The Wolfpacker

MAY 2014 ■ 31 proudly said. "I go to the games whether we are losing or winning. I want to be there to support our team and my school, which means everything to me. NC State is our family." Murphy was awarded the university's highest honor, the Watauga Medal, in 1999, and he has been a member of the board of trustees, the alumni association board, the College of Veterinary Medicine Foundation board, the Centennial Authority and the Wolfpack Club board. He and his family have given to athletics, academics and vari- ous other projects on NC State's campus. "Wendell Murphy and his family have meant more to NC State and the Wolfpack Club than any volume of words can ad- equately express," said Wolf- pack Club executive director Bobby Purcell. "Through- out the years, he has been a proven leader for NC State. His support has allowed us to build one of the finest univer- sities, athletics departments and financial-aid organiza- tions in the nation." McDowall was a ground- breaking athlete from 1924- 28, as a member of the foot- ball, basketball and baseball teams and the track and field squad. He was twice voted by his fellow students as the winner of the Norris Athletic Trophy, as the best athlete on campus, and was captain of NC State's 1927 football team, which won the school's only South- ern Conference football championship. On the cinders, he set a state record with a high jump of 6-1 1/4. In a vote of students and alumni, he was voted the school's top athlete of the first 50 years of athletics and was inducted into both the North Carolina Sports and the College Football Halls of Fame. Dickey and Byrd were also Wolfpack pi- oneers. Dickey was the school's first four- time all-conference selection in basketball and a three-time All-American who took Case and his squad to its first NCAA semi- finals, well before it was renamed the Final Four. A U.S. Navy veteran who played against teams Case coached in the military championships, the Alexandria, Ind., native followed the legendary coach to NC State and introduced the running one-handed jump shot to Southern basketball. He was chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the first Dixie Classic in 1949 and helped the Wolfpack win four consecutive Southern Conference titles. Byrd, from Lincolnton, N.C., was a mon- ster defensive lineman for head coach Earle Edwards from 1964-67. He was a massive 6-5, 285-pound defensive end whose mo- bility was important for the famed "White Shoes" defense and a pair of ACC champi- onship teams. He became the league's first three-time All-ACC selection in football, the Wolfpack's first consensus All-American and a first-round pick of the Boston Patri- ots in the 1968 AFL Draft. However, an injury he sustained as a senior at NC State prevented a productive professional football career. He was elected into the College Foot- ball Hall of Fame in 2010, but died shortly before his enshrinement ceremony. Esposito guided the NC State baseball team to its first College World Series in just his second year as a head coach. He also served as an assistant basketball coach under now-fellow hall of famer Norman Sloan, assisting in three ACC titles and the 1974 NCAA championship. On the diamond, he guided the Pack for 22 years and won the first three ACC Tournament championships (1973-75). When he retired in 1987, he was the baseball program's winningest coach with a 513-253-4 record. The former major league utility infielder with the Chicago White Sox produced three ACC Players of the Year, seven All- Americans, 69 first- and second-team All- ACC selections and 28 Major League draft picks. Both Melvin and Hooper led Wolfpack women's teams to unprecedented heights. Melvin was the leading scorer on the 1998 team that gave legendary head coach Kay Yow her only trip to the Final Four. She was a finalist for national player of the year and a Kodak All-American. She played 12 years in the WNBA after being taken in the first round of the 1998 draft. Hooper was a two-time All-American and three-time All-ACC performer. She was the top player for the Wolfpack in 1988, when NC State won the school's only ACC championship in women's soccer and advanced to the NCAA title match. A na- tive of Georgetown, Guyana, who grew up in Nepean, Ontario, Canada, Hooper was a member of the Canadian National Team from 1994-2007 and was twice named the Canadian Player of the Year. Already a member of the United Soccer League and the Canadian Soccer Halls of Fame, Hooper is the first women's soccer player elected to the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame. The lightning-fast Peebles used his speed on the track and on the gridiron. As a freshman in 1985, he teamed with Harvey McSwain, Gus Young and Alston Glenn to win the NCAA championship in the 4x100-meter relay, NC State's only relay national title and its first track cham- pionship. He was a nine-time All-American and nine-time ACC champion in track who twice was named the most outstanding performer in track. On the football field, he was a member of two bowl championship teams and was a second-round selection in the 1989 NFL Draft. He is perhaps best remembered by fans at Carter-Finley Stadium for being on the receiving end of Erik Kramer's Hail Mary pass with no time left on the clock to beat South Carolina in 1986. Rerych was one of the most decorated members of NC State's rich swimming program while swimming for legendary coach Willis Casey. He was part of the U.S. Olympic relay team that once owned the world record in the 4x100 relay and won two gold medals in the 1968 Olympics. The Philadelphia native was a three-time All-American, an Amateur Athletics Union national champion and a nine-time ACC champion. After graduation, he completed his medical degree at Columbia University in 1974 and has been a thoracic surgeon at both Duke University and the Asheville Veteran's Administration Hospital. He joins inaugural inductee Genia Bea- sley as the second medical doctor inducted among the 30 members of the hall of fame. Tickets for the induction gala, scheduled for Oct. 10 at Reynolds Coliseum, will go on sale in July via GoPack.com. ■ Tim Peeler is a frequent contributor to The Wolfpacker who can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Wendell Murphy, namesake of the Pack's football operation center at Carter- Finley Stadium, is the first non-athlete or coach to earn entry into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS 30-31.Wolfpack Hall Of Fame.indd 31 4/29/14 3:25 PM

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