The Wolfpacker

Jan.-Feb. 2021

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 ■ 33 BY TIM PEELER s a joke one time, a smart- aleck reporter suggested that Eddie Biedenbach is the Forrest Gump of NC State athletics. It's true only because the former basketball and base- ball player, assistant coach and program devotee has been around for practically every significant event since State College became NC State University in 1965, from playing for Everett Case, Press Maravich and Norm Sloan, to recruiting All- Americans David Thompson, Kenny Carr and Hawkeye Whitney, to coaching against the Cardiac Pack at the 1983 NCAA Final Four as an assistant coach at Georgia. He's either played for, worked for or advised every Wolfpack basketball coach since the end of World War II and had the ear of every athlet- ics director. "You know I had to give up my role in the 'Forrest Gump' movie, don't you?" Bieden- bach told the reporter. "No way." Of course it was true. When Biedenbach was living near Wilmington in the early 1990s, he joined the Screen Actors Guild, hoping to land some bit roles in the Holly- wood movies and television shows that were A W H E R E AR E T H E Y N O W ? A BASKETBALL LIFE A BASKETBALL LIFE Former Two-Sport Athlete Eddie Biedenbach Has Seen It All During His Time As A Player And Coach Biedenbach played baseball and was a two-time first-team All-ACC pick in basketball for the Wolfpack, then became a college basketball coach, working as an assistant at NC State (1970-78; 1994-96), Georgia (1981-89) and UNC Wilmington (2013-14), and leading the programs at Davidson (1978-81) and UNC Asheville (1996-2013). PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS EDDIE BIEDENBACH EDDIE BIEDENBACH Baseball (player, 1966) and basketball (player, 1965-68; assistant coach, 1970-78, 1994-96) Age: 75 Living: Wrightsville Beach, N.C. Occupation: Retired Did You Know? In his first college baseball game, against Ivy League foe Dartmouth, Biedenbach tied the game with a two-run single and then scored the winning run in a 4-3 victory from third base on a wild pitch.

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