North Carolina State University Athletics
A Great Alaska Discovery (6/17/09)
6/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Editor’s note: This is the latest blog from the summer long-project to reorganize the NC State athletics history in Reynolds Coliseum, an effort that was recently featured in the Raleigh News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer. Check out the photo gallery included with the story.
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Several years ago, just after I came to work for the NC State athletics department, I joined Pat Norris, Brandon Yopp and Brian Reinhardt all three assistants in the media relations department in clearing out some of the built-up detritus in the basement of Reynolds Coliseum.
Mostly, it was small stuff, like extra programs or media guides from recent years, things that were not particularly valuable and were better off tossed than taking up space. That’s when I first thought about how we needed to relocate our treasured athletics history, which has been stored down there for the last 10 years or so.
The thing that really set it off for me was finding hidden behind a set of homemade wooden shelves, pushed up against a concrete wall, covered in dust a framed poster of Mt. McKinley. (If you are from Alaska, you’ll be e-mailing me soon to tell me the highest mountain in North America should only be referred to as Denali, but I’ll deal with those separately.)
There was a small circle at the bottom that identified it as the 10th anniversary of the Great Alaska Shootout. That’s when I noticed all the names, and realized I was onto something special.
The names began to pop: Norm Sloan, Dean Smith, Joe B. Hall, Denny Crum, Tom Davis, Gene Bartow, Bobby Paschal and Jim Valvano.
They were all the coaches who guided their teams to the first nine Great Alaska Shootout titles (Smith won two). Each coach evidently signed multiple copies of the framed prints with something similar to a silver Sharpie to commemorate the 10th anniversary. This particular print, which I assume was given to Valvano, was numbered 1 of 250.
Wonder what is the value of something that was signed by coaches who won a combined 4,352 basketball games during their careers?
For fans who don’t remember, Sloan-coached NC State won the first early-season tournament played in Anchorage, Alaska, back in 1978. At the time, it was called the Sea Wolf Classic and was played Buckner Fieldhouse. Clyde Austin was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
In 1979, then-Iona coach Valvano lost to Kentucky in the championship game. He returned with the defending NCAA champion Wolfpack in the fall of 1983 to open the event’s new home, Sullivan Arena, and went on to beat Arkansas in the championship game.
The Wolfpack is one of only five teams to win multiple Great Alaska Shootout titles, joining the Tar Heels (3), Kentucky (2), Purdue (2) and Marquette (2).
Tuesday, while rifling through and re-filing several boxes of papers from Valvano’s desk, I came across a letter from former Alaska-Anchorage athletics director Ron Petro, requesting that Valvano join the other seven coaches who had won the event in personally autographing a commemorative poster.
“I believe it will have tremendous appeal to spectators and basketball enthusiasts,” Petro wrote.
Attached to it was a copy of Valvano’s response.
“A great idea! Enclosed you will find my signed permission form. If some of the other coaches won’t sign their name, let’s forge it. Let’s face it we are still Italian.”
I do miss Valvano’s unmatched sense of humor.
As for the print, which I have put aside with some of the most valuable pieces I have recovered during our summer-long project of clearing out the basement of Reynolds Coliseum, it has some wear and tear. It had a couple of scuffs and an indentation caused by someone putting something heavy on it that probably can’t be repaired.
But it is still an amazing little find.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
Great Alaska Shootout
(First nine years)
Year Winner Score Opponent Tournament MVP
1978 NC State 72-66 Louisville Clyde Austin, NC State
1979 Kentucky 57-50 Iona Jeff Ruland, Iona
1980 North Carolina 64-58 Arkansas Scott Hastings, Arkansas
1981 SW Louisiana 81-64 Marquette Steve Burtt, Iona
1982 Louisville 80-70 Vanderbilt Lancaster Gordon, Louisville
1983 NC State 65-60 Arkansas Joe Kleine, Arkansas
1984 UAB 50-46 Kansas Steve Mitchell, UAB
1985 North Carolina 65-60 UNLV Brad Daugherty, North Carolina
1986 Iowa 103-80 Northeastern Roy Marble, Iowa
