The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/470359
16 ■ THE WOLFPACKER T wo former NC State athletes, who were proudly born and com- peted in their home state, were elected as part of the 2015 class of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Football and baseball standout Freddie Combs of Hertford and All-American women's basketball player Andrea Stinson added to the long list of inductees with ties to the Wolfpack. They will be inducted during ceremonies in Raleigh on May 15. For Combs, who was born on the Outer Banks town of Mann's Harbor and moved to Hertford in the sixth grade, the honor was a little bit of a shock. "To say it is a dream come true is really not accurate," said Combs, who was a four-year starter in baseball and an All-Amer- ican defensive back and return specialist in football during the 1960s. "I never really dreamed that this could happen. I didn't know if I had the credentials to get in." Combs was a key member of NC State's famed "White Shoes" defense. In 1967, he returned two punts for touchdowns and set an ACC record with 434 punt return yards. His interception late in the game sealed a victory over No. 2 Houston, the highest-ranked team NC State has ever beaten. In baseball, Combs was a middle infielder and left fielder on the Wolfpack's 1968 team that won the ACC championship and the NCAA District III title, and then finished third in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Combs grew up playing baseball and football with his twin brother, Francis, and was a baseball teammate of Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter. "I was fortunate enough to play with some other great athletes," Combs said. "I think this honor belongs in part to all the other ath- letes who came before me. I am incredibly humbled by it." Stinson, the women's basketball program's only two-time Kodak All-America selection and a unanimous pick as the 1990 ACC Player of the Year, grew up near Charlotte, attending North Meck- lenburg High School. Perhaps the most talented player in Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow's 34-year career, Stinson helped the Wolfpack win the 1990 ACC regular-season title and the 1991 ACC Tournament champion- ship, and qualify for three consecutive NCAA Tournaments in her three-year career. Following her college career, she was an all-star in the Italian leagues and a first-round pick of the WNBA's Charlotte Sting in 1997. She's now the head girls' basketball coach at Newton- Conover High School. "I've always taken a lot of pride in my state," Stinson said. "I had other schools that wanted me to go there and play, but I wanted to stay nearby — to be able to play my professional career in the WNBA in Charlotte, to play high school in North Carolina and to play college basketball at NC State. "North Carolina has always been a part of me, and to be elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame tops it all off." — Tim Peeler Two Wolfpack Athletes Are Elected To The NC Sports Hall Of Fame TRACKING THE PACK Freddie Combs was a four-year starter in baseball and an All-American defensive back and return specialist in football during the 1960s. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Andrea Stinson is the women's basketball program's only two-time Kodak All-America selection. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS