BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…April 4, 1983, 40 years ago today:
In one of the great Cinderella stories in NCAA Tournament history, North Carolina State upsets Houston’s Phi Slama Jama team 54-52 on Lorenzo Charles’ follow-up dunk of an airball at the buzzer to win the national championship. The Wolfpack began the Big Dance as a No. 6 seed, and that was when there were only 52 teams in the tournament (that was also the year Boise hosted the first and second rounds for the first time). The Cougars, on the other hand, were a top-ranked No. 1 seed, led by legends Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Houston was dominant on the way to the championship tilt, while NC State pulled off a huge upset of Virginia (which had come out of the Boise bracket) to get to the Final Four. The Cougars were favored by a healthy 7½ points, but they didn’t figure on Drexler picking up four first-half fouls, and the Wolfpack led 33-25 at the break. Houston started the second half on a 17-2 run, though, and it looked like the writing was on the wall. But Olajuwon kept having to leave the game to get oxygen in The Pit’s 5,300-foot elevation. So instead of flying up and down the floor as they were prone to do, the Cougars slowed the pace down.
It was three years before the shot clock was introduced to college basketball, and with the score tied 52-52 with 44 seconds remaining, North Carolina State held the ball for a final shot. Houston went for a steal and knocked the ball out near center court. As the clock wound down, the Wolfpack’s Derrick Whittenberg heaved up a desperation shot. It was short, but Olajuwon hesitated to go after it in fear of getting a goaltending call. So Charles caught the ball and jammed it home with two seconds left.
The lasting image of that game is the late Jim Valvano — ecstatic in victory — running around the court looking for someone to hug. He became known as “Jimmy V,” especially when he became an inspirational figure through his valiant fight against cancer.
While terminally ill with the disease, Valvano gave a stirring speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards, repeating the motto of his V Foundation for Cancer Research: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” He added, “Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.” Valvano died less than two months later at the age of 47.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
Watch more Sports:
See KTVB sports coverage in our YouTube playlist:
