The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/368728
86 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ■ PACK PAST recruiting coordinator for football," Pee- bles said. "He told me that if I came to NC State, I could run track from day one and that I would be a receiver. "It came down to the 11th and a half hour and I chose NC State over Tennessee. It was basically a business decision for me, and it worked out pretty well." Peebles' accomplishments on the track are legendary. As a freshman, he ran the third leg on the NC State 4x100 relay team that won the NCAA championship, joining Harvey McSwain, Gus Young and Alston Glenn on the podium. It's the school's only national title in a relay event in any sport. That was the highlight of what Peebles considers a mediocre debut. He didn't even make the finals of the ACC championship in the 200 meters, his sprint specialty. By his sophomore year, though, he had im- proved enough to finish fifth in the nation in the event. As a junior, he was second in the country and as a senior he was fourth. He still owns the second-fastest time in the 55 meters, the third-fastest in the 200 meters and the fifth-fastest in the 100 me- ters in school history. In 1988, he scored most of the points in the Wolfpack's only two top-10 NCAA finishes in track and field — a sixth-place showing indoors in Oklahoma City and a ninth-place effort outdoors in Eugene, Ore., finishing second in the indoor 200 meters and fourth in the outdoor 200. In all, Peebles earned nine All-Amer- ica honors and nine ACC titles in indoor and outdoor track. He was twice named the Most Outstanding Performer at the ACC Track and Field Championships. In 1989, he won the H.C. Kennett Award as NC State's top male athlete. "Having a football mentality was my secret sauce on the track," Peebles said. "That's not always there with a pure track guy. I was typically in the top 30 times in the nation going into the NCAA meet, but when the lights went on, you had to beat me. "I don't care what your times were, you had to beat me, and I didn't like to lose." On the football field, Peebles used his elite speed to become a big-play receiver. As a sophomore in 1986, he caught only eight passes all season long, but four of them went for touchdowns, including the play that defined his career for many Wolf- pack fans. It's simply called "The Catch" and up- wards of 400,000 people have told Peebles they were in Carter-Finley Stadium that day when he caught a 35-yard Hail Mary pass from severely hobbled Erik Kramer to beat South Carolina with no time left on the clock. The play — literally drawn up on the sidelines by Sheridan after a Gamecock player jumped offside while taunting Kramer as time expired — is considered to be the top moment in the half-century history of Carter-Finley Stadium. "I guess if I am going to be known for something, I would rather be known as the guy who made the most famous catch in history than as the guy who dropped what would have been the greatest pass in his- tory," Peebles said. "It was the highlight of my athletics career." At least until he received the call about the Athletics Hall of Fame. "This is the highest honor I could ever imagine," Peebles said. "From the time I could ever remember loving a sports team, I have loved NC State. "This isn't even the icing on the cake. This is the cake. It's the whole party." ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. He can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Pack Future: Jada Peebles Commits To NC State Not long after her father, Danny Peebles, learned that he had been elected into the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame, 13-year-old Jada Peebles, a rising eighth grader at Wakefield Middle School, decided that she would follow in her parents' footsteps and attend her hometown university. Obviously a Wolfpack fan all of her life, the younger Peebles has been going to Wolfpack women's basketball camp since she was 5 years old. Still, head coach Wes Moore, going into his second season, knew little about the budding star — and nothing about her Hall of Fame father — until she was invited to attend his elite camp this summer. "At camp, she must have done well," Danny Peebles said. "She was invited to the elite camp one week, and a week or two later she was signed up to go to regular camp, which is open to everyone. They told her she didn't belong there and asked if we wanted our money back. "What they didn't know was that she did the elite camp to get better and going to the regular camp was her reward. She just loves going to NC State basketball camp." After Moore's staff saw her play with the Carolina Flames in an AAU tournament in Greensboro, it was apparent that despite her tender age she was a legitimate prospect. Through her AAU coach, Arne Morris, the Wolfpack staff made a nonbinding offer. Peebles, who will graduate high school in 2019, can't sign a binding letter of intent until October of her senior year. There's more to her love of NC State than her lifelong connection through her parents. She aspires to be a veterinarian, and NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine is ranked No. 3 in the nation by various ranking organizations. "If it had been any other school, she probably wouldn't have made such an early commitment," Danny Peebles said of the youngest of his four children with his wife of almost 30 years. "We might have let it drag out a little lon - ger. But we made an unofficial visit and her mind was made. 'I want to go to State,' she said on our way back home. We told her to think about it a little more and to consider what she might do if Notre Dame or Connecticut or somewhere else came calling. She shrugged her shoulders, which we knew meant that she had made up her mind. "It was truly her decision, and we are surely proud parents." — Tim Peeler Peebles earned nine All-America honors and nine ACC titles in indoor and outdoor track, and he was twice named the Most Outstanding Performer at the ACC Track and Field Championships. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS