50 Fun Facts About NC State Wolfpack

NC State's first football team wore which two colors in 1892, before the switch to red and white?

Pink and blue were the colors of the 1892 Aggies, who won their first game 12–6 at what is now Pullen Park. Red and white uniforms did not arrive until 1895.

Which NC State forward dunked a teammate's air ball at the buzzer to win the 1983 national title?

Lorenzo Charles caught Dereck Whittenburg's desperation shot from nearly 30 feet and dunked it to beat Houston 54–52. His coach then ran around the court looking for someone to hug.

Which coach of NC State's 1983 champions gave a famous 1993 ESPY Awards speech while dying of cancer?

Jim Valvano used the speech to announce the V Foundation for Cancer Research. He died less than two months later, at 47, and the ESPYs later created a Jimmy V Award in his honor.

Which NC State star, nicknamed Skywalker, did Michael Jordan pick to present him at the Hall of Fame?

David Thompson introduced Jordan at the 2009 induction, and Jordan has said the whole idea of the vertical leap began with him. His 44 is the only men's basketball number NC State has retired.

Which victory ritual did NC State's Everett Case bring to college basketball from Indiana high schools?

Cutting down the nets was how Case and his players marked the 1947 Southern Conference title, their first in 18 years. The custom soon spread to champions nationwide.

NC State's fight song is a sped-up version of the official song of which U.S. military branch?

The Army tune was composed in 1908 by Edmund Gruber and began life as The Caisson Song. Hardy Ray, an NC State graduate of 1926, wrote the words that fans sing to it.

Which NC State quarterback started 51 straight games before a draft-day trade sent him to the Chargers?

Philip Rivers was picked fourth in 2004 by the New York Giants, who swapped him to San Diego for Eli Manning. NC State retired his number before his final home game.

Which 5-foot-7 former NC State point guard won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 1986?

Spud Webb, the shortest player ever to enter the contest, beat Atlanta teammate and defending champion Dominique Wilkins with two perfect scores in the final round.

Which future NBA star planned to play for his father at NC State but failed to qualify academically?

Pete Maravich took a scholarship to LSU instead, and his father, Press, quit as NC State's head coach after the 1965–66 season to follow him there.

NC State mascots Mr. and Ms. Wuf were married at halftime in 1981 by which rival school's mascot?

Wake Forest sent its Demon Deacon, a fitting officiant, to preside over the wedding at halftime of a basketball game between the two schools that February.

NC State's Monte Towe and a teammate are credited with inventing which now-common basketball play?

The alley-oop suited an era when college rules outlawed the dunk. The 5-foot-7 Towe lobbed the ball toward the rim for a teammate with a 44-inch vertical leap to catch in mid-air.

NC State's double-overtime semifinal win in 1974 ended which school's run of seven straight titles?

UCLA had handed the Wolfpack its only loss in two seasons, 84–66, earlier that winter. The rematch in Greensboro ended 80–77 after NC State wiped out a seven-point deficit in the second overtime.

NC State men's basketball finished 27–0 in 1973 but was barred from postseason play for what reason?

Recruiting violations in the signing of the team's biggest star brought NCAA sanctions. Once they were lifted, the Wolfpack went 30–1 and won the 1974 national championship.

Which nickname did the dunk-happy Houston team carry into its 1983 title-game loss to NC State?

Phi Slama Jama starred future NBA greats Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon and was heavily favored over the sixth-seeded Wolfpack.

Which nickname did NC State's 1983 men's basketball team earn for its string of narrow postseason wins?

The Cardiac Pack survived double overtime against Pepperdine and then one-point games against UNLV and Virginia on the way to the national semifinals.

After three seasons as NC State's quarterback, Russell Wilson transferred to which school for 2011?

Wisconsin got one season from Wilson, who set the FBS single-season record for passer rating and led the Badgers to a Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl.

Which NC State defensive end did the Houston Texans draft first overall in 2006, ahead of Reggie Bush?

