View A Screening of “Survive And Advance” March 11 In Reynolds

ACC & Other ACC Teams Alums NC State NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe12

Today, thirty years ago — February 14, 1983 — things were looking bleak for the NC State Wolfpack.

The Pack had just lost to Notre Dame 43-42 the night before and the team’s record stood at 13-8.  They definitely were not in the conversation for the NCAA tournament, and were an afterthought for the ACC tournament that was about to be played in the Omni in Atlanta. Injuries had plagued the team during the middle of the season and a year that had started with promise looked like it was on the brink of ignominy.

Little did we know that State was about to beat a Michael Jordan-led UNC team in Reynolds Coliseum the next week, and that it would follow up that win by going to Durham and obliterating Duke 96-79.  They would go on to lose to Ralph Sampson and Virginia on the road, and just after that, they lost to Maryland.

What happened next is myth, is history and is a very large part of the Wolfpack’s identity not only here in ACC country, but all over the world: first they crushed Wake Forest at home 130-89, and slipped past them 71-70 in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.  Then they’d beat Carolina again and to ensure a trip to the NCAA they’d find a way past Ralph Sampson and the Virginia Cavaliers.

All of those games weren’t just roller coaster rides emotionally, they were like suborbital rocket trips where State fans everywhere were physically feeling the gut-wrenching games. One could read the game threads of today but they’d never come close to the range of emotions that would happen in nearly every one of the following tournament games.  Watching a game at Mitch’s Tavern or someone’s apartment was group therapy.  State would play well, then all would seem lost, the season would seem over, but each and every single time the Pack would find a way to come back and to win.  The Cardiac Pack was born and it was about to make history.

On March 11 at 7PM, there will be a showing of an ESPN documentary of the story of that magical year: “Survive and Advance.”  It’s free, at 7pm, and very fittingly, in the place where the journey to glory started.  Members of the ’83 team will be there, as will many of us: the students who lived through it, who will always look to that spring as one of the best of our lives.

Gopack.com: Survive and Advance Info

 

ACC & Other ACC Teams Alums NC State NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe

12 Responses to View A Screening of “Survive And Advance” March 11 In Reynolds

  1. Wufpacker 02/14/2013 at 5:10 PM #

    I remember that ND game like it was yesterday.

    Had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach the rest of the day/night. Was 16 at the time, went to a party that night at a friend’s house, and father of said friend (Maryland alum) wouldn’t shut up about how happy he was that we were looking so out of it.

    I was too ticked off to even bring up ’74 and in his defense he didn’t know I was a State fan (though I doubt the obnoxious prick would have cared, of course).

    I did make a return visit later though, in April, and made my allegiances known at that time. 😀

  2. 61Packer 02/14/2013 at 7:03 PM #

    Where can a ticket be obtained in advance? I tried to download it off the internet as instructed but was unable to do so.

  3. PackerInRussia 02/14/2013 at 9:25 PM #

    Would be so cool to watch that in Reynolds. I’ll have to be content to wait and see it on TV, though.

  4. FunPack 02/14/2013 at 10:47 PM #

    “All of those games weren’t just roller coaster rides emotionally, they were like suborbital rocket trips where State fans everywhere were physically feeling the gut-wrenching games. ”

    This is so true. I’m not sure why our identities were so tied up in that team and at that time, but they were. I was a freshman and we just lived and breathed State basketball. I remember the W over unc-ch very clearly. Camped out for tickets of course, so it was a days-long event just like many of the others. I also remember the season-ending Wake game very clearly. I remember seeing that and just getting a wild feeling that suddenly we were seeing what that team was capable of. Wake wasn’t great that year but those were the days when every team in the ACC was pretty good. I was just awed after witnessing that 40-point beat-down of Wake. Good times.

  5. BJD95 02/15/2013 at 5:57 AM #

    That was the game where Kelly Tripucka beat us late, right? I remember that one, at least. Digger Phelps was still an idiot coach, and not yet an idiot commentator.

