#1 Valvano and ‘Cardiac Pack’ win NCAA Championship, April 4, 1983
Capping a nine-game postseason run that still ranks as one of the most remarkable in NCAA Championship history, coach Jim Valvano’s Cardiac Pack beat top-ranked Houston 54-52 in the title game. While some argue the ‘74 team was better, this is the game people think of when they think of NC State. The scene of coach Valvano running to find someone to hug after the win is a classic. Technician produced three NCAA special sections: an NCAA preview after winning the ACC championship, a Final Four preview and a commemorative section after the team’s return from Albuquerque.
#2 Men’s basketball wins first-ever NC State national championship, March 25, 1974
After winning the ACC Tournament in what is still considered by many to be the greatest ACC Championship game in league history, the men’s basketball team beat seven-time defending national champion UCLA in the semifinals and Marquette in the finals to win the first Wolfpack national championship in any sport.
Technician sent one reporter and one photographer to Greensboro to cover the game and also covered the celebration that ensued in Raleigh after the win.
#3 Gator Bowl blowout, Jan. 1, 2003
Junior quarterback Philip Rivers and senior linebacker Dantonio Burnette led NC State’s football team to a 28-6 victory over Notre Dame at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. Thousands of students traveled down Interstate 95 to fill Alltel Stadium with a mostly Wolfpack crowd. Burnette made the play of the game when he forced a fumble and knocked Fighting Irish quarterback Carlyle Holiday out of the game early in the first quarter. Rivers was named the game’s most outstanding offensive player.
#4 Women’s Cross Country back-to-back titles, 1979-80
The women’s cross country team won back-to-back Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championships, the only national titles ever won by women’s teams at NC State. Betty Springs later became the first woman to win an individual national title when the NCAA took over as the sponsoring organization for women’s athletics in 1981.
#5 Pack football upsets No. 2 Florida State, Sept. 12, 1998
In perhaps the biggest upset in NC State football history, senior wide receiver Torry Holt led the Wolfpack to an overwhelming 24-7 victory over No. 2 Florida State at Carter-Finley Stadium. Holt, the 1998 ACC Player of the Year and 2019 inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame, scored on a touchdown pass and a punt return. Fans tore down the goal posts after the game. Technician devoted its entire front page to the victory and included two full photo pages from its photographers.
#6 Women’s basketball goes to Final Four, March 1998
Led by All-American senior center Chasity Melvin, who finished her career with 2,042 points and 1,020 rebounds, the NC State women’s basketball team made its first, and so far only, appearance in the NCAA Final Four, which became a celebration of head coach Kay Yow’s many accomplishments. Yow was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 27, 2002.
#7 NC State’s first individual NCAA title, March 25, 1955
Bob Mattson became the first NC State athlete to ever win an individual NCAA title when he notched a time of 2:26.0 in the 200-meter breaststroke for legendary Wolfpack swimming coach Willis Casey. His win helped the Wolfpack to a fourth-place finish in the NCAAs, which is still tied for the school’s best finish at the national meet. A four-time All-American performer with the Wolfpack, Mattson later became a noted swimming instructor in Wilmington, Delaware, and is a member of the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame. The Wolfpack has finished fourth in four consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.
#8 Last-second 56-yard field goal to beat UNC, Sept. 29, 1990
As Technician Staff Writer Mark Cartner said, this “was not a great college football game.” All 21 total points came from field goals, but it did fall in NC State’s favor. Damon Hartman hit a 56-yard, walk-off field goal in Chapel Hill. Hartman’s kick still holds as the longest field goal ever made by an NC State kicker after breaking his own record by 2 yards.
#9 First men’s basketball Southern Conference Tournament win in Atlanta, March 1-4, 1929
The basketball team won its first conference championship tournament in Atlanta. Led by Frank Goodwin and Larry Haar, the Red Terrors, as NC State was then known, won consecutive games over Tennessee, Clemson, Mississippi and Duke to win the tournament. Technician was not there for the title but had reporters at the Raleigh train station to meet the team, along with North Carolina Gov. O. Max Gardner, an NC State graduate and former varsity football team captain. He told the crowd: “If I could roll back the pages of time for 20 years to the days when I was a student at State, I’d rather be captain of this championship team than to be governor of North Carolina.”
#10 Comeback from down 41-14 to beat Maryland Terrapins, Nov. 26, 2011
Four minutes into the second half, the NC State football team was down 41-14. Then, behind Mike Glennon’s six total touchdowns, NC State scored 42 unanswered second-half points to win 56-41, the largest comeback in the history of NC State football. Technician’s Rishav Dey wrote: “In what marked the greatest comeback in the history of N.C. State football, the Wolfpack (7-5, 4-4 ACC) beat Maryland 56-41 at Carter-Finley Stadium. The victory also marked the Pack’s bowl eligibility after what has been an inspirational second half of the season, which saw the team win four of the last six games, all against conference opponents.”
#11 Men’s basketball ACC Championship over second-ranked UNC, March 8, 1987
The men’s basketball ACC Tournament run of 1987 was a magical one, including defeating No. 14 Duke in overtime and Wake Forest in double-overtime before clinching the title over No. 2 North Carolina, which had gone undefeated in ACC play that year. Although the team had an NCAA Tournament early exit, this proves to be the last ACC Tournament Championship NC State men’s basketball has won as of 2019.
#12 Wilson’s improbable touchdown boosts Pack in ‘instant classic,’ Nov. 20, 2010
In one of the more improbable endings in NC State history, NC State beat UNC 29-25 to close out what Technician Sports Editor Tyler Everett called an “instant classic.” UNC built a 19-10 lead but Russell Wilson came storming back, scoring on fourth down to make it a two-point game via a jump ball in the end zone that was tipped into the diving hands of Owen Spencer. Then, a punt return by T.J. Graham gave NC State a lead it would keep despite a late score by the Heels. With a two-point lead, NC State was forced to punt and punter Jeff Ruiz picked a good time for a 57-yarder to pin UNC inside the 5-yard line. The Pack’s seventh sack of the game was a safety and made it 29-25.
NC State players Shawn Price, Austin Herbert and Brian Clark celebrate the Gator Bowl victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 1, 2003.