Mario Williams was a surprise choice, since analysts expected Houston to take the Heisman-winning running back. He answered with four Pro Bowl selections.

Which NC State receiver joined the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf and won Super Bowl XXXIV as a rookie?

Torry Holt caught 88 passes for 1,604 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Wolfpack in 1998, and NC State retired his number 81 the following year.

Which future Super Bowl-winning head coach was a three-year starting linebacker for NC State in the 1970s?

Bill Cowher coached the Pittsburgh Steelers for 15 seasons and won Super Bowl XL. He chose NC State because it was one of the few schools to offer the undersized linebacker a scholarship.

Which NC State women's basketball coach led Team USA to 1988 Olympic gold after a breast cancer diagnosis?

Kay Yow won more than 700 games and, after her diagnosis, raised money and awareness to fight the disease. NC State renamed its women's home court for her in 2007.

Which visiting team did NC State beat 10–3 in Raleigh in 2016 while Hurricane Matthew soaked the field?

Notre Dame failed to score a touchdown in the driving rain, just as it had in the teams' only earlier meeting, a 28–6 NC State win in the Gator Bowl after the 2002 season.

Which NC State center, a transfer from Winthrop, was named MVP of the 2024 ACC Tournament?

DJ Burns was then named the South Region's most outstanding player as 11th-seeded NC State reached the national semifinals for the first time since 1983.

Which venue has been NC State football's home since 1966 and hosted an outdoor NHL game in 2023?

Carter–Finley Stadium opened as Carter Stadium and added the name of donor Albert E. Finley in 1979. A crowd of 56,961 watched the Carolina Hurricanes beat Washington there in 2023.

Which arena, opened in 1949, housed NC State men's basketball for 50 years and still hosts the women?

Reynolds Coliseum sat unfinished for years because of World War II, and coach Everett Case had its plans enlarged to 12,400 seats so it would outdo Duke's arena.

NC State's strutting wolf logo, known to fans as Tuffy, wears which item on its head?

A sailor cap sits on the strutting wolf, which shares the name Tuffy with the school's live dog mascot. The costumed mascots, Mr. and Ms. Wuf, are separate characters.

Before a 1948 campus vote made every NC State team the Wolfpack, most went by which nickname?

Red Terrors came from the bright red road uniforms the basketball team adopted in 1923 and from the play of Rochelle "Red" Johnson. Football had been the Wolfpack since 1921.

NC State's football rivalry with Clemson takes which name from an industry both schools teach?

The Textile Bowl has carried the name since 1981, because the two universities run two of the largest textile schools in the world.

Which Thanksgiving-week football opponent do most NC State fans consider their biggest rival?

North Carolina leads the football series, but coach Everett Case's basketball teams once beat the Tar Heels 15 times in a row, starting in 1947.

Which NC State swimmer won 2008 Olympic gold on a world-record 4×100-meter freestyle relay?

Cullen Jones swam for the Wolfpack from 2003 to 2006 and became the first African-American swimmer to hold a world record.

Tuffy, the live mascot at NC State home football games since 2010, belongs to which wolf-like dog breed?

Tamaskan dogs look enough like wolves to suit a school that had gone years without a live mascot. Tuffy made his debut on the sideline against Cincinnati in September 2010.

Which NC State infielder stole a school-record 57 bases in 2012 and won the 2019 World Series?

Trea Turner's 57 steals as a freshman were more than 158 Division I teams managed that year. In 2023 he set an MLB record by stealing 30 bases in a season without being caught.

Which NC State pitcher was drafted third overall in 2014 and threw a no-hitter for the White Sox in 2021?

Carlos Rodón set NC State's single-season record with 184 strikeouts in 2013, the year he pitched the Wolfpack to its first College World Series since 1968.

Why was NC State's 2021 College World Series game with Vanderbilt ruled a no contest?

COVID-19 protocols were invoked after many Wolfpack players contracted the virus in Omaha, so Vanderbilt advanced without having to play the deciding game.