    I was 9 during that run, and remember watching every single game (and where I did so). The ACC final, I watched by myself in the living room. The family had tickets to the circus that day, and I flat out refused to go. They would have had to drag me kicking and screaming. The difference in the game turned out to be a three-quarters court shot by Othell Wilson, which came just a hair after the halftime buzzer (that segment is bizarrely cut from the ESPN Classic replay). What a freaking game that was.

    When we played them again in the regional finals, I was too young to be cynical and know it was impossible to beat Ralph Sampson twice like that. I was sure we would win, the whole way. Terry Gannon, Wolfpack badass with the steal. Wow.

  6. Wufpacker 02/15/2013 at 6:15 AM #

    ^ Yep, that’s the one.

    I too remember the “where I was’s” for all of those games, though that’s not too difficult in my case. My Pops ain’t a circus kinda guy and he’s also a State alum, so there was no question what the family activities would be on those days.

    Ah, the memories. Ah, to be 16 again.

    OK, now I’m depressed just like 30 years ago. 😀

  7. Texpack 02/15/2013 at 7:48 AM #

    The UNC-CH game will live forever with me. I still have a crystal clear picture of Terry Gannon launching a 3 when we were up by four late in the game. As soon as it left his hands I screamed out “7”. My seats were front of the end zone by our bench so I got a great look at V coming out onto the court as Sidney dribbled to scream above the noise that there was no clock, because it there was less than four minutes left. My favorite memory from that game was storming the court and watching Bruce Poulton lead the celebration from the “Chancellor’s Box” if you will. An unplanned keg party in the Owen Underground capped off the day.

    There will never be a season for me that matches that one. Having grown up as a State fan and being a student, the four consecutive magical weekends that ended the season will never be equaled for me. I would, however, like to see something move the ’74 season out of second place.

  8. Pack78 02/15/2013 at 8:18 AM #

    I remember the ND game as well; watched at our home in Lawrence, KS and, IIRC, Terry Gannon missed a last-second jumper. Digger really had it in for the ACC…we went to Topeka that evening for dinner with friends, and I ‘helped’ the wife get a speeding ticket (I was too wrought up to drive), so I finally had to calm down. Saw the Pack lose an ugly 49-42 game to a very good Mizzou team in Columbia that year as well, but it all ended perfectly!

  9. rtpack24 02/15/2013 at 8:33 AM #

    The second time we beat Virgina to go to the Final 4 they asked Cozell who was the best center in the ACC and he said he was. Reporter asked about Sampson and Cozell said “he ain’t in this league anymore”.

  10. 85Designo 02/15/2013 at 11:46 AM #

    I was in Grad School that year(s) and was at the (in Reynolds) Carolina Game sitting in the rafters. When Jordan fouled out the cups started floating up and down. The weekend of the ACCT I had to go home to NJ for spring break and no ACC Tourney was broadcasted up there. So on the drive back to NC, my wife and I stopped in a bar in Virginia for the final. We watched Wittenburg get called twice for traveling after rebounding Va’s missed freethrows with a few seconds to go. We pulled off the win and were the only Pack Fans in the place. We got out of there fast and listened to Wally and Gary on the radio the rest of the way home.

  11. NCSU84 02/15/2013 at 3:26 PM #

    As a student at the time, trust me, words cannot describe what that time was like. There is a reason ESPN made THIS documentary. If you are a Wolfpack fan and were not alive at the time, I strongly suggest viewing this film. It was the greatest basketball moment for a North Carolina ACC school and it does NOT involve the blues.

  12. choppack1 02/15/2013 at 9:43 PM #

    For all of those who were there in college…Wow, I enjoy hearing those stories and wish I was there.

    I was at state from 88-92, so at least I got to see Reynolds in its glory with V stalking the sidelines. I got to participate in meaningful campouts.

    I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have been at Mitch’s and watch the Final 4 and the championship game. I like reading the stories of those who were there.

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