You Said I Couldn’t Yell

As we mourn the passing of Lorenzo Charles, the great memories of the 1983 title run are flooding my mind. That was such a special time and I’m so glad to have experienced it. With that in mind, I posted the following as a note for all my friends on Facebook and thought it was worth sharing with the readers of StateFans Nation.

On April 4, 1983 NC State played for and won, its second national championship in men’s basketball.  My family and I were on a spring break pilgrimage to see the Mouse, and were staying at the Days Inn Orlando. We booked our trip six months earlier with no idea that our beloved Wolfpack would be playing for the national title.

After spending the day playing in the Magic Kingdom, we left the park well before closing, got a pizza and settled into our room. We’ve all seen the replay of the game tons of times and it was certainly as thrilling that very first time as it was 100 times later.

State jumped out to an 8 point lead at halftime and then came out in the second half as cold as ice. Houston went on a 17-2 run and the Pack was down 7 points coming down the home stretch of the game. At this point, the Wolfpack guards start bombing in from loooooong range. The Houston lead was cut to 4 and then 2 and then tied.

During the furious comeback, my Dad saw the need to sit me down and give me a quick lecture. “Son, IF, and I mean IF we win this thing, you CANNOT go screaming and yelling. You’ll disturb the other guests in the hotel and they’ll throw us out. If we win, you just grab that pillow, hold it against your face and scream into that.”

So of course, Derek Whittenburg makes his famous “pass”, Lorenzo Charles catches it and dunks to win the game and make our dreams come true. I did as I was told, and grabbed that pillow and screamed and cried for all I was worth.

Meanwhile, across the room my Dad leaps up out of his chair, YELLING – “We did it, We’re the national champions!!” And then proceeds to BREAK A LAMP. And I’m staring at him, bewildered crying – “You told me I couldn’t yell!!”  Despite my Dad’s “do as I say not as I do” euphoria, none of the other rooms complained as you could hear the yelling all through the hotel.

None of us got much sleep that night and the next day at Disney World seemed to hold a little bit of extra magic as we strutted around in our NC State gear with our chests stuck out as far as possible.

By the time we got back to Raleigh, the local celebrations were over. And certainly the week-old 8th grade smack and crowing was not quite as fresh as it would have been the Tuesday morning after the game. As great as it would have been to be in Raleigh that week, I would not trade that memory of my Dad for anything.

Thank you Lorenzo.

 

About SMD

SMD graduated from NC State at a time when beating UNC-CH in both major revenue sports was a regular occurrence. This was well before a time when I could express my frustrated attempts at being a writer on the "internets." When I'm not talking about the Pack, I'm probably arguing politics.

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43 Responses to You Said I Couldn’t Yell

  1. packhammer 06/28/2011 at 5:14 PM #

    Indeed. A really great story and well told.

    Unfortunately, due to a move to another city that very day, I was forced to watch the game amongst strangers in a bar as I had no TV in my new apartment. Ye of little faith, as I watched the game I just knew that at any moment our ability to keep up with Houston would fail, and we would be beat by 20 points. And yet to my memory we did not fail or faulter one bit through a very close championship game. Somehow our guys just kept hanging in there and making plays until it was over. RIP Lorenzo Charles.

  2. Ski Wolf 06/28/2011 at 5:38 PM #
  3. MrPlywood 06/28/2011 at 6:39 PM #

    Read that Deadspin article, have to object to the “the most hopeless of underdogs” tag. State had slayed plenty of dragons up to that point. Sure Houston was tough, but no way was the Pack the “most hopeless”…

  4. Alex_01 06/28/2011 at 6:40 PM #

    I was only on the verge of turning 4 at the time but this was one of my earliest memories. I’m a third gen wolfpacker and my grandads degree says state college on it, I remember everyone going nuts, but I realized something special had happened when I got my very own can of wolfpack cherry soda a few weeks later.

  5. choppack1 06/28/2011 at 10:25 PM #

    Nice artice SMD. Very well told..and fantastic picture.

    I still get choked up hearing the call – and that surreal feeling watching Lorenzo running down the court.

    I’m glad others have mentioned what a good player Lorenzo was – and his other heroics even before he “won it on a dunk!” His great career was overshadowed by a great play, (unlike Bill Buckner whose solid career was overshadowed by an error)…

    That 83 team was pretty damn stout – and tall. And Lorenzo used his post season clutch play as a springboard to fulfill his potential. His NBA career wasn’t much – he was simply a little to short and slow to play in the league. I saw him play a couple of times on the NBA court – the man was huge – looked more like a defensive tackle than a basketball player – but a great touch.

  6. Tuffy2 06/29/2011 at 2:37 AM #

    Isn’t it funny that Wally and Gary get just as much and maybe even more replay audio of the final seconds of the NC game than CBS with Packer and Nance. Even that team is hard to beat with no disrespect to the current crew that calls the Wolfpack games.
    I am just glad I got to experience the whole package deal back in the day.

  7. whitey1 06/29/2011 at 6:05 AM #

    Once our living room celebration was over and lighting fireworks in the driveway – I looked at my Dad and told him it was the best birthday present ever…and I still feel that way 28 years later.

  8. packfan1 06/29/2011 at 8:06 AM #

    SMD,

    I was also in Orlando at the time! I was 13 years old and my church youth group from NC was in Orlando for a Disney trip. I was a huge State Fan but most of the others in our group were not. However, they were all pulling for the Pack. When Lorenzo sealed the win, our entire group erupted in cheers. The hotel staff told us that we were making too much noise. I remember the next day being at Disney and wearing my N.C. State shirt. It was a great time to be a Wolfpack fan!

  9. Hungwolf 06/29/2011 at 8:19 AM #

    Lo’s Dunk is one of those moments that we remember where we were when it happened. So sorry he passed at such a young age and feel for his family. I have been real pleased with the great things that have been said about him by so many. The positive media coverage has been a blessing. I am amazed he did not have a much more successful NBA career, but for some reason Wolfpackers and the Hawks have a bad history. Seems the Hawks could ruin the best of talent.
    RIP MR. Charles!

  10. lawful 06/29/2011 at 9:53 AM #

    I think I remember every moment of every game from the ACC tourny all the way through the finals. I don’t know why, but for some reason I started cutting out articles from the Wilmington Star News after every win. Something I had never done in the past. As if I knew something magical was going to happen. It did.
    I remember hanging on to beat Wake in the 1st round thanks to a couple of late Lo free throws, I remember beating Michael and company (in OT, I think) and I remember taking out Ralph for the crown. I remember a very late night w/an unbelievable win over Pepperdine (in OT?). Did it snow that night? Can’t quite remember the order, but I remember being down by 10 to UNLV and Tark’s son (& Arman Guilliam?) at the half and coming back. I remember shooting baskets at halftime trying to figure out how we could pull it out. I think we beat Utah in there. I remember beating Ralph again to get to the final four. There was a flury of rebound attempt put backs by the hoos with a lid on the basket somehow. As the buzzer sounded, Ralph slammed it through in anger. I remember dominating Georgia in the semis and dominating Houston throughout the 1st half. We know the rest. I think that was one of my greatest experiences as a young teenager. I long to see it again….

  11. Eddienip 06/29/2011 at 12:36 PM #

    I was working in a mill in Pennsylvania at the time. My wife went to bed in the second half after State lost the lead and her last words were, “Don’t wake me up if they come back”. I missed seeing Jimmy V running around the court after Lo’s dunk because I ran out the front door of our house and began screaming in the front yard. Lights started going on around the neighborhood but I never woke the wife!

  12. 61Packer 06/29/2011 at 3:00 PM #

    The game I remember most in the ’83 run was the Friday night game vs Pepperdine, when my cuckoo clock sounded twice and the game still hadn’t ended. Many went to bed around 2am, when State trailed by 6 with a minute to go and Lowe had just fouled out of what the announcers declared his last college game. The following Sunday afternoon, State erased a 54-40 UNLV second half lead and won on a last-second putback by Bailey. No doubt about it then, they were on their way.

    College ball was a better, friendler game back then. Guys didn’t snarl after dunking and were actually humble like Charles. Underdogs actually had a chance without a shot clock; State would not have won the Houston game had the current shot clock been in effect. They can talk about how the 3-point shot has ruined college ball, but the shot clock to me is the worst thing that’s ever been done to the game. Only one underdog, Villanova, has won it all during this era, and it took an 80% shooting performance against a familiar opponent plus a 45-second shot clock and a lot of good luck to pull it off.

    One of the nice things about Charles’ dunk was that he didn’t stand there and holler and thump his chest, or point and wave at the Houston crowd. The Cardiac Pack had class, much unlike the present NBA wannabees we see shouting, screaming and strutting everytime they think an ESPN camera is nearby. Fans saw the Houston game remember the good sportsmanship shown by the Wolfpack as well as they remember Destiny’s Dunk.

  13. TLeo 06/29/2011 at 4:28 PM #

    I agree 61Packer, college ball was much better in those days without all the chest thumping “look at me” thugs strutting around. Charles and the entire team and coach V were all class. From all accounts he stayed the nice guy he was in college and will be misssed. RIP

  14. packhammer 06/29/2011 at 4:51 PM #

    I am still very sad about this tragic news. But now I’m also just a little angry. Our last ACC Championship was 24 years ago. That is just not acceptable. I’d love to see us honor Lorenzo Charles with a championship this year! Why not?

  15. whitefang 06/29/2011 at 6:34 PM #

    61 Packer, you are right on with your comments.
    As much as Dean’s 4 corners used to drive people crazy, the lack of a shot clock allowed a much wider range of strategies to come into play and frankly I thought it was a much better game then.
    Likewise to your comments about class.
    The truth is the current “NBA junior league” that the college game has become (not to mention the sorry state of our program) has really taken the interest out of college basketball for me. I bet I cannot name 3 ACC players today outside of the Wolfpack and I know most of them only thru this blog.
    RIP LO. I think the thing that stands out in my mind about that play was the look on his face right after he dunked the ball. It seemed to me it took a second or two before he realized what he had done. Hell it took me 15 seconds before I could come to grips with it too – then I started jumping up and down and screaming.

  16. john of sparta 06/30/2011 at 10:18 AM #

    47 seems to be the age
    for this to happen.

  17. OwenDorm83 07/01/2011 at 10:02 AM #

    Dad paid for my trip to Albuquerque for my “graduation present.” What a trip…

    Lo really stepped it up his Jr and Sr years – particularly his senior year.

    From all the info out since Monday, it appears that he was a stand-up guy off the court also.

    RIP, big guy.

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