North Carolina State University Athletics
All Hands on Tarp (9/5/08)
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
NC State football coach Tom O’Brien, a1971 graduate of the
With Tropical Storm Hannah veering west in the Atlantic Ocean towards the coast of South Carolina, weather forecasters changed their opinions on just how much rain we would get here in the Triangle over the next 24 hours. We needed to find a way to protect the football field from becoming a soupy mess for Saturday’s home football opener against William & Mary.
So assistant athletics director for outdoor facilities Ray Brincefield made a few phone calls and borrowed two tarpaulins, and voila for the first time in its 43-year history, the field at Carter-Finley Stadium is covered in canvas.
It’s not often that we ask the athletics staff to drop everything and help like this. The last time it happened was about 18 months ago, when men’s basketball hosted a first-round game the National Invitational Tournament at Reynolds Coliseum, just hours after our gymnastics team hosted an afternoon meet there. That day, we needed every able body to help break down the gymnastics equipment, roll up the mats and make all the final preparations for a basketball game later that night.
We made it just in time.
It was a great night in Wolfpack athletics, not just because of the electric atmosphere that returned that night to Reynolds, the birthplace of college basketball in the South, but because of the cooperation we had here in the department to get the job done. I still appreciate the sacrifice gymnastics coach Mark Stevenson made that day to move his biggest meet of the season to a time that made it difficult for the many fans that support his program to attend. And I appreciate all the help we got that day to get the coliseum prepared.
Friday afternoon, rain started falling earlier than expected and Brincefield rounded up about 30 athletics department staff,
He had already arranged to borrow the tarps. The first came from the Wolfpack baseball program. It covered half the field. Most of the other half except for the word “Wolfpack” in the South end zone was covered from a tarp we borrowed from another Triangle-area school.
How much will the tarps protect the field?
“I have no idea,” Brincefield said. “We’ve never done it before. But we are trying to keep as much water off the grass as possible.”
Not even for the 1999 game against
I just wanted to take some time to say “thank you” to everyone who helped cover the field, with a special thanks to NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent for letting football use the baseball tarp.
Now, we just have to wait and see how many people show up at noon Saturday when we expect a lot more rain and a lot more wind to take the tarps off the field.
Lee Fowler
