A day late in posting this...
Yesterday, April 4, 2008 was the official 25th Anniversary of the NC State Wolfpack winning the National Championship. We watched the final 5 minutes of the game on ESPN Classic last night (and we DVR'd it); we also watched an ESPN special afterwards in which many of the former players were interviewed along with other people from the Raleigh-Durham area.
Jimmy V would be so proud that no one has ever forgot this important date in history. I thought about Coach V last night as we watched ESPN: how he knew that winning the national championship was his destiny; the courage it took him to fight his cancer in a public venue; and, the fact that he never gave up. The 1983 NC State team is a blessed group of individuals.
The following is an excerpt from this month's The Wolfpacker - words from Coach V:
Everyone has asked me, "Coach, where were you running at the end of the game?" I want you to know exactly what I was doing.
After every close game Dereck would run over and grab me. We always looked for each other. He became my designated hugger.
When Lorenzo dunked the ball, I realized we had won the national champioship, and I knew the cameras were on me. I wanted to do something spectacular. I was going to run out there and hug Whittenburg. I figured they would have it in slow motion. A picture of me and a picture of Dereck. We would be coming together with the theme from "Rocky" or "Chariots of Fire" playing. The scene would be great. It would be something the networks would play over and over, forever.
I ran out to hug Dereck, but when I got there he was hugging somebody else. There I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with 60 million people watching, and I had nobody to hug. I was all by myself out there with the camers still on me. I had to do something. I turned right and people were hugging, so I ran left. I saw a whole lot of folks and figured I would go in that direction. When I got there, everybody had partners. I kept running and ran right into Willis Casey. He hugged me. That wasn't so bad. Then he kissed me right on the lips. I could just see some guy out in Kansas saying, "Hey, Martha, come here. You've got to see this."
Coach V - you got your wish. The networks play this over & over. It is one of the greatest celebration scenes in all of sports. You just look so excited that it appears you don't know where to go to celebrate. No one would ever had guessed your deisgnated hugger had jilted you at the Big Dance!!!!! Be happy that the networks didn't catch Willis Casey planting a big one on you!!!
Andy & I are blessed to know a couple players from the 1983 team. Through these 2 men, Jimmy V lives. And, I have no doubt that he is alive in everyone else who was a part of the 1983 team as well.
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