Which MLB team drafted NC State quarterback Russell Wilson as a second baseman in the fourth round in 2010?

The Colorado Rockies sent Wilson to the low minors for two summers before he told the club in January 2012 that he was choosing the NFL instead.

Which future Seattle Seahawks head coach was NC State's defensive coordinator from 1980 to 1982?

Pete Carroll came to Raleigh with his mentor Monte Kiffin, who had just been named head coach. Three decades later in Seattle he coached former Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson.

Which coach went 33–12–3 at NC State before leaving for the NFL's New York Jets in 1976?

Lou Holtz took the Wolfpack to four bowl games in four seasons, then quit the Jets after ten months with his team 3–10 and one game still to play.

Which NC State quarterback, the top pick of the 1962 AFL draft, was named the NFL's MVP in 1969?

Roman Gabriel signed with the Los Angeles Rams rather than the AFL's Oakland Raiders and became the NFL's first Filipino-American quarterback. His was the first jersey NC State football retired.

Which sneaker namesake recommended fellow Indiana native Everett Case to NC State in 1946?

Chuck Taylor was in Raleigh coaching a service team in an exhibition against NC State when the school sought his advice. Case then took the job without ever visiting the campus.

Which tactic let NC State beat Duke 12–10 in 1968, the lowest-scoring game in ACC Tournament history?

Holding the ball near midcourt kept it away from a much taller Duke team, which led 4–2 at halftime. NC State kept possession for more than 13 straight minutes in the second half.

NC State's women won three straight NCAA team championships from 2021 to 2023 in which sport?

Cross country has brought NC State's women more ACC titles than every other school combined, and Katelyn Tuohy added the individual national title in 2022.

Which NC State center scored 38 points in the 1974 ACC Tournament final, an overtime win over Maryland?

Tom Burleson's big night came in a 103–100 game often called one of the greatest in college basketball. He was the third pick of that year's NBA draft, at 7 feet 2 inches.

Which ESPN 30 for 30 documentary retells NC State's 1983 run to the men's basketball national title?

Survive and Advance counted Dereck Whittenburg, the guard whose missed shot set up the title-winning basket, among its executive producers.

Which guard on NC State's 1983 title team became an NBC play-by-play voice for golf and figure skating?

Terry Gannon was twice an Academic All-American and first planned to coach, spending a year as a graduate assistant at NC State after earning a history degree in 1985.

Which powerhouse beat flu-depleted NC State 128–0 in 1918, the worst loss in school football history?

Georgia Tech arrived on a 32-game unbeaten streak and had topped 100 points twice in its previous three games. NC State had resumed practice only a week earlier after a five-week shutdown.

NC State center Jim Ritcher, later a starter in four Super Bowls, won which national honor in 1979?

The Outland Trophy honors college football's best interior lineman, and Ritcher won it at a position he had not expected to play. He arrived at NC State as a defensive end.

Which NC State midfielder played for the United States at the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups?

Tab Ramos played four college seasons for the Wolfpack and suffered a fractured skull from an elbow in the 1994 game against Brazil. He entered the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005.

Which holiday tournament at NC State pitted the state's Big Four against four outside teams until 1960?

The Dixie Classic was coach Everett Case's idea and grew into the largest regular-season tournament in college basketball. A point-shaving scandal brought it to an end in 1961.

Which NC State All-American distance runner won the first Olympic women's marathon in 1984?

Joan Benoit came to NC State on a running scholarship in 1977 after two years at Bowdoin. In Los Angeles she finished several hundred meters ahead of Norway's Grete Waitz.

Which NC State running back left in 1978 with an ACC career rushing record of 4,602 yards?

Ted Brown also ran for 251 yards in a single game against Penn State in 1977. The Minnesota Vikings took him in the first round in 1979 and kept him for eight seasons.

Which NC State linebacker won both the Butkus Award and the Bednarik Award in 2023?

Payton Wilson was a unanimous All-American that season, and the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in the third round the following spring.