NC State Athletic Hall of Fame: Rodney Monroe
4/8/2019 7:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Hall of Fame ceremony takes place April 13 in Reynolds Coliseum
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RALEIGH, N.C. - Rodney Monroe and Chucky Brown were on the elevator at the Providence, Rhode Island, Hilton during the opening weekend of the 1989 NCAA tournament when they found themselves face-to-face with two star Iowa players, Roy Marble and B.J. Armstrong.
The ACC regular-season champion Wolfpack was preparing to play the favored Hawkeyes the next day in the second round of the tournament at the Providence Civic Center. Brown and Monroe knew who the opposing players were, but didn't speak.
Marble and Armstrong, however, talked a lot to each other.
They talked about how they were going to beat the fifth-seeded and No. 17 ranked Wolfpack. How their No. 14 ranked team was much better prepared for such a big game, having already won at North Carolina that season. And how their Big Ten championship trumped the Wolfpack's ACC results.
When the Monroe and Brown stepped off the elevator, the door closed behind them. Monroe turned to his teammate, verbalizing his quiet rage, and said: "Let's go kick their a**."
It was as much as Brown ever heard his notoriously silent teammate say about anyone. The next day, Monroe practically beat the Hawkeyes by himself, scoring 40 points in the 102-96 double-overtime victory and matching David Thompson for the highest point total in a postseason game, a record they still share.
His performance included game-tying baskets in both regulation and the first overtime, the second of which was a circus leaner over a swarming double-team by Armstrong and Marble. In the second overtime, Monroe scored 11 of the Wolfpack's 19 points in overtime to send the Hawkeyes.
Those were the kind of clutch plays Wolfpack fans came to expect of the sophomore guard. Earlier in the year, Monroe tipped in an intentionally missed free throw with two seconds remaining against Wake Forest, sending the game in the first of an ACC-record four overtimes. The eventual victory gave the Wolfpack the only outright ACC regular-season title of head coach Jim Valvano's 11-year tenure at NC State.
Throughout his four years on NC State's campus, Monroe was a silent assassin, leaving the emotion up to teammate Chris Corchiani, who was the fiery half of the legendary "Fire and Ice" combo. Monroe did his work without saying much.
"It didn't matter if we were playing pickup games in Carmichael Gym against the football players or were playing in the NCAA Tournament, Rodney just went out and took care of his business," Brown says. "People were always talking around him, but Rodney just went out, did his job and never said a word to anybody."
Monroe, who remains the all-time leading scorer in NC State men's basketball history, will be one of six new inductees into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame on April 13. He joins former athletics director and swimming coach Willis Casey, women's basketball player Trudi Lacey, men's golfer Tim Clark, swimming champion Cullen Jones and the 1983 NCAA Championship basketball team in the hall's Class of 2018.
As a senior, when he was named the 1991 ACC Player of the Year, Monroe scored 47 points against Georgia Tech in Reynolds Coliseum. He became the second NC State player to score more than 2,000 points and eventually broke the incomparable Thompson's ACC and school scoring records with 2,551 career points, one of the goals Monroe set for himself when he first arrived on campus.
"The first time I saw the display in Case Athletic Center about David Thompson's career scoring record, I thought about breaking it," says Monroe, who averaged 27 points a game as a senior. "I said, 'Hey, why not?' I never said it out loud, because I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy. I knew what a great player David was, and you don't tell people you want to replace a legend.
"I just went out to do it."
Coming out of St. Maria Goretti High School in Hagerstown, Maryland, Monroe was called "too slight" to be a major college star, despite being his home state's all-time leading high school scorer. At 6-3, 185-pounds, he rarely overpowered anyone.
But he often left them in awe.
Monroe reached great heights goal with the help of Chris Corchiani, who set the NCAA career record with 1,038 assists, many of which ended up in the hands of Monroe.
The two guards, however, did not have an auspicious start.
In one of their first preseason pickup games at Carmichael, the two guards scuffled on multiple occasions in a territorial battle over who was going to be head coach Jim Valvano's next great guard, in the mold of Sidney Lowe, Spud Webb and Nate McMillan, all of whom were playing in the NBA at the time. They actually came to blows at one point, resulting in a few bruises and a call into Valvano's office.
He set them straight about their roles in his transition offense, and they—and the Wolfpack—were off and running in record-setting careers, which included three NCAA Tournament appearances and the 1989 regular-season ACC title.
They are still close friends and a huge part of NC State basketball lore.
"That first interaction set the tone for our whole relationship, on and off the court," Corchiani says. "Both of us were extremely competitive in our own ways, and we learned to work together. His personality was just different than mine. It didn't matter if he was scoring 40 points or having an off game, his blood pressure always stayed the same."
After college, Monroe fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA—even though it was for a scant 38 games with the Atlanta Hawks during the 1991-92 season.
"It was a bittersweet experience, because I was doing something I had wanted to do since I was 6 years old," Monroe says, "but it wasn't the experience I was hoping for."
After averaging 3.4 points in that rookie season, Monroe began playing overseas, a lucrative career that lasted for nearly 15 years and took him all over the world, with stops in Greece, Israel, Australia, Spain, the Philippines and Italy before he retired in 2007.
It wasn't exactly the professional career he often dreamed of, but it was one that allowed him personal growth.
"I had always dreamed of playing in the NBA, but going overseas allowed me to develop my Christian faith and made me stronger as a person," Monroe says. "The basketball is good there, the fans love American players and it is the coolest place I can imagine to earn a living."
Monroe, his wife and three sons moved to the Charlotte/Lake Norman area after his playing days were over. He began running basketball clinics and eventually became a private high school and middle school coach, with each of his sons playing for him at some point.
"I didn't really set out to be a coach," Monroe says. "I just wanted to teach players how to play and love the game. I've loved doing it."
