The voice on the other end of the line boomed.
‘Great day to be a Wolfpack!’ Dereck Whittenburg said at the outset of a phone call this week.
Just about every day has been a great day to be part of the North Carolina State Wolfpack during March Madness – especially for people like Whittenburg, a key member of the school’s 1983 national championship team that went on a magical postseason run 41 years ago.
This week, the current NC State men’s and women’s teams will be playing at the Final Four, with the former never having been ranked in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll all season.
“It shows you all things are possible,’ Whittenburg said. “We showed that 41 years ago.’
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During the team’s 40-year reunion last year, Whittenburg commemorated its history. He gave each of his former teammates a plaque that included pieces of the court from The Pit, the arena in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where NC State won the national championship. (The court had been replaced and was in storage.) On each plaque, lettering on one piece of the court reads, “The Pass,’ and lettering on the second piece of the court reads, “The Dunk.’
It’s a reference to the final seconds of the 1983 national championship game, when Whittenburg launched the ball toward the basket from more than 30 feet away. It fell short of the rim, whereupon NC State’s Lorenzo Charles grabbed the ball and dunked, giving NC State a 54-52 upset victory over the Houston Cougars – a team that included Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler – and sent Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano racing around the court, looking for someone to hug.
Cozell McQueen, a starter on NC State’s 1983 team, said he and a handful of Whittenburg’s former teammates had the top piece of the court on their plaques sanded down and replaced the word “Pass’ with “Shot.’
Said McQueen, “We tell him all the time, ‘Whitt, own up to it. That’s one of the greatest airballs you ever shot, man.’ ‘
Terry Gannon, the sixth man on the 1983 team, said, “We’re talking trash 41 years later to each other, just like we were back in 1983.’
NC State was playing with house money at 1983 Final Four
The 1983 team and 2024 team appear bound by a similar attitude, said Ernie Myers, who was a freshman guard in 1983.
“Now here comes DJ Burns, laughing, jolly, throwing left hooks all day long off the glass,’ Myers said of the standout center for this year’s Wolfpack. “We were playing with house money. And this team is playing with house money as well.’
To secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament, the 1983 NC State team had to beat a North Carolina team that featured Michael Jordan and a Virginia team anchored by Ralph Sampson. Then, awarded a No. 6 seed for the NCAA Tournament, Myers said the team felt no pressure. They survived and advanced – Valvano’s catchphrase – before knocking off No. 1 seed Houston.
Myers recalled an ESPN documentary about the 1983 team, when Valvano said he had one bed check, “And all the beds were there.’ Chuckling, Myers said the team had no curfews, and players went out in Albuquerque the week of the Final Four.
“I can’t get into details, but we had a good time,’ he said. “That’s all I can say. We weren’t sitting in the room, worried if we were going to win or not, I’ll tell you that.’
Coach Jim Valvano, the dreamer
During the preseason, Valvano devoted one practice to cutting down the nets – just like they would if the team won the national championship, according to Gannon.
“You bring the ladder out and you practice cutting down the nets,’ he said. “That was V.’
He also recalled Valvano in Duke Hospital, struggling with cancer, which took his life in 1993.
“Several of us would go see him and spend time with him,’ Gannon said. “I remember being there and his whole thing was, ordinary people do extraordinary things every day. And the idea of the (V Foundation for Cancer) was him not wanting to give in while laying there dying of cancer.’’
V Foundation, formed the same year Valvano died, has awarded more than $350 million in grants since its inception, the foundation announced last year.
Group chats keep teammates close
A group-text chat has helped players from the 1983 team remain connected.
“Every day, somebody’s posting something in the chat,’ McQueen said. ‘Could be middle of the day or wee hours in the morning.’
The chat includes include reminiscences about not only Valvano but also Charles, the 6-7 forward who died in a car crash in 2011. His last-second dunk in the national championship game remains a staple of Final Four highlights.
“That guy right there, Lorenzo, there will never be another guy like him,’ McQueen said, getting choked up as he talked about his former roommate. “(He) was a real powerful guy, but he was like a teddy bear. Lo would get a kick out of when he wouldn’t smile, people thought he was upset, and he wanted to see how they were going to respond.
“And then he would just bust out with that million-dollar smile.’
1983 Wolfpack players remain a team
Thurl Bailey, the leading scorer on the 1983 team, wrote a book titled “Team of Destiny.’ In it, Bailey acknowledged more than just the team’s famous coach and prominent players.
“I talk about a walk-on named Tommy DiNardo,’ Bailey said. ‘Because he may not have got a single minute in the championship game, but he showed up every single day for practice to try to kick my ass.
“And that made me better, it made us bond better.’
DiNardo got married March 16 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the same day NC State played North Carolina in the ACC championship game the Wolfpack had to win to secure an automatic tournament bid.
At the wedding reception, the game was on a big-screen TV. NC State beat North Carolina, 84-76, and several players from the 1983 team attended, according to Gannon.
“So it’s a group of teammates that very much are still a team, four decades later,’ he said.
Alvin Battle, a reserve forward on the 1983 team who attended the wedding, said he is one of several players who has spoken to members of this year’s team. He said he relayed the words Valvano famously spoke at the ESPYs the month before he died.
‘Our thing always was, ‘Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,’ ‘ Battle said. ‘From Jimmy V, we say that all the time because we’ve lived it, and we know you never give up.’