Love these guys? Win this photo.

drsulliv
07/01 12:47 PM

I always loved the never give up speech.  i know it’s always played, but it is the perfect message and lift me up for those fighting cancer or other life threatening illness.

claudia
07/01 12:50 PM

Might that be Dereck Whittenburg, Mr. Valvano, and Sidney Lowe?

claudia
07/01 12:54 PM

not to try and win the photo… I’m just curious.

Ladye Jane
07/01 12:54 PM

@Claudia Yep.

LAB
07/01 12:56 PM

In the post-game interview and celebration in the lockeroom. The colorful Whittenburg was discussed his red/white sneakers that he had worn all tourament. He called them the “Cardiac Boots.” It was a once in a lifetime moment for those boys and it strikes a cord every time I watch my original VHS recording of the last shot!

sardeenz
07/01 12:57 PM

Wally Ausley quote, (not word for word, but from memory)...

‘Whittenberg tries about a 30 footer, no good, stuff back, State!  Lorenzo Charles…Lorenzo Charles slams it in!  A missed shot from 35 feet, Lorenzo Charles grabs it, stuffs it back in.  The Cinderella team has done it.  The glass slipper fits!  The Wolfpack have won the national championship.’

I’ll never forget that moment, I ran back to my bedroom, banged my head on my upper bunk bed, with tears coming from my eyes.  My Dad just stood there stunned staring at our new Zenith with remote control.  My jam box (a radio that one carried on their shoulders in the 80’s) was blaring Wally Ausley’s announcing, since Dad preferred that to the TV announcers.  That famous line just stuck with me all this time.  We traveled from Charlotte to the Red and White game the next season and I got lots of autographs on my NCSU painter cap (another 80’s anomaly of style).  I remember my Dad saying that I won’t ever see anything like this again.  I wish he was still here to reflect with me.  Phi Pack Attacka!

rejj
07/01 01:02 PM

My favorite moment of the ‘83 experience was the celebration in the Brickyard immediately following the victory. The spontaneous gathering of students and fans caused an explosive and exciting celebration, which brought that victory home much quicker than the team plane

danimal
07/01 01:12 PM

my favorite ‘83 moment was learning to swim.  i was 5.

Joe
07/01 01:23 PM

Watching the end of that game is an instant morale boost—makes me forget the more recent trials of being a Wolfpack fan

ashley
07/01 01:37 PM

my mom almost went into premature labor at the end of this game from excitement.  I was born 12 days later.  thus i have no favorite moment from this game.  as i’ve actually never seen it.

bfortlo
07/01 03:21 PM

Dereck Whittenburg hitting not one, but two long jumpers to tie the game at 52. best game ever. and i will always be a pack fan!!
woot!

Tim
07/01 03:57 PM

I am only 23 so I don’t have a favorite moment personally, but I always love hearing from other folks about the glory days of NC State. GO PACK!

Walker
07/01 04:48 PM

This is my favorite Jimmy V moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHC3kSa2Twc

Danny
07/01 05:45 PM

State “RALPHED” ON Virginia!

Bob Geary
07/01 06:25 PM

Houston, the No. 1 team in the country all year, had absolutely destroyed a very good Villanova team on the way to Final Four, and they beat Louisville just as badly in the semifinals. Nobody thought State had a chance against Phi Slamma Jamma—the Pack needed 2 OTs to survive Pepperdine, then beat UNLV by 1 and Virginia by 1 to get out of the West Regional. That’s why they were the Cardiac Pack.

The best part of the championship game for me, therefore, was the start. V and the Pack showed from the jump that they could and would control the pace and make Houston play their game. It was will-power winning over talent.

Brian
07/01 06:40 PM

The interview with Houston coach Guy Lewis prior to the game where he expressed his high-flying team’s philosophy: the team with the most dunks will win the game.  He was right; State had two dunks to Houston’s one.

