The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1419104
TRACKING THE PACK 16 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Longtime Raleigh sports anchor Jeff Gravley came home to become NC State's director of content strategy on Jan. 6, 2020 — he was quick to remember the date in a recent interview. The newly created position, Gravley joked, is "a great title, and one I'm still trying to figure out what it means. "To simplify it, I am basically trying to tell the story of this athletics department and this university to its fan base and anybody that is interested in consuming it," he continued. The seven-time regional Emmy Award- winner and two-time North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year is doing every- thing from shooting videos to appearing on the coaches' shows, co-hosting the "In- side NC State Athletics" podcast, writing stories, hosting events and more — and he's loving every second of it. He's also thankful for a few more sec- onds, which are now available to him, when telling his stories. He thinks back to the passing of Wolfpack Club employee and former baseball star Chris Combs and how he was given enough time and freedom to dive into the depth of Combs' legacy. "I was able to tell the story of the sig- nificance of No. 26," he said. "I wanted you to know him, why that number is significant, why that number is on the outfield wall at Doak Field. … I hope that story was able to define who Chris Combs was, and why he meant so much to this university and athletics department, to the Wolfpack Club, and to me personally. "It was a hard story to tell, but it was one that I was glad to be able to tell — and not have to worry about doing in a minute and a half. I think the story ran 9.5 minutes, and that's the other part of this job that I love — I have the ability to tell long-form feature stories, and I don't have to cut it to a minute and a half." Here are some more of Gravley's thoughts from a recent interview: What has it been like to go from an unbiased media member to working for your alma mater? "It's been a welcomed full-circle ca- reer move. I've certainly turned my focus entirely to one school, and it happens to be my alma mater. I have so many stories that I've experienced and lived through myself — as a kid growing up, as a stu- dent here and as an adult. "It's just neat to be back in an area I'm so familiar with. And some of the same people are still here as were when I was a student here. It's been incredible." Not long after you were hired, college athletics changed in a big way due to the pandemic. Has that affected your job? "That was the interesting part. I started in college athletics in January 2020, and gosh, a couple of months later it was shut down. "What we figured out was through the glory and beauty of Zoom, we were still able to reach out to former athletes, cur- rent athletes, current coaches, and do fea- tures and interviews with them. I was able to host donor events with the Wolfpack Club where they would invite a lot of do- nors into the Zoom and we'd have coaches on, like we were doing the Wolfpack Club Caravan, except it was done on a Zoom. "We figured out how, even though no one was playing and everyone was having to work from home, we could still connect the fan base with coaches and players. It turned out to be pretty cool." You're a former walk-on pitcher for the baseball team. What was it like get- ting to not only cover the baseball team's postseason run but to be there with them at the College World Series in Omaha? "I was a walk-on pitcher at NC State from 1982-84, and I tell people today that I never gave up a run, I never gave up a hit … because I never played. "I was the glorified batting practice pitcher … so that's all I did — but I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world because I got to play for Coach Sam Esposito, Ray Tanner was the as- sistant, John Mirabelli was the pitching coach, and I got to play with such great guys — or at least got to be on the team with, in the dugout and in practices with Dan Plesac, Doug Strange, Jim Toman and so many others. I wouldn't trade any of that for anything in the world. "As far as my trip to Omaha, that was the first road trip I ever made with the NC State baseball team in my career [laughs]. So to be with the team, within the circle of what they were going through … to see the guys and the general excitement that was build- ing was incredible to be a part of. "Unfortunately — or fortunately, I don't know which word I should use — I was not there for the COVID chaos. My mom had an accident, and I had to come back home on the Thursday before NC State played on Friday, so I missed all that. "But from afar, I felt the pain that I know the players and coaching staff were going through. Watching from a hospital room with my mom that Friday with NC State's Pack13 playing a whale of a game against Vanderbilt and scaring the daylights out of them, I was waiting for them to have the opportunity to play again Saturday. But they didn't get that opportunity. "Still, I think one of the most incredible stories that you'll find in the many annals of NC State athletics is what that team ac- complished, from where it started to the 21-2 loss in Arkansas [for the first game of the Super Regional], and then to go to the College World Series and you're unde- feated, and then you lose your first game and the next day you have to go home — I don't know that there's been another story with as many twists and turns as that. "And we still don't know the whole story of it all, and that's the part I think a lot of people have a hard time dealing with — we may never know." — Ryan Tice SITTING DOWN WITH: NC State Director Of Content Strategy Jeff Gravley Gravley spent 35 years as a sports broad- caster, 31 of them at WRAL in Raleigh. He won seven regional Emmy Awards and was twice named the North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS