Remembering Reynolds: The Dixie Classic

BY TIM PEELER

RALEIGH  Former News & Observer sports editor Dick Herbert came up with the idea, long-time NC State assistant Carl “Butter” Anderson came up with the name, but the event really belonged to Everett Case: a Christmas tournament that featured the best teams in the nation matched up against the Big Four teams of North Carolina.

But what made this different and so advantageous to Case was that all the games were played on the Wolfpack's homecourt, Reynolds Coliseum.

That three-day tournament, played every year just after Christmas, is what made Reynolds one of the elite basketball arenas in the country during its early years, and the tournament helped promote Case's budding program in Raleigh.

Dixie Classic Champions
	Year	Championship Game Results	Most Outstanding Player
	1949	NC State 50, Penn State 46	Dick Dickey, NC State
	1950	NC State 85, Colgate 76	Sammy Ranzino, NC State
	1951	NC State 51, Cornell 49	Lee Terrill, NC State
	1952	NC State 75, Brigham Young 59	Ernie Beck, Penn
	1953	Duke 98, Navy 83	Rudy D'Emilio, Duke
	1954	NC State 85, Minnesota 54	Ronnie Shavlik, NC State
	1955	NC State 82, North Carolina 60	Ronnie Shavlik, NC State
	1956	North Carolina 63, Wake Forest 55	Lennie Rosenbluth, UNC
	1957	North Carolina 39, NC State 30	Pete  Brennan, UNC
	1958	NC State 70, Michigan State 61	John Richter, NC State
	1959	Wake Forest 53, North Carolina 50	Billy Packer, Wake Forest
	1960	North Carolina 76, Duke 71

So as the Wolfpack prepares to return to Reynolds this weekend for a one-game engagement in a 2 p.m. game against Liberty, it's a good time to remember the impact and influence of the Classic, a raucous affair in between Christmas and New Year's that featured 12 games in three days. It went on for 12 years before being permanently canceled in 1960 in the wake of college basketball’s second point-shaving scandal. But for old-time fans of college basketball, the Classic is still remembered passionately as the reason for getting hooked on college basketball.

“The Dixie Classic turned out to the Christmas tournament in the country,” said former Wolfpack assistant Vic Bubas. “After it got started, Coach Case had teams calling him from all over the country asking when they could get in it. It became absolutely the thing to do between Christmas and New Year’s.”

Case, the ultimate promoter who wanted to see a basketball goal in every driveway as he traveled across North Carolina, invited great teams, guaranteeing what was considered big money at the time for basketball.

“As soon as he saw a school signed a great player, he would immediately call that coach and invite that team to play in the Classic for that player’s senior year,” said Bucky Waters, a former Wolfpack player under Case.

Case made sure all visiting teams were smothered with Southern hospitality, from the time they arrived at the airport until they lost their last game in the tournament. (Case and the other three schools were gracious in every way but on the court: all 12 Dixie Classics were won by a school from North Carolina. The Wolfpack won seven, North Carolina won three and Duke and Wake Forest won one apiece.)

Case also provided the same treatment to the best officials in the country, ensuring that the games were well-managed. And if an official’s king-like treatment helped Case get a favorable call somewhere down the line later in the season or in the NCAA Tournament, then so be it.

Stars didn’t just visit they Classic. Some of them were made there. All-America Ronnie Shavlik, the only player to ever win the Dixie Classic MVP twice, showed the nation that N.C. State was a national power in leading the Wolfpack to Classic titles in 1954 and 55. Wolfpack legends Dick Dickey, Sammy Ranzino, Lee Terrill and John Richter all won MVP awards during the course of the event.

Lou Pucillo remembers getting his first real chance to play for the Wolfpack during the 1956 Classic. With State struggling against Iowa, Case inserted Pucillo, the shortest player the coach ever recruited at NC State, into the lineup in the second half, and Pucillo helped spark a comeback against the unranked Hawkeyes.

Two years later, Pucillo and Richter led the Wolfpack to the championship in perhaps the greatest tournament held at Reynolds Coliseum. In three days, the Wolfpack beat Louisville in overtime, second-ranked Cincinnati with Oscar Robertson and seventh-ranked Michigan State with Jumping Johnny Green. That was the pinnacle of the Classic, with four of the eight teams ranked in the Top 10.

Some say the third-place game that year, between North Carolina and Cincinnati, may be the second greatest game ever played in the history of the state, eclipsed only by the 1974 ACC Tournament Championship game at the Greensboro Coliseum.

“To this day, I could be in Asheville, or Wilmington or at a new Bible study class, and there is still nothing people ask me about more than the 1958 Dixie Classic,’’ Pucillo said. “We were fortunate to win those games. I think it was the greatest tournament of all time.”

You may reach Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.

       

    

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