The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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48 ■ THE WOLFPACKER PACK PAST BY TIM PEELER W allace Carl Riddick Jr., the fourth leader of the school eventually known as NC State University, was never re- ally comfortable in his seats of power at the college where he served for half a century. He p re fe r re d ge t t i n g h i s hands and pants dirty, either on North Carolina's earliest football fields or at the Wake County farm his family owned for decades. He may have been granted the title "Father of Professional Engineering" for helping to es- tablish NC State's School of En- gineering in the 1920s, but he likely enjoyed more the title he earned as the "Father of Athlet- ics at State College." As NC State prepares to in- stall former Wolfpack wrestler Kevin Howell as its 15th execu- tive officer in October, here's a look back at the school presi- dent whose name was embla- zoned, however minutely, on the college's first athletics fa- cility. Howell spent two seasons competing on the mats for head coach Bob Guzzo's squad before moving on to his political science fu- ture. Riddick competed and coached as long as he could before being called to higher office, spending two years play- ing at Wake Forest and two seasons at the University of North Carolina while he completed his bachelor's degree. He played again at Lehigh University, where he completed his degree in civil engi- neering. Riddick coached Wake Forest while still a student there and helped intro- duce football to NC State after he was hired as a professor in 1892. Officially, he coached two seasons at State (1898- 99), when he was responsible for creat- ing the first real success against his alma mater, a 0-0 tie versus UNC in 1899. He became one of Raleigh's first pro- fessional engineers and helped rebuild Raleigh's water system. In 1906, he was instrumental in having water and sew- erage lines extended to State College. Even as he served in the dual capac- ity of professor of engineering and vice president of the college, he never lost his passion for athletics, which grew when the school built its first on-cam- pus facility in 1906 on the site of Craw- ford's Farm. It was located at the bottom of a hill behind Holladay Hall, between the railroad tracks, Watauga Hall and the Yarbrough steam plant and State College smokestack. Riddick was so beloved by students, they voted in 1912 to rename the New Athletic Field as Riddick Field. It was home to football, baseball and track be- fore it was eventually decommissioned in 1966 when NC State opened Carter Stadium. Turbulent Times Shortly after he was elected unanimously as the school's fourth president, Riddick and his athletics council sought the resignation of football coach Britt Patterson, a star player whose Northern demeanor was believed to be unsuitable for Southern sensibilities. The school hired former player Harry Hartsell in late 1916 as football, baseball and track coach, and also to be the school's first true athletics director. On the day Riddick was in- augurated in 1917, Gov. T.W. Bickett gave a nod to Riddick's devotion to athletics success. "The first time I ever saw the president-elect, he was at work on the gridiron, bending low and infusing his own irresistible and unconquerable energy into the football team then under his supervision," Bickett said. "Ever since then, his work has been close to the ground. "He is representative of the best traditions of our people, and in his own quiet but masterful effi- ciency he is an illustration of our state's motto, 'To Be Rather Than to Seem.'" His goal was to build on the school's land-grant mission and to spread its influence around the state, follow- ing a school charter that he called the "Magna Carta of the State's Agricultural and Industrial Freedom." "It has gone into other institutions of higher education in the State," Rid- dick said in his inaugural speech. "It has modified their ideals, broadened their curricula, brought their facul- ties in closer touch with outside affairs and bridged the moat which had sur- rounded our educational castles, thus making it easier for the college gradu- ate to get out and find his place in life, and at the same time, opening the way A Gifted Engineer, Wallace Carl Riddick Laid The Foundation For NC State Athletics Riddick served as NC State's president from 1917-23. It was a period of rapid expansion, during which the size of the school's faculty and student body nearly doubled. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS