The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1493632
MARCH/APRIL 2023 ■ 29 Cozell McQueen was NC State's starting center in 1983 and had 12 rebounds in the championship game against the Cougars. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP Now a broadcaster with the NBA's Utah Jazz, Thurl Bailey was NC State's leading scorer with 15 points in its upset win over Houston. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP BY MATT CARTER W hen former NC State basket- ball head coach Sidney Lowe saw his team fall to Maryland in the first round of the 2011 ACC Tournament, he hung his trademark red blazer up in the closet for over a decade. Twelve years later, the blazer still fits. Lowe made his return to NC State for the first time since his coaching tenure ended, joining the rest of the surviving members of the 1983 national title team in an emotional halftime cer- emony during the Pack's 90-74 win over Wake Forest at PNC Arena in Raleigh Feb. 22. Lowe is currently an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cava- liers. Other than his five-year stint lead- ing the Pack, he has been an NBA coach since 1991. That day job has made returning to NC State challenging. The same can be said for Thurl Bailey, now a color com- mentator for the Utah Jazz, and for Terry Gannon, an accomplished broadcaster. But when the 40th anniversary of the Cardiac Pack's legendary and immortal run to a national title approached, NC State director of athletics Boo Corrigan led a push to have them all there. "I give Boo a great deal of credit," Lowe said. "He talked to Thurl, he talked to Terry, and he talked to me, three of us who have different schedules. Instead of saying this is the date, he said, 'Tell me what's good for you guys, and we'll make it happen.' "When someone does that, they are telling you, 'We want you to come back.' … That's what he did. We got all of our guys here." That 1983 team developed a bond that has only grown tighter over time. Lowe noted they talk via group text frequently, and there is the occasional Zoom meet- ing to see each other's faces. "We accomplished something to- gether as a team, and it's going to carry on forever," Lowe noted. "People are still talking about it 40 years later. "I go to games in the NBA, and some- one wants my autograph. I think they want it because I'm in the NBA. They'll say, 'That was a great game in '83.' "It impacted so many people, not just people in North Carolina but people ev- erywhere." ■