Simon Griffiths
07/01 06:54 PM

Ok…just to set the record straight, this photograph was actually taken in Ogden, Utah after State beat Ralph Sampson and Virginia in the west regional final to make it into the final four.

cassie
07/01 10:25 PM

who won?! who won!? GO WOLFPACK!

shawn
07/02 08:23 AM

I was born in 1986.  However, when I was about 5 years old my friends and I had a lemonade stand on the corner of our street.  We were out there for a weekend and ended up making about $50 dollars, mostly due to our parents giving us $10 each.  We decided to donate the money we made to the Jimmy V foundation (again, with the help of our parents).  After doing so, the people at Jimmy V decided to give us and a parent all free tickets to the golf tournament.  The day after the tournament the N&O had a few stories about the golf tournament along with a few photos.  I was in one of the photos with Dick Vitale.

Joe Seale
07/02 08:27 AM

The never give up speech in Reynolds. Also, meeting him at 5 years old when he came to visit a family friend that played on the ‘83 team.

Mike
07/02 09:46 AM

“Trees will tap dance, elephants will drive in the Indianapolis 500 and Orson Welles will skip breakfast, lunch and dinner before NC State figures out a way to beat Houston.”  Each March, if you look closely, trees all around the Brickyard are tap dancing, remembering what did happen and that yes-Miracles do come true!!

Matt
07/02 10:22 AM

Not necessary from ‘83, but there’s the great story of V being told my a ref that he could get be given a technical foul for yelling too much at the official. “Can you give me a technical for what I think?” Valvano asked? “No,” said the official. “Well, in that case, I think you stink.”

ncmyk
07/02 11:29 AM

my favorite ‘83 team moment happened years later and didn’t involve anyone from the team directly.

my brother went to a business meeting in texas (maybe about 5-10 years ago).  as he was chatting with everyone, they asked him where he went to school - he said he graduated from nc state in ‘86.

well, the room went totally silent - everyone there had graduated from houston!

it is still a big deal down there - 83 might have been rare occurance in state basketball - but everyone at that meeting talked about how it was houston’s only chance too.  they’ve never had a team like their ‘83 team either.

Brian
07/02 11:33 AM

The postscript on Matt’s story is, “He gave me a technical anyway!  I tell you, you can’t trust ‘em.”

Ladye Jane
07/02 12:25 PM

bfortlo - You are the winner! 11 was the randomly selected number by Jed.

blaine
07/02 05:38 PM

I made the “State Ralphed on Virginia” bumper stickers!

taurus
07/02 05:42 PM

I remember that Utah game (remember all the ‘83 tourney games actually) - that was the one I nearly got frostbite in my feet on the brickyard- Raleigh got 7” of snow that day in late March.

pbeez
07/04 11:21 AM

I loved that we knocked Sampson & Virginia out of both the ACC & NCAA Tourny’s that year!  What a great run it was.

Chico
07/04 07:13 PM

After the win I was jumping up and down screaming in my mom’s living room and I heard a big ruckus outside. I turned down the t.v. for a moment and all I could hear was the slamming of car doors and tires screeching as folks took off for the Brickyard. I was 15 and living at Tara East Apts. at the time, and I didn’t fully realize what was going on. Our complex was full of State students, including Whittenburg and Lowe who lived just three doors down. It was a literal stampede and my mom was not letting me out of the house. I found out about all the fun I missed the next day from my friends that did make it down to campus. A few days later I went to Whit and Sidney’s apt. with an NCSU t-shirt and a stack of card-size 82-83 schedules. Whit was nice enough to sign them all, and I sold the cards at school for a buck a piece. Unfortunately, Whittenburg has yet to receive his cut. It probably would have been an NCAA violation anyway.

Jason Doll
07/06 04:51 PM

I was a freshman at state in 1983.  I watched the game with bunch of friends in Metcalf Dorm, one of which was a rugby player.  When Lowe’s shot fell short and Lorenzo Charles got the rebound to slam it home and whoop Phi Slamma Jamma in dunks (2-1)and for the game, the rugby player, who was standing on the bed at this point, jumped so high and hard he crashed into and broke the glass light fixture on the ceiling.  Broken glass rained down over all off us.  It didn’t even slow us down.  We sprinted down six flights of stairs, through the Free Expression Tunnel and out onto the Brickyard.  We were in the first wave of thousands that poured out there.  The mayhem that followed is the stuff of news reels.  I will never forget it.

Paul Griffin
07/11 01:37 PM

Survive and advance…. Jimmy V’s March mantra rang true that year.