North Carolina State University Athletics
More Treasures from Reynolds (5/29/09)
5/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Editor's note: To find out more about the project in Reynolds Coliseum, watch the May 29 edition of Inside Wolfpack Athletics on GoPack.com.
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. For more than two weeks now, we have been trying to uncover the history that has been stored and untouched for years in the basement and closets of Reynolds Coliseum. It’s not particularly clean or healthy work.
But it’s loads of fun, especially when you find something unexpected, as I have chronicled in previous posts. Like the 16mm movie reel of the 1947 NIT game between NC State and Kentucky, the only time sworn rivals Everett Case and Adolph Rupp ever went head-to-head.
Here are some more treasures uncovered this week:
- A full version of the infamous 12-10 game between NC State and Duke in the 1968 ACC semifinals at the Charlotte Coliseum. And, yes, Blue Devil guard Tony Barone did go over and listen to every word Norm Sloan said to Eddie Biedenbach when the coach called the player over to the sidelines for instructions on the final play. As Sloan retold the story for years, Biedenbach asked about calling a timeout, but the coach scoffed, pointing to the less-than-tall Barone: “Hell, no, we aren’t calling a timeout. If we do they will take this midget out and put in someone who can shoot.”
- Three highlight films of the first road trip Case ever took his team on in December 1946. Two of the games were played in Indianapolis on a court that was placed on top of an ice rink. The only difference between that court and the one the Wolfpack plays on now at the RBC Center, which is also on top of the ice used by the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, is that the basketball court was literally on top of the ice and you can see people skating in the end zone while the basketball game is being played. Really. We watched it.
- One of those victories was against eventual national champion Holy Cross and its featured guard, Bob Cousy.
- The non-televised 1985 game against Duke, in which the Wolfpack was down by 17 at the half and came back to win. Lorenzo Charles was a beast in that game. He had four points at the half and ended up with 27, a contest that solidified his All-ACC and All-American status as a senior. That was the first game I ever covered at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Tor Ramsey, a former basketball manager who has been going through some of the film for us, likens the process to a Crime Scene Investigation unit, as he watches unmarked games on a small screen on his hand-cranked Moviola movie viewer.
If the jersey numbers are in the 70s and 80s, the games are from before 1960. If the free-throw lane is skinny, they are before 1957. If Bob Speight is on the court, but not Sammy Ranzino, the game is from 1952 or ’53. And so on.
We found more rare photos, like the old drained lake bed adjacent to the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, the site where Carter-Finley Stadium now sits. In the collection, I found a program from the first game ever played at Carter Stadium, against South Carolina in 1966, and one from the following week, when the Wolfpack hosted Steve Spurrier-led Florida.
That’s the first time a Wolfpack football game ever conflicted with the annual NC State Fair, at least at the current location at the corner of Hillsborough Street and Blue Ridge Road. There was no mention of traffic problems.
I found a collection of photographs and game programs given to Frank Weedon by former football player Woody Jones, who recently passed away. There was no one prouder of his accomplishments as a Wolfpack player than Jones of his two blocked punts against North Carolina in 1944.
We’ve also made good headway on re-organizing all the files and photos that have been stored for years in the basement of Reynolds. There’s a folder for nearly every athlete that has ever competed at NC State. Interns Donald Bowens and Blake Scher counted them all up the other day and discovered there are 6,843 legal-sized folders stored in 14 filing cabinets.
Collectively, it is the entire history of NC State athletics.
They have begun the monumental task of going through each folder and creating an itemized list of what is in every folder. That’s not hard when there is only one questionnaire from a fencer from the 1980s. But it is much more difficult when they come to a large file, like the 12-inch thick collection of clips and photos for Philip Rivers.
And, for those who asked, my walking pneumonia is a little better, after three doctors visits and seven new prescriptions. But I don’t mind coughing until this project is finished, even if that is months or years away. However, my family and co-workers might not feel the same way.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
