NC STATE FAN: More Than SPORTS
- Sharon ODonnell
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Sharon Johnson O'Donnell (see my FB page for more info on this post)
March 21, 2024
Shared with Public
It's still hard to believe that the NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team won the 2024 ACC Tournament Championship. For those who are not long-time Wolfpack fans, it's difficult to put into words what this means. It's more than about sports or basketball; it's about decades of Pack fans trying to maintain hope, trying to remain positive and optimistic, while fans of opposing schools called the State program 'irrelevant'. This proud school was where the basketball craze started in North Carolina when Everett Case came from Indiana in the late 1940's to coach the Wolfpack, and this led to the very development of the ACC tournament. But the Pack was now deemed irrelevant? The negativity from other schools’ fans and even the media has been hard to take over the many years.
Pack fans spent decades watching their team try to recover from a situation in which a beloved coach was treated unfairly, beginning what some look at as a curse on the basketball program (similar to the Boston Red Sox curse that they finally broke in 2004 with a World Series win that generations had been waiting & hoping for - as Sox fans and with my husband’s family being from the Boston area, we experienced that too).
No matter what happens in the upcoming NCAA tournament, the Wolfpack's 'curse' has been broken. It's over. Whew. It is such a weight off of the shoulders and hearts of State fans. We needed this. It'd been 37 long years since the Pack had won the ACC Tournament Championship in men's basketball, ever since the 1987 team won when Jim Valvano was coach. Prior to that, of course, was the improbable 1983 NCAA championship also under Valvano that culminated in one of the most exciting finishes ever as the underdog Pack won when Coach V did his legendary run around the court looking for someone to hug. Before that, there was the 1974 Championship when Coach Norm Sloan stormed the sidelines in his plaid jacket; David Thompson made his mark as the best college player of all time; Thompson, Monte Towe, & Tim Stoddard first made the Alley-Oop play famous; and the Pack brought an historic end to UCLA's dominance of 7 consecutive NCAA championships. Both such memorable championships! This ACC championship was legendary because underdog NC State won five games in five days against some of the best teams in the nation, including UNC and Duke. Incredible! And with this storybook ending, the team gave long-time host of the NC State radio network, Gary Hahn, Voice of the Wolfpack, a perfect retirement present.
I know it has been difficult for the younger fans and students of the university to have never experienced an NC State men's basketball championship before this past weekend. My sons are all alumni of NC State, and I know how much they have hoped and prayed for State to finally win the ACC tournament. But for those of us who were around to watch State's success in '83, '74, and even back in the days of Everett Case, there was an even deeper kind of hurt to have seen that success, to know what State basketball was at one time, and to wonder where that success went and if it'd ever be attainable again.
My dad is the reason I'm an NC State fan. He is an NCSU alumnus, class of '49, with a mechanical engineering degree. My siblings are older than I am, and when I was growing up, I was in the house a lot with just my parents. We used to watch all the games on TV, including those games in 1973 when I fell in love with basketball as I sat in the living room with my parents and watched with them. My dad even took me to the Holiday Classic in Reynolds that State and Duke played; one night State and Duke would play an opponent in a double-header, and the next night, they’d switch opponents. I attended the Norm Sloan basketball camp when I was a kid, and many years later, my three sons, all NC State alums (now ages 32, 29, & 23), went to the Herb Sendek and Sidney Lowe camps.
My sons and I became emotional after the ACC tournament win, crying and hugging each other. It was so much more than just about a game. It was about a beloved school where they had joys and struggles and friendships – it was about their growing-up years filled with NC State memories – it was about their grandfather from the class of '49 who now has dementia. And it was about my late husband – their dad, a State grad and huge fan, who died last year and how they wished he had been here to see this championship. How they longed to share it with him.
My oldest son, Billy, was actually not in Raleigh at the time of the big ACC tournament win; he was in Dublin, Ireland with his wife who was there for her job. Even though we missed them here in Raleigh, I think it was meant for them to be there. It was Bill's first trip to Ireland, where his dad's side of the family is from; it was St. Patrick's Day weekend; a player whose last name is O'Connell made the amazing shot that sent the Virginia game into overtime. I think maybe Bill going to Ireland had something to do with it all.
So, yeah, it'd be great to win a game or two in the NCAA tournament -- or hey, perhaps even win the whole thing; but if that doesn't happen, it's okay. The curse is broken. Optimism wins. My sons David and Jason, my daughter-in-law Claire, and I went out to the Bell Tower on campus after the game to celebrate. The joy was palpable. Then we went to the Watch Party on Sunday night where the brackets were announced on TV. The NCSU team was there, and the restaurant was packed with Pack fans. It was awesome. NCSU player DJ Horne, who is from Raleigh and understands the history of NC State basketball, stayed after the event was over to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. He was very emotional after the big win on Saturday. I went over to him and told him about my dad being in the Class of '49, how he and my mother are both 99 now, and even though my dad has some dementia, they both still watch the games on TV. I told him how they sit in the living room in their chairs in front of the TV to watch every game, even though we have to remind my dad what's going on. Horne smiled, hugged me, and replied, "Well, I'm sorry they had to wait so long for this."
"It was worth it," I said. "Thank you." For my 99-year-old parents, for my sons and their wives, for my late husband who might very well have orchestrated the whole thing from heaven, for me and my whole family who have been through a hell of a lot this past year -- for all the other loyal State fans -- a heartfelt Thank You to the 2024 Wolfpack team. Don't ever, ever give up, as someone once said. Whether it's in basketball or more importantly in your everyday life & believing in yourself: Don't ever, ever give up.
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