Sports Category
05.10.2013
Ted Brown being congratulated his senior year on "Ted Brown Day."
Former NC State running back Ted Brown was expecting a simple return home when he arrived back in Minnesota in early May, fresh off a trip to Florida. But when Brown went through his mail, he came across a package that caught his attention.
The package was from the National Football Foundation, and Brown was puzzled because he doesn’t know anyone working there. Then he saw a football in the package, which didn’t strike him as odd since people frequently send him memorabilia to sign. But what was printed on the football welcomed him to a special place for an athlete.
“Ted Brown, North Carolina State University, Member of the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Class.”
The College Football Hall of Fame honor, Brown says, caught him off guard because it’s been a while since he ran over Wolfpack foes from 1975-78. In those four seasons, Brown became the ACC’s all-time leading rusher with 4,602 yards and 51 touchdowns.
“I was surprised but pleased to finally be recognized for the hard work I put in through college,” he says. “I had thought my numbers were good enough. …I felt a little overjoyed. Better late than never.”
Brown’s promise as a runner was realized in his first game as a freshman, running for 121 yards and two touchdowns in the contest against Indiana University. That game helped Brown believe he could do something special. But, he adds, he never set his sights on being one of the greatest running backs in college football history.
“My goal was to play and do the best I could for my teammates,” he says. “The camaraderie we had was so tight. That is so important in sports. If you get any individual honors, it’s probably because you were surrounded by great people.”
And win honors he did. Brown was named first-team All-ACC all four years at NC State, and he was a consensus All-American in 1978. He had a decorated career in his eight seasons for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. And last fall, he was part of the inaugural class inducted into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame, an honor he says will always stand out for him.
“Having been in the first class,” Brown says, “it speaks volumes since the school has been there so long. …That feels like family. It felt like my family was recognizing me. [The College Football Hall of Fame] is a great honor, but it wouldn’t have been possible without my having been at NC State.”
05.03.2013
Photo courtesy of Abe Harman.
The NC State men’s rugby club team took on UNC’s club team a couple of weeks ago in what was supposed to be another close affair in what’s been a fairly even rivalry.
But the contest ended up being something so much more. First off, the Wolfpackers beat the Tar Heels in historic fashion, downing them, 100-0. “It’s usually not like that,” says Abe Harman, NC State’s club president. “All credit to Carolina. They usually have a competitive side.”
And on top of hitting the century mark and securing a shutout, the club team saw in that game the culmination of its efforts to grow the last couple of years. Three years ago, the club team was competing against smaller club teams, like Duke and East Carolina, on the Division II level. But they finished eighth in the nation in 2010 and qualified to movie up to Division I. The Carolina game was validation that they now belong.
“We’ve been building as a club the last couple of years,” Harmon says. “We’re starting to get really competitive at the Division I level now.”
Photo courtesy of Kyle O'Donnell.
NC State’s club rugby team has been building for a while, in fact. Dating back to 1965, they are one of the oldest teams in NC State’s club sports program, which is housed under University Recreation and welcomes student, faculty and staff from across campus to participate. Having such a rich heritage is very profitable for the current team. “We have a really big group of alumni,” Harman says. “We have a great index. They help us out as far as funding travel.”
Harman says several of the club’s alumni are still in the area, having gone on to play for the rugby club the Raleigh Vipers. One of those alumni, Jim Latham, serves as NC State’s club team’s head coach. While filling that slot was easy, Harman also says that its recruiting players that sometimes presents its challenges.
Photo courtesy of Kyle O'Donnell.
“We’ll get good athletes [coming] out,” he says. “They’re not rugby guys. They’re football guys and soccer guys. So that first year they play, there’s a lot of them getting the intricacies of the game.”
Currently, the team has its sights set on the Collegiate Rugby Championship that will be held in Philadelphia in June. And it’s the first collegiate rugby championship in the United States to be covered on television. It will air on NBC Sports.
Harman says it’s just another example of how far the club team has come. “We’re at a unique position where a lot of those things are coming to head,” he says.
For more on club sports at NC State, check out the Spring 2013 issue of NC State magazine. We profiled the rich program at the university and featured different club sports teams, some of which are the most successful and the best-kept secrets on campus.
05.01.2013
The 2010 men's club team poses with the national championship trophy it won that year.
