Getting to Know: WPC District Leaders
5/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wolfpack Club
May 12, 2011
Pete Peterson
Region: District 17 (Scotland, Hoke, Robeson, Columbus counties)
Hometown: Hickory, N.C.
Current residence: Pauley's Island, S.C.
Occupations: Has owned Peterson Toyota in Lumberton, N.C., since 1981. Also owns a Scion, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealership in Lumberton.
Family: Wife, Teresa; sons, Will and Drew.
Wolfpack Club member since: 1981.
NC State graduate: B.S. in textile technology (1974).
Q .Was there an event or particular season that made you become an NC State fan?
A. Back when I was growing up, you didn't hear as much about football as you did basketball. I remember the 1968 ACC tournament when we were playing Duke, and we beat them 12-10. I was still pretty young, but I thought that was neat. I decided that NC State was where I wanted to go.
Q. What made you join the Wolfpack Club?
A. I had lived down in South Carolina right after I got out of school, but when I moved back up to North Carolina in 1981, I contacted the Wolfpack Club to see if they were interested in having me involved in the courtesy-car program for coaches. I've provided a couple of cars ever since, pretty much always with the football coaches. We've gotten to know a lot good people through that.
Q. How did you become a district leader?
A. We had a good committee here that would always put together a good event. When Chuck Amato came here as football coach in 2000, we decided that we had a real opportunity to do something special. So we started putting on bigger events. We did the first two at my hangar at the Lumberton Airport and we got about 300 people to come out. We had a lot of growing pains, cooking dinner for everyone, but we kept tweaking it until we got it right. We moved over to the Southeast North Carolina Agriculture Center about seven years ago, and it has kept growing.
Q. How strong is the NC State fan base in your district?
A. We get great support through a lot of different sponsorships that all go toward an endowed scholarship. We did our first $100,000 endowment three years ago, and we just finished raising enough money for our second $100,000 endowment. In fact, we already have a pretty good start on our third. We always try to put on a good, quality event. We have a great committee that works real hard. We do our own cooking. We'll be prepared to serve 600 people Thursday night.
Q. Do you have a favorite NC State student-athlete?
A. Probably [football quarterback] Philip Rivers. He was sure fun to watch. And, of course, [basketball star] David Thompson, I went four years without missing a home basketball game. It was more important than going to class.
Q. What is your favorite memory involving NC State athletics?
A. When we beat UCLA in the NCAA semifinals in 1974. I watched the game here in Raleigh because we were having parents weekend at the TKE house. The big thing back then was streaking, and I remember right after that game one of our neighboring fraternities decided to go streaking right by our windows. That kind of caught our parents off guard. Q. Did you participate in organized athletics? A. I played football at Fred T. Foard High School and intramural football at NC State.
Q. In what ways are you involved in your community now?
A. Supporting the Wolfpack Club is my primary charity. I also do some recreational road racing with the Sports Car Club of America.
Wolfpack Club Executive Director Bobby Purcell says: "Pete and all of his volunteers in Robeson County have done an unbelievable job with this event. Per capita, the folks in Lumberton have the biggest event on the spring Caravan. They could write a textbook on how to do it. They have a great committee, everyone has responsibilities. They are very organized. They raise substantial money every year. They truly represent what volunteers can do if they have great leadership."