense you have never attended either university nor could you find Chapel Hill or Durham on a map. Stick with you red NC hats and keep pulling for a team that you have nothing in common with except that you think thier matching sweat suit will look good on you in the club. It was NC STATE basketball that put the ACC on the map, UNC and Duke have just rode the coat tails of what we started in motion sixty years ago. As for the bum comment, Valvano has done more for the community and those in it before and after his death than 1,000 men could wish to accomplish in a lifetime. Jim Valvano never turned his back on an autograph and always took time to say hello. Bum????!!!! If there is a true bum in this equation it would be the on looking back at you in the mirror.

Why we get tired of the light and dark blue

Visitor — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:41:07 -0500

JUST A GREAT RUN WITH A FANTASTIC FINISH!!! I was new at my job and the old "geezers" there told me after the ACC Tourney that I shouldn't get too excited... and then each Monday they told me to just wait till next game!! I resisted asking on Tuesday morning after THE game if I could get excited now??!!

And listening to my stupid brother whine over "carolina" losing so many times with such good teams...and then "this bunch" (his words) winning it. Made it even sweeter.

Someone wrote about Washburn and Shackleford...UNC was after both. I bet it would have been ok if they had both went light blue. Another wrote about problems before or after the titles. the 73 prob was from an assistant coach playing in a pick up game AFTER the LOI had been signed by DT. But its ok for UNC's former players to make contact before a LOI is signed?? As UNC said, they didn't realize it was against the rules!!
What problems were there with the 83 team (other than Lo's pizza)?
V did indeed not pay close enough attention to detail after 83...and it caught up with him. But even with the prolonged investigation and all the news trucks parked for weeks at Reynolds, the NCAA's investigator even came to V's defense.

IF ANY OF THE CURRENT MEDIA (PRINT OR ELECTRONIC) HAD THE GALL TO TAKE ON DEANO "the nose" SMITH AND ROY BOY ALONG WITH "K", THEY'D FIND PLENTY TO EXPOUND UPON. NO ONE IS ANY MORE CROOKED THAN THE LIGHT AND DARK BLUE!!!! BUT THE MEDIA IS AFRAID OF THEM.

The officiating has become a joke in favoring light and dark blue, but all is good since it IS light and dark blue.

Has the N&O ever done daily articles on problems at UNC ??...and there have been lots, NO...but the problems just go away magically. Commish Johnny at the top, The "nose" in the middle and Roy on the bench. Any wonder why the slant. Look out when K retires, it'll be all light blue.

As with the above comments of their fans...If they weren't so "classy" it'd be annoying!!!

Get over it

Visitor — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:49:26 -0500

You guys can't even celebrate without putting down UNC and Duke. Your nothing but a bunch of losers. So you don't take a win when the VA player passed the ball out of bounds to McCally? When do we celebrate Jimmy V. getting fired? Now that was something the Wolfpack can be proud off. He was such a bum.

N.C. State's 1983 Championship remembered

mwilliam — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:02:06 -0500

What do you remember most about the 1983 N.C. State men's basketball championship 25 years later? Is it Lorenzo Charles' dunk that sealed the win? Or how then head coach Jim Valvano ran around the court like he couldn't believe it? Whatever your memory is, share here.

What do you remember most about the 1983 N.C. State men's basketball championship 25 years later? Is it Lorenzo Charles' dunk that sealed the win?…