Explaining Duke/UNC to Floridians

Congratulations to Duke and Coach K on #5...but...

I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred,

and when I die I'll be a Tar Heel dead..."

Yesterday afternoon I was out walking the dog when I encountered one of our neighbors doing the same. We stopped to chat as we often do. He noticed I was wearing my Carolina (let's start offending people right now- there is only one Carolina. NORTH CAROLINA!) hat and asked if I had watched the national championship game and if I was sad that Duke won. He seemed surprised when informed that while we did watch the game, we were cheering for the Blue Devils. In fact. the reason I had on my UNC hat was cheering for Duke always makes me feel a little bit dirty. But I always pull for original ACC teams in the tourny unless they are playing my Heels. Sorry, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse and others- you haven't earned that respect from me yet. We then talked for a few minutes about the Duke/Carolina rivalry.

I have lived in Florida for most of the past 20 years now, and from day one people have said things like this to me- "Yeah we get that rivalry. It's like Florida/Florida State in football." My neighbor said this yesterday. I generally just nod and smile while thinking, "You have NO idea." Bur for reasons I cannot explain, yesterday my disagreement with that statement came pouring out. As I said to him, in one sense yes- it is a traditional rivalry between two quality programs. But here's the difference. UNC and Duke are in the same conference. The games always matter and are usually (see graphics on this page) ridiculously close. But what matters even more is geography. Here's how I explained it: "You know Tampa is home to both the U. of South Florida and The U. of Tampa. They are about 10 miles apart. Imagine if those 2 schools were Florida and FSU, with students from both schools living in the same apartment complexes, eating at the same restaurants and drinking at the same bars. ALL THE TIME! In two small NC towns,not a metroplex like Tampa Bay. And they were both in the SEC. And they had both won 5 national championships. That is Duke/Carolina." He was both surprised and a little take aback. He had no idea they were that close together. I continued: "And there's more. That rivalry is not like North vs. South, it's personal like the Hatfields and McCoys. They are not just competitors like Ohio State/Michigan, they are neighbors on the same way East and West Berlin used to be. Blue is not a color in NC- it is a line of demarcation. Duke Blue or Carolina Blue. Choose one. But you do have to choose. And it's not just local, it's national. Ratings spike when they play, and every game in on TV. If they ever play each other for the national championship it will be the most watched college basketball game in history. This rivalry MATTERS. " 

He then asked given all of that how I could possibly bring myself to cheer for Duke on Monday night. It's like family, I told him. It's ok for me to beat up my little brother, but I'll always have his back with the bullies come calling. The ACC is like family for many of us. We love our teams, but we rejoice with our brothers as well.

There are many great rivalries in sports, but it is the intimacy of the schools as well as the unmatched quality of the basketball programs that set UNC/Duke apart in my mind. The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears have one of the great longtime rivalries in all of sports, with decades of history, great animosity and multiple championships between them. But imagine how the intensity  of those games would increase if they were both great most every year, if they often had to play 3 times a year, and if BOTH teams called the little town of Green Bay home. That's Duke/Carolina. It's just unmatched. 

So congrats to Duke on a job well done. But now it's back to business as usual. The Tar Heels look loaded for next year. DOOK is going down!

The Greatest College Basketball Team You Never Saw



I grew up in North Carolina in the 1960's and 70's, and it is not an overstatement to say that college basketball was a religion. The ACC Tournament was the high holy season. And I was a fully-devoted follower. I was (and still am) first and foremost a fan of the UNC Tar Heels (who open NCAA play today). But that is not the basketball story I want to tell you today. I lived about a mile from Guilford College, a small (about 1100 students at the time) but prestigious Quaker college. I attended New Garden Friends Meeting (and would later work there) in the early 70's, which was across the street from the Guilford campus. Occasionally on Sunday afternoons we would use our connections to get access to Alumni Gym (original name, huh?) and shoot some hoops. We would occasionally run into some of the players from the college. During the 1972-73 season, we shared that tiny gym with one of the best basketball teams of which you have never heard. The Guilford College Quakers had been to NAIA (small college) tournaments a couple of times, but it just seemed from the very beginning of the season that this team was special. Every game was an event, and I went to as many as I could. Alumni Gym (its nickname was "The Crackerbox") probably held 700 people, and there had to be 1000 packed in for each game. The noise was deafening. Opponents rarely had a chance in Alumni.



Coach Jack Jensen had assembled an amazing collection of talent and roll players. M.L. Carr (later of the Boston Celtics championship teams in the early 80's), Ray Massengill and beefy ex-Marine Steve Hankins (who had been a pallbearer at RFK's funeral) provided the size. Teddy East was one of the best defensive players I ever saw. Every game he would simply shut down the other teams's top scorer. Greg Jackson was a true point guard who could also jump out of the building; he had a 48" vertical leap (True story- one Sunday afternoon some friends went to the gym and found Jackson and Carr shooting around. They were debating just how high Greg could jump. Several of them witnessed as the 6'0" tall Jackson touched the TOP of the backboard! Rumor had it that he could actually take a quarter off the top, and I never doubted it. Another rumor said he could take one and leave one on the same jump. That's a bit more iffy...). The top 2 subs were freshmen Johnny Ralls and Robert Kent, both of whom graduated from what would the very next year be my high school- Western Guilford. Johnny's dad was my dentist. The final piece to the puzzle was a freshman guard from Brooklyn named Lloyd Free. He could (and did!) shoot from anywhere. He was in range as soon as he crossed half-court. And he too could jump out of the building. He later changed his name to World B. Free and was an NBA all-star with two different teams. Jackson also played in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns. This team was so good we actually had legitimate arguments about whether or not they could have won the ACC that year. For a school with an enrollment of just over 1000, this was an amazing team.

Despite the fact that UNC was already a mini-dynasty and that N.C. State had David Thompson, Tommy Burleson and Monte Towe leading them to an undefeated season that year and a national championship the next, our little community was obsessed with Guilford College basketball. They won the Carolina's Conference championship (no easy feat in 1973- almost every school had a future NBA player) and then advanced to Kansas City for the NAIA national tournament. They were unseeded, but we expected them to win it all. To do so, they had to win 5 games in 6 days. This being way before the days of cable TV and ESPN, we listened to every minute of every game on the local AM radio station, 1320-WCOG. This included hiding in bed with a transistor radio way after bedtime or listening with an earphone while in class. It was around 11 PM Greensboro time when they finally won it all, and all around the neighborhood car horns were blowing and lights were flashing. Our guys were national champions!!! National champs, with three future NBA players, a future NBA coach & General Manager (M.L.) and a future league scoring leader (Free). Hankins and Kent both went on to very successful careers as high school coaches. Today, with talent so spread out, that team would be one of the best 10 college teams in the country at ANY level. I promise you that they were the best team that you never saw. But I did- and I will never forget them.

They were indeed a great team, and unlike with big universities and schools that are on TV all the time, they were very much OUR team in the community of Guilford College. I'll share one final memory. Just a few weeks later my connection to the team got one last unexpected boost. My Dad had gone back to Guilford after nearly 15 years to finish his degree, and was taking Anatomy and Physiology. One Saturday afternoon he and his lab partner dissected a cat on our screened-in porch. That lab partner? M.L. Carr (pictured above). Thanks for reliving with me the best March Madness of my life. 

The Dean of Them All

I awoke yesterday to learn that Dean Smith, the longtime men's basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had passed away. He was 83. Social media and ESPN were filled with remembrances, stories and tributes. And all of them were well deserved.

Dean Smith was a great basketball coach. He was the head coach of my beloved UNC Tar Heels from 1961-1997 and for many of those years they were among the nation's elite programs. Dean was an innovator, constantly changing the way college basketball was played and coached. The late John Wooden of UCLA, considered by most to be the greatest coach in history, once said that "Dean Smith was the best teacher of the game of basketball he had ever known." Dick Vitale often referred to him as "the Michelangelo of coaching," and I always loved that description. He was indeed an artist. His teams played in 11 Final Fours and won 2 NCAA championships. He also coached the 1976 U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal. Dean Smith was a winner.

But he was so much more than that. He taught team first, always. He coached many great players over the years, and they all loved him. Up until he got sick several years ago, he not only remembered all of the stars by name, he knew every recruit, every walk-on and every equipment manager that had been a part of the Carolina basketball family. He also knew their wives and their children by name, and often sent notes throughout the year. No matter how famous a player became after reaching the NBA, they were never too busy to turn down a request to come be part of his basketball camps in the summer, or to come teach current players more about the "Carolina Way." Michael Jordan has said that Dean Smith had more more influence on his life that anyone other than his parents. His players graduated. He made college athletics everything it can and ought to be. And he was a tireless behind-the-scenes worker for civil rights and human equality, including recruiting Charlie (The Great) Scott (pictured below) as the first African-American player at a southern university. He was a great man.

Growing up in NC and being a Carolina fan, Dean Smith was one of my heroes. I will never forget things like the 4 Corners Offense, the huddles at the foul line, the changing defenses, the raised hand to signal a player needed a rest and the infamous "Carolina spurts" in which their press and their fast break would blow opponents out of the gym. I will remember the 8 points in 17 seconds comeback against Duke- BEFORE the time of the 3 point shot. I will remember the time he called a timeout after cutting Florida State's huge lead to 17 in the second half and knowing- KNOWING- that FSU was going down. And they did. I will remember lots of things. And so I just want to say "thank you" to the Dean of them all. College sports was better because of you. And in so many small ways, so was I. May he rest in peace, and prayers go out to his family and his former players. I join with MJ, James Worthy, Vince Carter, Bobby Jones, Phil Ford and so many other players I loved in saying farewell to the greatest Tar Heel of them all...

When College Basketball Was Special (A Rant)

1982 National Champs- Perkins, Black, Jordan, Doherty & Worthy

There was a time- a long ago, far away time now- when there was no sport in our nation that could rival college basketball. At least as a kid growing up in North Carolina that was sure how it seemed to me. The rivalries, the competition, the drama, the strategy- it was amazing to be a fan. As mentioned here many times, I was primarily a fan of the UNC Tar Heels, but I also always cheered for other Atlantic Coast Conference teams any time they weren't playing my Heels. And back in the days of my youth there was nothing more exciting than the ACC Tournament. Tickets were harder to get than those for the NCAA Final Four. That same tournament will conclude in my hometown of Greensboro today, but it is just not he same anymore. The women's tournament was held last weekend and Notre Dame won the championship. Notre Dame is in the ACC? And this week teams like Syracuse and Pittsburgh were competing for the men's title. Next year Louisville joins the league as well. And I don't like it. Not one little bit. Those are supposed to be Big East teams- and we HATE Big East teams. But those changes are just the tip of an iceberg that began forming many years ago. So if you will allow me, I'd like to rant a bit about all of the changes in college hoops in the past 40 years and how they have ruined the game for me. I know I'm an old man yelling Get off my lawn! to a world that really doesn't care, but so be it. I'm still gonna yell. Here are some things I really miss about the old days...

• The ACC Tournament Meant Something - It is hard to remember now, but there was a time when the ACC was the ONLY league with a conference tournament. Equally hard to remember is that only one team from each conference received a bid to the NCAA tourny. That bid went to the ACC tounament champion. not the regular season champs. So if you wanted to keep playing, you had to win. And there were years when 2 or 3 of the 10 best teams in the country were from the league, and only one of them played into March. Now that was pressure! And it made for great basketball. Perhaps the greatest college game ever played was the 1974 ACC title game in which NC State beat Maryland 103-100 in overtime. NC State went on to win the national championship. The third best team in the country went to the NIT. Amazing drama.
• Players Stayed With Their Teams - While there have been players turning pro early for many years, the trend of players going to the NBA straight from high school and later the ridiculous "one and done" is a fairly recent one. In the old days you knew the players and the teams. Even the greatest players- Larry Bird, Bill Walton, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and so many others- stayed three or four years. You watched them grow and improve. Plus you got to watch great players play with other great players more frequently- and thus the teams were better. Can you imagine any scenario today where James Worthy (a junior) and Sam Perkins (a sophomore) would have still been at UNC to play with freshman Michael Jordan in 1982 and win a national championship together? All were first round draft picks. The older guys would have been in the NBA before MJ ever got there.
• Teams Stayed With Their Conferences - I realize it's mostly about football and all about money, but I really hate all of the conference realignment and the break-ups of so many traditional rivalries. I hate that Maryland is leaving the conference. And the new additions do not excite me. Of course, I'm so old school that I still think of Florida State as an ACC "outsider" and wish South Carolina would come back! 
• And I Knew Everything - I could tell you players on every team in the nation. I could tell you who the top recruits were and where they were headed. And when the NCAA tournament started I picked with some sense of knowledge. I was still wrong, but I felt like I knew what I was doing. Now I might as well use a dartboard. I very rarely get excited anymore- unless UNC and Duke are playing.
• TV Games Mattered - Growing up in NC in an era before ESPN the only college games we saw were ACC games on the Jefferson Pilot ACC Network (What's happening, Holly Farms!). There would be one, maybe 2 games a week. The broadcast team of Jim Thacker & Billy Packer did every game, and because the ACC was so deep and so talented in those days every game mattered. The ratings for those local broadcasts often beat network programming in a day and time when we only got 3 channels. Now I can watch Podunk State play Whatsamatta U. every night on 3 different channels. It's just too much.
• No shot clock. College basketball used to be so much about strategy and exploiting weaknesses in the other team. The shot clock ruined so much of that. I loved seeing Carolina go four corners. I loved the year (1968) a NC State team with NO talent held the ball the entire game and beat a good Duke team 12-10 in the semifinals. I remember Villanova milking the clock and beating an unbeatable Georgetown team for a national championship. That was the last game played without a shot clock. The clock made the game faster and more about who has the best recruits. If I wanted to watch the NBA, I would. And I don't!
• Players Could Actually Shoot - I expect to see a repeat of the 12-10 score any day now, because that's how bad the shooting has become in college hoops. Take away the dunks and some teams would have a hard time scoring. In the past even average players had better mid-range jump shots than today's stars. The 3-point shot helps with scoring averages, but most of the guys shoot around 33% on those. Carolina used to shoot 70% as a team- for the season- on a regular basis. No more. And players could actually make free throws! I miss when all non-shooting fouls in the bonus were 1 and 1, because it put a premium on great free throw shooters. Plus it changed strategy at the end of games, The famous 1983 NC State team of the late Jimmy V would have never survived past the second round of the NCCA tourny under today's rules. I would love to see them go back to an emphasis on good shooting and great passing. Learn to throw a bounce pass, people!
• Dean Smith Was Constantly Changing the Game- About 75% of the things you see teams and coaches do in games today (changing defenses, foul line huddles, acknowledging assists with a point, multiple substitutions, saving timeouts until the end of the game) were innovations of the great Dean Smith at UNC. He will never get all the credit he deserves as a coach and for recruiting Charlie (Great!) Scott to be the first African-American player at a southern university. The man changed the game. It's just not the same without him on the sidelines.
• Refs Could Call All the Fouls -  College basketball used to actually be a non-contact sport. Fouls were fouls. Players played defense by moving their feet and having quick hands, not by banging bodies all over the floor, Now if they called all the "fouls" the games would take 4 hours and all the players would foul out. The ACC held on to old school basketball longer than most, but eventually getting bullied by the Big East and the Big Ten in the tournament caught up with them too.
• There Was A Single Standard For Greatness- John Wooden and UCLA dominated college basketball from the mid 60s until the mid 70s. They were always the team to beat. Their players graduated, they were brilliant passers and shooters, and their famous 2-2-1 full court zone press just wore teams out. You always knew that the NCAA championship went through Westwood. And they were so good and so classy that you didn't mind. 
• And the ACC Was Always There - How good was the "classic" ACC over the years? This good: between 1962 and 2005 the ACC was represented in the final four 33 times by 7 different teams, including national championships for UNC (3), NC State (2), Duke (4) and Maryland. That's the ACC I knew and loved and remember. And while the new version of the league may end up being that kind of dominant, it will not be the same. Not for me.

I feel better now. And I feel better at least knowing a REAL ACC team will take home the championship and get the league's automatic bid today. But the truth is this- in the 70s,  80s and 90s I would have been glued to my TV for the ACC Championship game no matter who was playing. Today I may watch. but only so I can cheer for UVA to beat Dook. The old passion is gone. I try not be stuck in the past. But that's a past I truly miss.

One Word: Comeback

Many of you know by now that my theme for 2014 here on this blog is #DangerDays - exploring new ways to step out in faith and live on the edge for Jesus. In addition to that theme to keep me focused, several of my friends have challenged me to participate in the One Word 365 program, in which you choose one word that you will focus on for an entire year. After giving it much thought and prayer, I have chosen my word. And that word is COMEBACK. 

As I thought about what it means to make a COMEBACK, to bounce back from what seem like insurmountable odds and come out a winner, I was reminded of some of the great comebacks in sports history. The Buffalo Bills coming from 32 points behind to beat the Houston Oilers in a 1993 playoff game. The Tampa Rays coming from a 7 run deficit in the 9th inning to beat the Yankees, make the playoffs and eliminate the Boston Red Sox in 2011. Those same Red Sox rallying from a 3 game hole to beat the Yankees 4 straight times and go to the World Series in 2004. But the most memorable of all comebacks (for me) took place on March 2, 1974. I grew up a huge ACC basketball fan, and more importantly a devout supporter of University of North Carolina Tar Heels. On this particular date they were playing arch rival Duke. This being way before ESPN, I was listening to the game on the Carolina Basketball Radio Network, with the incomparable Woody Durham doing the play-by-play. With some helpful reminders via Wikipedia, this is what I heard that Saturday afternoon.

Duke led 4th ranked Carolina 86–78 with 17 seconds left. Despite the deficit and despite the fact that the game took place prior to the three-point shot being introduced, UNC rallied with a pair of free throws by Bobby Jones (no relation..dang it!), then baskets by John Kuester and Jones after a steal by Walter Davis and a turnover on an in-bounds attempt. After Duke's Pete Kramer missed the front end of a one-and-one, Carolina tied the score on Davis' 30-foot bank shot as time expired. Woody Durham was so excited I couldn't even understand the call as Davis' shot tied the game. The Heels had made up eight points in seventeen seconds. It was surreal. The game went into overtime, where Carolina prevailed 96–92. Many regard this comeback as the greatest in college basketball history. In fact, to this day you can hear announcers who know their history remind you to never change the channel until the final horn blows, because "UNC once made up 8 points in 17 seconds against Duke." It is a reminder to never, ever give up. A COMEBACK is always possible...

If you know my history at all, then you know that nearly 7 years ago I was counted out by myself and by others. My personal failures put me in a deep hole out of which I could not climb. Since then I have repented, grown, learned, explored and sought to get myself back in the game. I have come to understand that I was NEVER counted out by God. And the deficit has been narrowed. Through the love and grace of God and so many friends I feel like I have made great progress, but in order to come all the way back I need a Walter Davis moment. To complete my COMEBACK, I need to hit the big shot. And that is what 2014 is about for me. Stepping out, trusting Jesus, risking new things and hitting the shot that will complete my COMEBACK. As Michael Jordan once famously said, "You miss all the shots you don't take." If I am to complete my COMEBACK, then there are going to be #DANGERDAYS. I am going to have to trust my life, all of the failures as well as the successes, to Jesus. It's time to be bold. I have no idea exactly what all this means to my life. It might be resolution of legal issues, a new ministry, new relationships or just a fresh start. I am not sure where I am going...but I know it's where Jesus is leading me.

And by the way...I am not willing to settle for a tie. Overtime is not an option. Walter's shot would now be a 3 pointer. I'm going for the win. :)

Because of Jesus,

Survive & Advance

Coach V.

On Monday I sat down to eat lunch and watch the new ESPN 30 for 30 film that I had recorded Sunday night- Survive and Advance! This was a TV event that I had been looking forward to for some time, and I only recorded it because it was on at the same time as The Good Wife - and I value my life so I didn't dare interrupt the one show a week my wife absolutely MUST see!  The film was the story of the the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team and their improbable, miraculous run to the national championship.  The film also told the story of the relationships between the players and the late, great Jim Valvano, who was their coach.  As mentioned, I had been looking forward to this 30th anniversary celebration of this accomplishment for quite a while, and my expectations were high.  It did not disappoint.  On a scale of 1-5 stars. I give it 6...

The movie was like a giant flashback for me in so many ways.  Many of you know that I am and always have been a fan of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.  UNC had played for the national championship in 1981 and won it in 1982 on a shot by a somewhat unknown freshman named Michael Jordan. Duke was just starting to rebuild its program under some guy (Coach K) whose name no one could pronounce, so State was our number one in-state rival.  This was an amazing era for ACC basketball.  Even the best players stayed in college for 3 or 4 years. There was no shot clock or 3 point basket (except in the ACC where it was an experiment) and strategy was every bit as important as talent- and the ACC had the best coaches anywhere. In the film, Coach K  says that ACC basketball in the 1980's is the best college basketball has ever been- anytime or any place. Maryland was always loaded. Clemson was coming on strong, and Wake Forest had a very good team most years.  And Virginia- well Virginia had Ralph Sampson, who was simply the most dominant player in the country.  NC State was, for most of 1983, the fourth or fifth best team in the ACC.

The film reminded me of what a lost cause the Wolfpack season seemed to be as the ACC Tournament began in Atlanta. They had to win the whole thing to make the NCAA tourney, and they beat Wake Forest, Carolina and Virginia to do just that. Then they moved on through the early rounds of the NCAA. Pepperdine had them beat- to the point that the TV announcers lamented Sidney Lowe's "final game in a Wolfpack uniform" when he fouled out -, but the "Cardiac Pack" won in overtime.  UNLV was a huge favorite, but they blew a big lead and lost when Thurl Bailey tipped in a last second shot. The Pack was a team of destiny.  They seemed to win every game with some sort of miraculous finish or unorthodox method, and Jimmy V. was always right in the middle of it.  They sent people to the free throw line- on purpose- in tie games to insure they got the last shot at winning (There was no double bonus in 1983; all non-shooting fouls were 1 and 1).  They beat Virginia twice by playing a triangle and two defense and guarding Sampson with BOTH of the two guys playing man to man.  And everything they tried worked. By the time they played Houston for the championship, they were national darlings. But no one gave them a chance against Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon and the dunking machine that was mighty Phi Slamma Jamma.  Jim teased the media that State had no chance; that they would hold the ball.  His famous quote was that "if we win the opening tip, we may not shoot until Tuesday morning" - and it was a Monday night game. Instead, they took it right to the Cougars.  When they won on the Lorenzo Charles miracle dunk, it only seemed fitting.  I watched the game in the home of my dear friend Beth McGalliard, whose husband Bob (and his father) were in Albuquerque that night. It was just amazing. The image of Coach V. running around the court looking for someone to hug is one that has been with me for 30 years now.  It was one of the transcendent moments in sports history.

I had read Jim Valvano's brilliant book They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract...and Then They Declared Me Dead! I had read so many stories and seen so many specials on that team.  There was very little in the film that was new to me.  But there was one thing that really stuck out.  Dereck Whittenburg told a story of how early on in Jimmy V's tenure at State he held a practice in which all the team did was practice cutting down the nets like they had won a championship.  Coach V. had a dream. A big dream. And he believed that if his players learned to dream along with him - and to love each other- that someday that dream would come true.  In his third year in Raleigh, the impossible dream came true. And when it came down to cut down the nets, his players knew the drill.  They understood the dream.

The movie also shared the story of Jim Valvano's fight with cancer and his seminal speech at the ESPY Awards just prior to his passing. His words - "Never give up. Don't ever give up..." - had as much to say about his 1983 team as they did about his fight with a killer disease.  Survive and Advance refers to the motto Jim used during that incredible tournament run, but it is a slogan that could apply to every part of each of our lives.  If we hold tight to our dreams, if we love the people God places in our lives with a great passion, and if we face each day with that survive & advance attitude, then there is no limit on what we can achieve.  It is a reminder to dream big dreams and pray big prayers.  I finished the film with some very wet eyes and a very inspired heart.  I recommend it highly.  

Because of Jesus,

One Shining Moment

On Monday night, April 4, 1983, I went to the Greensboro (NC) home of my friends Bob & Beth (Vestal) McGalliard to watch the NCAA basketball championship game with a group of my friends.  The game would feature North Carolina State University and the University of Houston.  Houston was a huge favorite, but our little group gathered to pull for the Wolfpack of NCSU.  Having grown up in NC, college basketball was almost a religion to us.  I was a UNC Tar Heel fan myself, but when it came to national events I always pulled for the ACC.  Pulling for State was not easy; in 1983 Duke was still pretty much irrelevant, so the Wolfpack were our arch rivals.  There was even a little cheer- "Duke is puke, Wake (Forest) is fake but the team I hate is NC State!"  But they had been amazing in the tournament and had reached the final game against all expectations.  The McGalliard family were huge State fans; in fact, Bob and his father had gone to Albuquerque for the game.  We went to support Beth and to cheer them on.


The game was amazing.  Somehow the Wolfpack hung tough with Phi Slamma Jamma, and the game came down to one final possession.  Here's how it ended...





Everyone watching was stunned.  Lorenzo Charles jamming home the missed shot.  Coach Jimmy Valvano running around The Pit looking for someone to hug.  The vaunted Houston team in total disbelief.  It was one of those moments I will never forget.  And the fact that the hero was Lorenzo Charles made it all the more miraculous.  He was, at best, the 6th best scoring threat on that NCSU team.  He was there to rebound and play defense.  If Vegas had odds on which player would make a game winning shot,the odds on Lo had to be 500,000 to 1.  And yet... as one of the greatest big men in NCAA history (Hakeem Olajuwon) stood and watched, #43 grabbed a small slice of sports immortality.  He would go on to become a star player over the following 2 years and a high NBA draft pick as well.  In all the many years that CBS has used One Shining Moment as their end of tournament "magic memories" song, it has never been more appropriate than that night.


Lorenzo Charles was killed in a bus wreck this week, and everyone who remembers that night the way I do felt his loss.  I had no idea what had happened to Lo since his NBA career failed.  But his example has always had an influence on me.  Work hard, put yourself in the right position surrounded by the right people, never give up- and magical, miraculous things can happen.  When Jimmy V died of cancer a number of years later he gave a famous speech in which he encouraged each of us to "never give up."  Now that Lo has gone on to join Coach V, teammate Thurl Bailey has been quoted as saying this- "Looks like Coach V finally found somebody to hug."  Rest in peace, Lo.  Thanks for giving sports fans everywhere a moment in time that we will never forget- and for raising this important question in our own lives. If I were to die tomorrow, what would be seen as my One Shining Moment?  It is something to ponder...


Because of Jesus,

The Best Team You Never Saw

As is constantly pointed out on Twitter by friends like Brook Teoli Elaine,  Jason Huffman, Duffy Robbins and Kevin & Christie Weatherby, I am old.  And getting older.  Keep this in mind as you read...

I grew up in North Carolina in the 1960's and 70's, and it is not an overstatement to say that college basketball was a religion. The ACC Tournament was the high holy season. And I was a fully-devoted follower. I was (and still am) first and foremost a fan of the UNC Tar Heels (who squeaked by yesterday). But that is not the basketball story I want to tell you today. I lived about a mile from Guilford College, a small but prestigious Quaker college. I attended New Garden Friends Meeting (and would later work there) in the early 70's, which was across the street from the Guilford campus. Occasionally on Sunday afternoons we would use our connections to get access to Alumni Gym (original name, huh?) and shoot some hoops. We would occasionally run into some of the players from the college. During the 1972-73 season, we shared that tiny gym with one of the best basketball teams you have never heard of. The Guilford College Quakers had been to NAIA (small college) tournament a couple of times, but it just seemed from the very beginning of the season that this team was special. Every game was an event, and I went to as many as I could. Alumni Gym (it's nickname was "The Crackerbox") probably held 700 people, and there had to be 1000 packed in for each game. The noise was deafening. Opponents rarely had a chance in Alumni.

Coach Jack Jensen had assembled an amazing collection of talent and roll players. M.L. Carr (later of the Boston Celtics championship teams in the early 80's), Ray Massengill and beefy ex-Marine Steve Hankins provided the size. Teddy East was one of the best defensive players I ever saw. Every game he would simply shut down the other teams's top scorer. Greg Jackson was a true point guard who could also jump out of the building; he had a 48" vertical leap (True story- one Sunday afternoon we went to the gym and found Jackson and Carr shooting around.  They were debating just how high Greg could jump.  Several of us witnessed as the 6'0" tall Jackson took a quarter off the TOP of the backboard!  Rumor had it that he could actually take one and leave one on the same jump...). The top 2 subs were freshmen Johnny Ralls and Robert Kent, both of whom graduated from what would the very next year be my high school- Western Guilford.  Johnny's dad was my dentist. The final piece to the puzzle was a freshman guard from Brooklyn named Lloyd Free. He could (and did!) shoot from anywhere. He was in range as soon as he crossed half-court. And he too could jump out of the building. He later changed his name to World B. Free and was an NBA all-star with two different teams. Jackson also played in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns. This team was so good we actually had legitimate arguments about whether or not they could have won the ACC that year. For a school with an enrollment of just over 1000, this was an amazing team.

Despite the fact that UNC was already a mini-dynasty and that N.C. State had David Thompson, Tommy Burleson and Monte Towe leading them to an undefeated season that year and a national championship the next, our little community was obsessed with Guilford College basketball. They won the Carolina's Conference championship and then advanced to Kansas City for the NAIA national tournament. They were unseeded, but we expected them to win it all. This being way before the days of cable TV and ESPN, we listened to every minute of every game on the local AM radio station, 1320-WCOG.  This included hiding in bed with a transistor radio way after bedtime or listening with an earphone while in class. It was around 11 PM Greensboro time when they finally won it all, and all around the neighborhood car horns were blowing and lights were flashing. Our guys were national champions!!! National champs, with three future NBA players, a future NBA coach & General Manager (M.L.) and a future league scoring leader (Free). Today, with talent so spread out, that team would be one of the best 5 college teams in the country at ANY level. I promise you that they are the best team you never saw. But I did- and I will never forget them.

Just a few weeks later my connection to the team got one last unexpected boost. My Dad had gone back to school after nearly 20 years to finish his degree, and was taking Anatomy and Physiology. One Saturday afternoon he and his lab partner dissected a cat on our screened-in porch.  That lab partner?  M.L. Carr.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Because of Jesus,