The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506671
TRACKING THE PACK 18 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER As hard as it might be to imagine, the late NC State coach Jim Valvano was an understated inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in- duction and enshrinement ceremonies on Aug. 12. He wasn't forgotten by any means during an evening on which he joined previous Wolfpack inductees Everett Case, Kay Yow and David Thompson in receiving basketball's highest honor. It's just that as the only posthumous inductee among the 12-member 2023 class that was filled with international NBA stars and a handful of his contem- poraries, Valvano wasn't the absolute center of attention, a place where his personality always shined the brightest. He was represented by his fam- ily, widow Pam Valvano Strasser and daughters Jamie Valvano and LeeAnn Valvano, who had accepted his burnt orange Hall of Fame blazer on Aug. 11 at the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in Uncasville, Conn., and were on stage at the enshrinement the following night at the Symphony Theatre in Springfield, Mass. (Oldest daughter Nicole could not attend.) Jim Valvano had plenty of support from former players Vinny Del Negro, a Springfield native who is a newly ap- pointed member of the Hall's board of directors, and Dereck Whittenburg, now an associate athletics director at NC State. Men's basketball head coach Kevin Keatts, retired Wolfpack Club executive director Bobby Purcell and current associate director Buzzy Cor- rell were on hand, as well as a handful of donors. Others with NC State ties attended the dedication of a Coach's Circle gran- ite bench in honor of Yow, a 2004 Hall of Fame inductee and longtime head coach of the Wolfpack Women. The group included former Wolf- pack All-American Susan Yow, Kay's youngest sister; former board of trust- ees member and lifetime Wolfpack Club donor Peaches Blank; and V Foundation for Cancer Research fundraiser and NC State graduate Becky Bumgardner. All were instrumental in raising the money necessary to place Yow's bench right beside the one dedicated to Valvano a year ago. It was a joyous weekend, and every- one from retired WNBA star and current head coach Becky Hammon to David Berson, the head of CBS Sports, men- tioned the inspiration of Valvano's 1983 team, his fight with cancer and ulti- mately the 30 years of work done by the V Foundation. Those in attendance expressed their respect for Valvano's inspiration, his passion, his charitable legacy and his unrelenting love of the game, which has grown so much in television coverage and exposure in the 30 years since his death. There's no doubt, however, that the star of the weekend was former Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade and the international presence that bas- ketball now has because of stars like Germany's Dirk Nowitzki, Spain's Pau Gasol and France's Tony Parker and the influence of the first U.S. women's Olympic team from 1976. The enshrinement was dedicated to deep thinkers like Gregg Popovich, for- mer Purdue coach Gene Keady and the smaller-division coaches who toiled much longer than Valvano for their coaching due in the Hall of Fame: Gary Blair, Gene Bess and David Hixon. Never in his coaching career was Val- vano ever overshadowed, even when he didn't have the best team in the ACC or the NCAA Tournament or, heck, even when he didn't have a team in the NCAA Tournament. He never took a back seat to anyone. Still, he was more of an aside than a featured star, a throwback to the real beginnings of March Madness, a funny- man with a poignant story and a lasting legacy. Because growing the game of basket- ball was always his passion and spread- ing the word globally about the chari- table work that can be done through the game with its most exciting and ac- complished players, Jim Valvano would have loved it. Valvano's daughters LeeAnn Valvano (left) and Jamie Valvano (second from left) and wife Pam Valvano Strasser join NC State men's basketball coach Kevin Keatts and former player Dereck Whittenburg (far right) at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. PHOTO BY TIM PEELER Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Jim Valvano's Hall Of Fame Moment Arrives