By Tim Peeler
Â
RALEIGH, N.C. - Rodney Monroe and Chucky Brown were on the elevator at the Providence, Rhode Island, Hilton during the opening weekend of the 1989 NCAA tournament when they found themselves face-to-face with two star Iowa players, Roy Marble and B.J. Armstrong.
The ACC regular-season champion Wolfpack was preparing to play the favored Hawkeyes the next day in the second round of the tournament at the Providence Civic Center. Brown and Monroe knew who the opposing players were, but didn't speak.
Marble and Armstrong, however, talked a lot to each other.
They talked about how they were going to beat the fifth-seeded and No. 17 ranked Wolfpack. How their No. 14 ranked team was much better prepared for such a big game, having already won at North Carolina that season. And how their Big Ten championship trumped the Wolfpack's ACC results.
When the Monroe and Brown stepped off the elevator, the door closed behind them. Monroe turned to his teammate, verbalizing his quiet rage, and said: "Let's go kick their a**."
It was as much as Brown ever heard his notoriously silent teammate say about anyone. The next day, Monroe practically beat the Hawkeyes by himself, scoring 40 points in the 102-96 double-overtime victory and matching David Thompson for the highest point total in a postseason game, a record they still share.
His performance included game-tying baskets in both regulation and the first overtime, the second of which was a circus leaner over a swarming double-team by Armstrong and Marble. In the second overtime, Monroe scored 11 of the Wolfpack's 19 points in overtime to send the Hawkeyes.
Those were the kind of clutch plays Wolfpack fans came to expect of the sophomore guard. Earlier in the year, Monroe tipped in an intentionally missed free throw with two seconds remaining against Wake Forest, sending the game in the first of an ACC-record four overtimes. The eventual victory gave the Wolfpack the only outright ACC regular-season title of head coach Jim Valvano's 11-year tenure at NC State.
Throughout his four years on NC State's campus, Monroe was a silent assassin, leaving the emotion up to teammate Chris Corchiani, who was the fiery half of the legendary "Fire and Ice" combo. Monroe did his work without saying much.
"It didn't matter if we were playing pickup games in Carmichael Gym against the football players or were playing in the NCAA Tournament, Rodney just went out and took care of his business," Brown says. "People were always talking around him, but Rodney just went out, did his job and never said a word to anybody."
Monroe, who remains the all-time leading scorer in NC State men's basketball history, will be one of six new inductees into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame on April 13. He joins former athletics director and swimming coach Willis Casey, women's basketball player Trudi Lacey, men's golfer Tim Clark, swimming champion Cullen Jones and the 1983 NCAA Championship basketball team in the hall's Class of 2018.
As a senior, when he was named the 1991 ACC Player of the Year, Monroe scored 47 points against Georgia Tech in Reynolds Coliseum. He became the second NC State player to score more than 2,000 points and eventually broke the incomparable Thompson's ACC and school scoring records with 2,551 career points, one of the goals Monroe set for himself when he first arrived on campus.
"The first time I saw the display in Case Athletic Center about David Thompson's career scoring record, I thought about breaking it," says Monroe, who averaged 27 points a game as a senior. "I said, 'Hey, why not?' I never said it out loud, because I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy. I knew what a great player David was, and you don't tell people you want to replace a legend.
"I just went out to do it."
Coming out of St. Maria Goretti High School in Hagerstown, Maryland, Monroe was called "too slight" to be a major college star, despite being his home state's all-time leading high school scorer. At 6-3, 185-pounds, he rarely overpowered anyone.
But he often left them in awe.
Monroe reached great heights goal with the help of Chris Corchiani, who set the NCAA career record with 1,038 assists, many of which ended up in the hands of Monroe.
The two guards, however, did not have an auspicious start.
In one of their first preseason pickup games at Carmichael, the two guards scuffled on multiple occasions in a territorial battle over who was going to be head coach Jim Valvano's next great guard, in the mold of Sidney Lowe, Spud Webb and Nate McMillan, all of whom were playing in the NBA at the time. They actually came to blows at one point, resulting in a few bruises and a call into Valvano's office.
He set them straight about their roles in his transition offense, and they—and the Wolfpack—were off and running in record-setting careers, which included three NCAA Tournament appearances and the 1989 regular-season ACC title.
They are still close friends and a huge part of NC State basketball lore.
"That first interaction set the tone for our whole relationship, on and off the court," Corchiani says. "Both of us were extremely competitive in our own ways, and we learned to work together. His personality was just different than mine. It didn't matter if he was scoring 40 points or having an off game, his blood pressure always stayed the same."
After college, Monroe fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA—even though it was for a scant 38 games with the Atlanta Hawks during the 1991-92 season.
"It was a bittersweet experience, because I was doing something I had wanted to do since I was 6 years old," Monroe says, "but it wasn't the experience I was hoping for."
After averaging 3.4 points in that rookie season, Monroe began playing overseas, a lucrative career that lasted for nearly 15 years and took him all over the world, with stops in Greece, Israel, Australia, Spain, the Philippines and Italy before he retired in 2007.
It wasn't exactly the professional career he often dreamed of, but it was one that allowed him personal growth.
"I had always dreamed of playing in the NBA, but going overseas allowed me to develop my Christian faith and made me stronger as a person," Monroe says. "The basketball is good there, the fans love American players and it is the coolest place I can imagine to earn a living."
Monroe, his wife and three sons moved to the Charlotte/Lake Norman area after his playing days were over. He began running basketball clinics and eventually became a private high school and middle school coach, with each of his sons playing for him at some point.
"I didn't really set out to be a coach," Monroe says. "I just wanted to teach players how to play and love the game. I've loved doing it."
By Tim Peeler
Â
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