The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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cousin Biff Nicholls, who is remem- bered by his teammates as the bravest student to ever matriculate into NC State, because he did something much more trepidatious than soar 44-inches off the floor as Thompson often did: He asked out and eventually married Norm Sloan's oldest daughter, Leslie. No one on the team could have imag- ined having Stormin' Norman as a fa- ther-in-law. Thompson, Towe, Stoddard, Moeller and Kuszmaul played three more years and were part of the undefeated 1973 team, the 1974 NCAA championship squad and the 1975 team that suffered their only varsity loss to the Tar Heels. Campbell played one year of varsity before deciding that he couldn't juggle basketball with his pursuit of a degree from the School of Design, which had never had a scholarship athlete earn a degree because of its rigorous studio re- quirements. Sloan honored his scholar- ship for five years, and Campbell even- tually earned a master's degree in civil engineering. Dempsey walked away to be more prepared for the baseball season as a junior, knowing that he would not get much playing time after a year with the varsity. "The only reason I regret it is because I hurt my arm in an early spring game against Carolina and wasn't able to pitch as much," he remembered. "But I always felt like a part of the team and stayed close with the rest of them. Tim, Monte and I were all baseball team- mates." For Towe, the tiny engine that ran the squad, it was a year to show what he could do and pave the way for a remark- able career. "I can't remember a better year in my life than that transition from high school to college and meeting the peo- ple who were going to mean so much to me in my life," Towe said. "Word about David and our team was spreading by word of mouth. People just showed up out of curiosity to see what we were do- ing. "We didn't know where we were go- ing, we just knew we were going to try hard to get there." ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Game-By-Game Results NC State 121, Sandhills Community College 73 Art Musselman's young team over- came opening-game jitters and rolled in their first game together. David Thompson led the way by scoring 35 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. An- other freshman, identified in a news- paper account the following day as "Tommy" Stoddard had 17 points and 16 rebounds. The surprise of the night, however, was unknown point guard Monte Towe, who scored 27 points. Mark Moeller had 12 and Craig Kuszmaul totaled 11. NC State 116, Lenoir Community College 61 News reports said "Dave" Thomp- son scored the game's first six points at Reynolds Coliseum and the Wolf- lets jumped out to a 56-20 halftime lead over the overmatched team from Lenoir Community College. Thompson ended up with the same amount of points as his jersey number, 44. NC State 157, Isothermal Community College 72 Thompson rained down 54 points in a blowout of epic proportions. The Wolflets jumped out to a 10-point lead to start the game and never trailed for its third consecutive win. Tim Stoddard added 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Wolflets, while Kuszmaul had a season-high 31 points. NC State 109, Virginia 99 For the first time all season, Thompson did not lead the Wolflets in scoring, with forward Leo Campbell outscoring his teammate 30-29. The game was fairly close in the first half, with State building a 59-50 lead at intermission. However, the Pack outscored the Cavs 14-6 in the opening minutes of the second half and cruised to its fourth consecutive victory. NC State 100, Louisburg Junior College 74 The Wolflets didn't reach triple digits until the waning moments of their fifth game. Thompson scored 31 points and Stoddard added 21. NC State 125, Fort Jackson 75 Thompson scored 39 points to pace NC State to its sixth consecutive win. He also had 17 rebounds and eight assists, narrowly missing his first collegiate triple-double. NC State 122, Old Dominion 82 For the seventh straight game, the Wolfpack offense hit triple digits, and Thompson was the game's leading scorer in a contest at Reynolds against previously unbeaten Old Dominion. Six different Wolflets scored in double figures, led by Thompson with 32 points. NC State 107, Frederick Military 71 In an ever-repeating story, Thompson scored 42 points and had 17 re- bounds in a thrashing of Frederick Military Academy. Stoddard pulled down a season-high 24 rebounds. NC State 99, Duke 75 For the first time in nine games, Thompson and the Wolflets failed to score in triple digits, missing by a single point in another home contest at Reynolds Coliseum. 48 ■ THE WOLFPACKER David Thompson wasted no time showing that he was bound for stardom at the college level, averaging 35.6 points and more than 13 rebounds per game for NC State's dominant freshman squad. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS