North Carolina State University Athletics
PACK PERSPECTIVE: Former Players Gather For Spring Reunion
5/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Editor's note: This column is reprinted from the May, 2007, issue of The Wolfpacker with permission from Coman Publishing Co. BY TIM PEELER RALEIGH -- They sat together at a modest table in the room: four former players who touched three centuries of NC State football. Woody Jones, class of 1941, was the oldest Wolfpack alumnus in attendance at new head coach Tom O’Brien’s inaugural spring football reunion. And, even though he attended the Friday afternoon practice before the spring game in a wheelchair, Jones still saw himself as the lithe 6-1, 185-pound defensive tackle who played for Doc Newton’s program from 1939-41. For 65 years, Jones held the school record with six career blocked punts, until a first-round NFL pick named Manny Lawson came along from 2002-05 and beat it by one. The most memorable of Jones’ blocks was in the 1941 game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, which set up a game-tying touchdown. The Wolfpack went on to win that game 13-7, ending a 13-game losing streak to the Tar Heels that dated back to 1927. As Jones surveyed the buffet line at Vaughn Towers, his eyes twinkled while he watched scores of “kids” who wore face masks and something other than leather helmets go through the buffet line. The guest list swelled to more than 300 former Wolfpack players. “They are faster and bigger and, I suspect, much better than we were,” Jones said. “But they didn’t enjoy it any more.” Jones called O’Brien’s first reunion a “long overdue” function to reunite the many generations of the Wolfpack football family. He has a particular interest in the current state of the Wolfpack program since his grandson, John Kane, will be a junior fullback this fall on O’Brien first squad. “My grandson is thrilled to death with Coach O’Brien,” Jones said. “Everybody loves the staff and everything that is going on.” Sitting across from Jones was one of his former teammates, John Bratton, who lettered for the Wolfpack in 1942 until he joined the Marines for World War II. He finished his civil engineering degree at Duke, which had a program for Marines, but his playing career and heart belonged to NC State. Sitting next to Jones was George Bloomquist, a Texas native, who came to NC State in 1946 with Hall of Fame basketball coach Everett Case. The two had known each other at the Iowa Pre-Flight Navy Training Center in Ottumwa, Iowa, where Case was the station’s basketball coach and Bloomquist was a media information specialist. “I was with him the day he turned down the head coaching job at Purdue,” Bloomquist said. “He got in the car and said, I just turned down the Purdue job. I am going to go to NC State College.’ “I said, Coach, where in the world is that?’” Bloomquist didn’t know much about the school then, but he came as a wide receiver and earned a degree from the school’s world-renowned Textile School. He spent his entire career working in the textile industry. As he sat watching the likes of NFL players Mario Williams, Torry Holt, Pat Thomas and Jerricho Cotchery walk by, Bloomquist said: “I would give anything in the world to play five more plays.” Bloomquist was a member of the first Wolfpack squad to go to a postseason bowl game, playing Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. The Pack lost, 34-13, to finish that year 8-3, but it paved the way for 22 more postseason appearances over the next 60 years. Sitting next to Bratton was Raeford Turner, who played for the Wolfpack in 1948 and ’49. But the second generation alum was more interested in talking about his father, Jay Platt Turner, who played football at NC State College from 1899-1901. The elder Turner, in fact, scored the school’s first touchdown ever against North Carolina, in a landmark 1899 game that ended in an 11-11 tie. That outcome was so unexpected, most of the 196 students enrolled at State at the time took to the streets in celebration. Raeford Turner, who has spent more than 57 years working as a landscape designer in Greensboro, didn’t have as much luck against the Tar Heels during his career. “We never could beat Choo-Choo Justice,” he said. Obviously, O’Brien’s idea to reunite former Wolfpack players from the oldest living generation to the newest was well-received. After he addressed the group of more than 300 in attendance at the Friday night reception before the annual Red & White Spring Game at Carter-Finley Stadium, O’Brien was swarmed by players who simply wanted to say “Thank you” for putting it together. O’Brien didn’t take much credit, saying he borrowed the idea from his mentor George Welsh, who borrowed it from his alma mater Penn State. But it was something that had never been done at NC State. “It’s phenomenal,” O’Brien said. “It just shows you the passion that is here for NC State football that all these guys are here. It will only get better and bigger from here.” In past years, former players have always dropped by spring practice and attended the spring game, especially those who were still on campus preparing for the NFL Draft. Last year, Mario Williams, Manny Lawson and John McCargo were all on the sidelines for the spring game. And there were always a few dozen former players in the stands with the thousands of other spectators. But O’Brien made a real push to include as many former players as possible, putting director of football operations Joe Pate in charge of building a database of contact information. Through his contacts from 34 years of coaching, Pate spread the word to hundreds of former players. Pate originally joined NC State’s football staff when Dick Sheridan was the head coach and worked for Mike O’Cain and Chuck Amato, so he knew how to get in touch with plenty of former players. And there were a handful, like rising NFL star Jerricho Cotchery, who made the trip back to Raleigh not only to see former teammates and other players, but to honor the opportunity they received from coaches like Pate. “I was just happy to have the opportunity to come to NC State,” said Cotchery, NC State’s all-time leader with 200 career receptions. “Coach Pate was the first guy to recruit me, before any other school. Even with the coaching change, he convinced Coach Amato that I would be a good player for NC State.” Others just wanted to reconnect. Rich Pokrant, who played under Sheridan from 1986-90, made the long trip to be there, flying with his wife and two daughters from Castle Rock, Colo., for his first return to his alma mater in a dozen years. “This means a lot to me and my family,” said Pokrant, who is a field sales engineer for a computer chip maker. “Being able to meet the new coaches and players, getting to reunite with some old teammates and seeing all these new facilities this is a first-class opportunity.” There were bigger names in the building: Mario Williams, the first pick of last year’s NFL Draft was there, as was St. Louis Rams star wide receiver Torry Holt, Cotchery and Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Pat Thomas. Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher attended both the practice and the reception. But there were also dozens of players whose names are well remembered by Wolfpack fans: Joe McIntosh, Nathan Ritter, Stan Fritts, Steve Warren, Tol Avery, Woodrow Wilson, Carl Reeves, Bill Yoest, Terry Harvey, Fernandus “Snake” Vinson, Charlie Noggle, Marc Primanti and Vaughn Johnson, just to name a random sampling off the notepad. For some like brothers Darrell and David Moody, and Dick and Lou DeAngelo it truly was a family affair. “I think the greatest thing was, the way you could tell everybody was having a good time was that nobody was watching practice,” Wolfpack Club executive director Bobby Purcell said. “Everyone was reminiscing. There were guys who hadn’t been here in 20 years. Over the years, we have had coaching turnover and guys are connected to who they played for. “With Coach O’Brien reaching out and making them feel connected means a lot to these guys.” O’Brien said he was shocked at the response the reunion had. But, as he acknowledged to the former players at the reception, the overwhelming response to the reunion and the 14,800 spectators who showed up the next day for the spring game only reinforced the passion for Wolfpack football he identified long ago. “I think this is a great start,” said McIntosh, who is second only to Ted Brown in career rushing yards with 3,642 from 1981-84. “It starts with family. Family is a support system. I think Coach O’Brien is definitely getting off to the right start.” Former football players can update their contact information by calling Joe Pate at the NC State football office at (919) 515-2114, or sending an e-mail to sue_hicks@ncsu.edu or by filling out the questionnaire on the football page of www.gopack.com. Tim Peeler is the managing editor of www.GoPack.com and a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. You may contact him at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
