North Carolina State University Athletics
And there was the ultimate ecstasy...
10/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
And there was the ultimate ecstasy...
[Jim] Valvano always wanted to be the guy who represented the "Thrill of Victory" on the opening credits of the Wide World of Sports. As soon as Lorenzo Charles' dunk ended the 1983 championship game with a 54-52 NC State victory, Valvano began a sprint across the floor of The Pit that has been immortalized as the pinnacle of joy in college basketball for the last quarter-century. The coach was hoping to jump into the arms of Whittenburg, as he did after nearly all of the Wolfpack's come-from-behind post-season victories. But on the greatest night of his life, Valvano found his star player already in Lowe's arms. Valvano had no one to hug.
The coach jumped on a pile of other celebrants, one of whom may have been NC State athletic director Willis Casey. As Valvano told the story time after time over the next 10 years, his crusty old boss leaned over and kissed him right on the mouth. Like most of Valvano's stories, that's probably a wild exaggeration. Still, it started the most compelling post-game celebration in NCAA Tournament history.
In the first seconds after the dunk, Charles stood frozen on the court, doubt furrowing his brow. Valvano later told the team that the burly forward was too busy looking for yellow flags to celebrate. But no penalty had occurred on the play, and bedlam quickly took over the court.
Alvin Battle and Mike Warren hopped off the bench, took two steps, and mauled Charles, expressing three weeks of emotion that had captivated the country and attracted the largest audience ever for an NCAA title game broadcast - some 50 million people worldwide. For seconds, they clutched him until he uttered his first post-dunk words: "Yo, man...
