The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1487679
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 ■ 43 performer and was named all-state as a senior at Sanderson. All the in-state ACC schools plus East Carolina would come to his basketball games to show their inter- est. Clemson also stopped by. Tennessee sent letters. What set NC State apart was a memo- rable in-home visit from then-head coach Monte Kiffin. At the time, Al Groh was at Wake Forest, Shirley Wilson at Duke and Dick Crum at UNC. "My dad would always ask them when they came over to the house, 'Why should my son play for you?'" Teague remem- bered. "The other schools are saying stuff like great tradition, great education. He's go- ing to come out of there a great football player and a great person. "Then Monte Kiffin came over. My dad asked him that question, and he jumped off the couch and he said, 'Well, because I'm there!'" As fate had it, Kiffin would not be the only head coach Teague would play for at NC State. In his college career, Teague suited up for three head coaches and five defensive coordinators. The head coaches were Kiffin, Tom Reed and Dick Sheridan. "They all wanted to win," Teague noted. "Kiffin was very relational. Tom Reed was very methodical. … Then Coach Sheridan put it all together. He motivated you with love. He coached you like he wanted his son to be coached." Coincidentally, one of Teague's best games before Sheridan's arrival was against Furman, the team the future Wolf- pack head man coached. He had 19 tackles that day in 1984, and that was not even his busiest afternoon of the year. Teague posted 21 tackles against South Carolina. In 1986, he broke a school record held by Bill Cowher, who had 24 tackles against Clemson in 1977 and South Carolina a year later. Teague piled up 26 hits against Vir- ginia Tech to set an NC State record that still stands. He also had 24 tackles in a classic win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill that year, but as Teague noted, his coaches had him down for 29. He led the team with 128 tackles and 11 pass breakups in 1986. Yet, one of the games Teague remem- bers best was when he had (just) 11 tackles, 6 pass breakups and an interception (plus a fumble recovery that was called back) in a 27-3 upset of Clemson in 1986. Overall, Teague finished his career with 328 tackles, tied for 14th most in NC State history. He was never afraid to throw his body into a play, as was evident when he cracked his helmet in a collision with Maryland running back Rick Badanjek, who went on to play in the NFL. After college, Teague had a brief stint in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "I had every intention to play in the pros for 10 years, but I ended up playing for only three," he said. "The body said it was done before the heart was done." Serving The Community In addition to football, Teague was de- voted to his faith. He said his relation- ship with God helped him make a seam- less transition after his career in athletics ended. He used his civil engineering degree to get a job with the North Carolina Depart- ment of Transportation. After receiving his professional engineer's license, he founded P.E. Teague, PE, PLLC, which specializes in residential and commercial structural design. Teague also became an ordained min- ister and spent 14 years as a pastor at a church in Raleigh. He additionally began the Sports Missions Outreach, a nonprofit that seeks to inspire youth to "be impact players in their families, communities, businesses, classrooms and on the fields of play — local to global." Teague also teamed up with retired sportswriter A.J. Carr to publish "Win- ning Plays For Life," which can be found on Amazon.com. The book uses exam- ples from the sports world to help prepare readers for the big opportunities that ap- proach in life. "I'm using this discipline of football, hard work and all that," he said. "I still can proverbially move my feet, keep my head on a swivel and deliver blows. I just do it in a different arena." ■ PAT TEAGUE FOOTBALL (1983-86) Age: 59 Living: Raleigh Occupation: Director of Sports Mission Out- reach and CEO/owner of P.E. Teague, PE, PLLC, which specializes in residential and commercial structural design Did You Know? Teague is tied for 14th all-time in tackles at NC State despite dealing with health issues in 1985, his junior year. That included a negative reaction to a medication to deal with cramps that almost resulted in severe ramifica- tions. Teague, who along with Levar Fisher is one of just two NC State defensive players to have at least three games with 20 tackles, would have easily cracked the top 10 in career tackles otherwise. Teague launched the Sports Missions Outreach in the hope of inspiring young people to "be impact players in their families, communities, businesses, classrooms and on the fields of play – local to global." PHOTO COURTESY PAT TEAGUE