The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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50 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. PACK PERSPECTIVE BY TIM PEELER F ew people can draw such an accom- plished crowd as former NC State basketball player and assistant coach Eddie Biedenbach. That was proven on Aug. 16 at the Lenovo Center, when his family and extended network of friends helped the "Pittsburgh Pickpocket" cel- ebrate his 80th birthday. It was not only a who's who of mul- tiple generations of Wolfpack basketball players who attended the event, a four- hour bash thrown by Biedenbach's wife, Barbara, his two daughters and their families. The crowd of more than 200 included Gary Stokan, the CEO of Peach Bowl Inc., the head of the College Football Hall of Fame and the leader of the Col- lege Football Playoff organization that sponsors the SEC Football Champion- ship. It included NHL and college base- ball head coaches, and two-thirds of Biedenbach's staff when he was the head coach at Davidson (1978-81). That hap- pened to be Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and Bob McKillop, both of whom, like Biedenbach, are members of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Biedenbach reveled in his unique place in the athletics history of his alma mater. During his five-year playing ca- reer from 1963-68, he became the only team member to play for all three head coaches of the 1960s (Everett Case, Press Maravich and Norm Sloan), not to mention freshman coach Lou Pucillo. There was a strong representation of NC State athletics, from director Boo Corrigan to multiple generations of Wolfpack Club leadership that included Charlie Bryant, Pat Gavaghan, Bobby Purcell and Buzzy Correll. A lot of the well-wishes were pre- sented in person, including members of the 1974 and 1983 NCAA championship teams, many of whom were recruited by Biedenbach on behalf of Sloan. It also included some more recent members like Jeremy Hyatt, Ishua Benjamin and Todd Fuller, who Biedenbach coached and recruited while an assistant for Les Robinson's staff in the 1990s. David Thompson, Biedenbach's fin- est find at any stop on his half-century coaching career, paid the coach back for the many steak dinners they shared at the Shelby Holiday Inn, the only steak house in Cleveland County at the time, by giving him a gift certificate to the An- gus Barn, though it likely won't satisfy the coach nearly as much as the invest- ment he made in Thompson early on in his career. Biedenbach spent most of his first year of marriage away from his bride, a former NC State cheerleader and fencer, living out of a hotel and his first car. He got a little complacent about whether Thompson would sign, right up until the spring of his senior year. When Bieden- bach showed up to Crest High School's athletics banquet, he was taken aback to discover that the featured speaker was North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who also wanted to sign the talented forward. T h e n ex t m o r n i n g , B i e d e n ba c h looked for a letter of intent for Thomp- son to sign but couldn't find one in his glove compartment. He had Thomp- son fish one out of the pile from all over the country in the family living room, crossed out the name of the school that had sent it and filled in David's name. They signed it on the hood of Bieden- bach's 1970 white Chevy Impala con- vertible the next morning. I once wrote that Biedenbach was the Forrest Gump of NC State basketball be- cause he has been connected to every significant Wolfpack event of the past 60 years, going back to the 1965 ACC championship victory over Duke. He was an assistant for Sloan, along with, at various times, Bryant, Sam Esposito, Art Musselman and others, helping the Wolfpack win the 1970, '73 and '74 ACC titles and the 1974 NCAA championship. In 1983, he coached against the Pack's title-winning team as an assistant at Georgia when the Wolf- pack and Bulldogs met in the NCAA semifinals. He was a successful head coach at Da- vidson, UNC Asheville and, as an in- terim, UNC Wilmington. At Asheville, he won three Big South titles, five regu- lar-season crowns and was named coach of the year three times. I told once told him about the For- rest Gump reference, which some don't understand as the compliment it was intended to be. "I was supposed to be in that movie," Biedenbach said. As it turns out, when the crew was shooting down in South Carolina, Eddie was running a gym in Wilmington. He helped train some of the actors for their sports scenes, including teaching actor Tom Hanks to play table tennis. For his big acting break, Biedenbach was going to play the role of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. How- ever, just before shooting started, Rob- inson asked him to return to NC State as an assistant coach, and he had to de- cline. It's unfortunate that Biedenbach never showed up on the big screen, but that doesn't take away from the mean- ingful role he has played in representing NC State as a player, coach and devoted alumnus. ■ Eddie Biedenbach, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, was the only team member to play for all three NC State head basketball coaches of the 1960s. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS The 'Pittsburgh Pickpocket' Had A Hand In Everything