There’s a lone disappointment for senior Grayson Eubanks when he thinks back to his freshman year at NC State in 2009-10. Having played basketball in rec leagues all his life and for Athens Drive High School, he figured he had the skills to make the NC State men’s club basketball team, which is different from intramural sports in that club teams make cuts.
It was a manageable first round of cuts, which annually includes more than 100 people vying for five-to-six new spots on the 14-man roster. But the second round was much more difficult, with skilled players each trying to make a name for himself. And at the end of the day, it was not meant to be for Eubanks, whose brother was on that team that went on to win the 2010 national club championship. “He gives me a tough time about it all the time,” Eubanks says.
Eubanks, who will graduate May 11th and pursue medicine at East Carolina’s Brody School of Medicine, made the team the next two years. And this past year, he served as the club’s president. He says that role has helped him cultivate leadership skills that extend beyond the out-of-bounds lines on a court.
“With a lot of 21- and 22-year-olds and with a lot of people who have played high-level basketball, everyone has a lot of ego,” Eubanks says. “We have a lot of attitudes. But you learn to deal with people so that everyone is still friends and go out to dinner together.”
And it’s also equipped Eubanks with skills he can apply in the professional world, like raising money and budgeting for the team’s needs. In the past, the team has just checked out intramural jerseys from University Recreation, which houses intramural and club sports, but toward the end of this year, Eubanks purchased jerseys online. He and his girlfriend then took them to A.C. More, where she put all the lettering on each jersey. “It pays to date someone in textiles,” he says.
The men’s club team began in 2009 and plays its games in Carmichael Gymnasium on NC State’s campus. It competes against other universities’ club teams. In addition to winning the national title in 2010, it hosted the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association 2013 National Basketball Championships on campus in April. More than 70 teams from 19 states came to compete for the championships in Raleigh.
With events like that, the club team continues to raise its profile and sometimes sees its success translate into a player or two making it to the varsity squad. Jay Lewis walked onto the varsity squad during the 2012-13 campaign after success at the club level. But that can also mean more work for Eubanks and future club presidents to fill spots. “I’m always hoping the don’t steal my players,” Eubanks says. “But they do.”
For more on club sports at NC State, check out the Spring 2013 issue of NC State magazine. We profiled the rich program at the university and featured different club sports teams, some of which are the most successful and the best-kept secrets on campus.
04.29.2013
Shawn Rychcik grew up wanting to play for the New York Yankees. But that didn’t happen because he traded in baseball for fastpitch softball, a sport in which Rychcik (pronounced “RI-check”) had a storied career as a member of the U.S. men’s national team from 1994-2002. He was named the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Athlete of the Year in men’s softball in 1999 and 2000.
He took that success and rolled it over into a career coaching collegiate women’s softball, serving as head coach the last eight seasons at Boston University, where he led the Terriers to the NCAA Regionals and the America East Conference championship three of the last four years.
Rychcik’s pedigree as a player and coach breeds a self-assurance of inevitable success for Wolfpack softball as the team prepares for the ACC tournament, held May 10-12 in Tallahassee, Fla. NC State magazine sat down with him and learned that Rychcik entertains no other option.
Why he was a successful player: I was a really good hitter and smart player. I hit quite a few home runs in my day. I could run. I could throw. I could hit for power. I could hit for average. I wanted to be the best. If I didn’t hit .400 or .500 on a weekend, I was back at it on Monday afternoon.
Why he’s a successful coach: I’ve been on the national team and a part of world championships. And that’s the standard for myself. I know how to get there. …We were talking as a team [in the fall], and I said, “We’ll be better. We’ll be better because I’m here. Period. I’m here. I win.”
The style of his teams: I like to trust my teams to hit. I want to see if we can swing. Run and hit, trying to keep the pressure on. And, defensively, the plan is not to give anyone extra bases, extra runs. Get the ball back to the pitcher, and let the pitcher get the outs.
On coming from Boston to Raleigh: I think things move at a little slower pace than I’m used to in Boston. It’s probably how I like it and how I grew up [in New York state], but I’ve been away from it for ten years, especially living in Boston. I think that city hardens you.
What drives him: Being somebody was an expectation of myself. …My dad told me there’s a lot of good players out there. But how many great players are out there? So I was fueled by wanting to be more than just a good player. I knew to separate myself from people, I had to be great at something. The next step for me here is to be a great coach.
03.13.2013
Now that March has rolled around, hardly a day goes by without a favorite memory of NC State’s 1983 national championship run popping up online or in the newspaper. But what is sometimes forgotten is that Jim Valvano’s squad had to win another tournament before even sniffing the NCAAs.
And it was on this day 30 years ago that the Wolfpack beat the heavily favored Virginia Cavaliers, 81-78, to capture its ninth ACC tournament title and an automatic berth in the NCAAs. The Cavs were ranked second nationally at the time.
NC State struggled with Virginia big-man Ralph Sampson, who poured in 24 points. But the Wolfpack had an answer in Thurl Bailey, who dropped 24 points on the Cavs. Sidney Lowe had 18 points in the win and earned the Everett Case Award as the tournament’s MVP.
The victory marked the end of a losing streak to the University of Virginia for the Pack and something much worse for the Cavs’ center. “For the Pack it was a dream come true as it stopped a seven-game UVa winning streak over State,” read an article in the Technician. “For Virginia and Ralph Sampson, it was the last hurrah fallen short as Sampson completed his fourth year at Virginia without an ACC title.”
But of greater importance was the NCAA tournament berth that the win secured for the Pack, since it gave way to one of the most magical runs by any team in the big tourney. But no one, including Valvano, felt certain a national title would come to Raleigh.
“As far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned, I am concerned because we play a different style from what will be played in the tournament,” Valvano said after the ACC title win. “We are used to using the three-point shot quite a bit and have a good 30-second defense. We will have to adjust our defensive and offensive concepts this week in our preparation.”
Adjust they did.
03.01.2013
The last vestige of Riddick Stadium has finally outlived its usefulness.
For almost 50 years, students have used the old Riddick Stadium Field House as little more than a conduit to get to the tunnel under the railroad tracks. But next month, the field house will be demolished, taking the last bit of NC State’s early football history with it.
University planners say the field house — which once housed the campus police force and later was a headquarters for contractors working on nearby construction projects — has outlived its usefulness and fallen into disrepair. Its demolition will also make way for plans to improve pedestrian access and safety in the area near the railroad tunnel and on local streets.
The two-story, white masonry field house was built in 1936.
“The building has been innovatively repurposed over the years. But its useful life without major investment has come to an end,’’ says Kevin MacNaughton, vice chancellor for facilities. He noted that the university has placed a plaque along Stinson Drive noting where Riddick Stadium once stood.
The first game was played on what was then Riddick Field in 1907. In 1912, wooden bleachers and a grandstand were added and students voted to name the stadium for Wallace Carl Riddick, who coached the 1898 and 1899 football teams and later became the college’s president. In 1916, the wooden bleachers were replaced with concrete ones.
But with 20,000 seats, Riddick proved too small for the growing crowds of football fans, and in later years NC State played most of its games on the road. When Carter Stadium (now Carter-Finley) opened in 1966, Wolfpack football officially moved off campus.
The remains of Riddick have come down slowly. It wasn’t until 2005 that the last of the concrete bleachers were leveled, making way for SAS Hall.
As for the field house, MacNaughton said the university is saving a “block S” that graced the side of the building. No other memorabilia related to its football past were found in the building, according to Tim Peeler, a communications official with the Athletics Department.
—Sylvia Adcock ’81
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We are launching a new periodic series on redandwhiteforlife.com looking at changes to NC State’s campus. Some installments will look at major changes, such as the ongoing renovation of Talley Student Center, while others will look at smaller changes in various corners of campus.
02.28.2013
Mixed in with the many historic games and concerts Reynolds Coliseum has hosted is one sacred event usually reserved for the sanctuary of a church or the picturesque background of a beach.
It was on this day in 1981 when, after years of courtship and feeling pressure from their respective dens, Mr. and Mrs. Wuf exchanged vows at the halftime of the Wake Forest game. The Demon Deacon, in fact, presided over the ceremony, and then-chancellor Joab L. Thomas gave the bride away.
An article on the NCSU Libraries’ special collections blog explains that the two students who played the parts of the mascots, Chris Belton and Susan C. Smith, came up with the idea for the ceremony, going so far as to involving a young girl and boy to be a part of it, “although reports are unclear if they were children of the Wufs or if they were supposed to fill the roles of ring bearer and flower girl.”
The blog article also points out that the marriage meant Mr. Wuf gained more of a jealous eye during appearances. “Leading up to the wedding and in appearances afterward, Belton and Smith decided to emphasize the relationship of the Wufs more,” the article reads. “For example, when men ‘flirted’ with Mrs. Wuf, Mr. Wuf would come to his wife’s side and defend her honor (all in good fun, of course).
In a time in America where many often cite the statistic that half of marriages end in divorce, we all can learn a thing or two from the Wufs’ bond and devotion to one another. The pair even renewed their vows in a ceremony in 2011 upon the 30th anniversary of the Wufs’ wedding.
02.25.2013
Most NC State fans would agree that there’s nothing that satisfies their sports appetite more than a victory over rival UNC. And nothing could anger fans more than a lost chance to actually get that win.
That’s exactly what happened on this day in 1947, when the game between the State and Carolina was canceled, the only time in the rivalry’s history that happened.
A clipping from a 1947 News & Observer told the story of the raucous crowd outside of Frank Thompson Gymnasium.
The game, set to tip off at Frank Thompson Gymnasium, was supposed to determine the Southern Conference champion that season. Because so much was riding on the game, a crowd that exceeded capacity filled the gym. The fire marshal addressed the crowd, warning it that the game would be canceled unless some of the fans exited. The crowd stayed and the fire marshal canceled the game.
But there were still many fans on the outside clamoring to get in to Thompson Gym’s doors. They grew so impatient, in fact, that they removed on of the doors from its hinges with a ball-peen hammer. “I understood that as the fire marshal tried to leave, they tried to overturn his car,” said Buddy Johnson ‘47, a student at the time, to NC State magazine in 2012. “But they didn’t succeed.”
NC State would succeed a week later, finally getting a chance to and beating UNC the next week in the Southern Conference tournament, 50-48.
02.16.2013
There was a time on NC State’s campus when basketball was an afterthought. In fact, until 1911, there was no thought given to the sport that came to define so much of Wolfpack athletics’ history, according to Bill Beezley, author of The Wolfpack: Intercollegiate Athletics at North Carolina State University.
“Until then, the student newspaper reported, athletics hibernated for the winter between football and baseball seasons,” Beezley writes. “Even with an intercollegiate team, student interest in basketball grew slowly. A&M had no gymnasium on campus. Besides, many students, especially athletes, thought it was a ’sissy’ game.”
But a sea change started to take place on this day in 1911, when A&M traveled to Wake Forest to play its first intercollegiate basketball game. “The Farmers lost 33-6, but the concensus [sic] was that the A&M squad had played well considering they had no coach and no regular practice gym,” Beezley writes.
The 1910-11 N.C. College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts basketball team.
Five days later, the Farmers welcomed the Wake Forest Baptists to play the first intercollegiate basketball game ever played in Raleigh, according to Beezley. The teams played in Pullen Hall auditorium, whose floor was in slippery shape after hosting a student dance the prior evening.
That night marked the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts’ first win in basketball, with the team edging Wake, 19-18.
02.11.2013
NC State women’s basketball team was in its fourth year of existence during the 1977-78 season. Kay Yow was in her third year as head coach.
But that season held one important “first” for Yow’s team. It marked the first time that the Wolfpack found itself in Atlantic Coast Conference postseason play.
It was, in fact, the first time any team played in the ACC women’s basketball tourney. It was on this day in Charlottesville, Va., that NC State lost to Maryland in the finals of the inaugural ACC tournament.
The women’s Wolfpack team didn’t compete in the NCAA back then, instead striving to win an Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national title in March. But around what would be considered mid-season by today’s standards, the ACC held its inaugural women’s basketball tournament.
The 1977-78 Wollfpack women's basketball team.
State went into the tournament ranked second nationally and having already beaten the Terrapins handily in Raleigh that January, 90-78. But as is true time and again in Wolfpack athletics’ lore, Maryland came back with an 89-82 victory.
What’s unusual — and seemingly contrary to today’s postseason world — is that Yow’s Wolfpack went on to play six more games before it began AIAW tournament play. It eventually ended the season ranked third nationally.
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