The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK Chase Cannon, who has become well known among NC State fans for his self- less role of being a walk-on for the men's basketball team, is on pace to graduate in three years this May. Cannon is one of five walk-ons on the squad, along with senior small forward Staats Battle, sophomore forward Chris Brickhouse, sophomore shooting guard Patrick Wallace and freshman point guard Chris Corchiani Jr. "Battle-Cannon" has become a popular chant when the Wolf- pack is well ahead of an opposing team. The 6-5, 200-pound Cannon has scored four points in five appearances this season and seven points in his Wolfpack career. Cannon recently took some time to talk with The Wolfpacker about his off-the- court success, future plans and how he once went toe-to-toe with a future NBA first-round draft pick. What are your long-range plans with your NC State degree? "I just got accepted into the MBA program here at NC State, so that is the next step for me. I plan on doing that for the next two years. After I finish with all that, I'm looking to be a financial consultant or financial planner, hopefully, here in the Raleigh area." How did you end up deciding to walk-on at NC State and pass on other opportunities? "I had some Ivy League and Patriot League schools look at me, and a few other small schools that were randomly throughout the country. The biggest thing for me was to be part of the ACC and a program like NC State. "I grew up in Morehead City my whole life, and you watch Duke, Carolina and NC State all the time. That is where you dream of going to. Having the opportunity to come here and be a part of NC State was big-time for me. It was a great opportunity, and I couldn't pass it up." Former NC State small forward Johnny Thomas was the last Wolfpack player from Morehead City. Did you follow him growing up? "I knew of Johnny Thomas because not too many people go and play high-level Division I sports out of Morehead. You had Johnny, [former baseball player] Brien Taylor and also Lonnie Chisenhall [of the Cleve - land Indians]. "I knew Johnny when he was here, and talked to him a couple of times. Before he went to Greensboro (N.C.) Day, he went to the same high school as I did, West Carteret, before I transferred to Miller School. I think he was Sidney Lowe's first scholarship player. "To come here from a small little town on the beach and make it at a big school for sports program was a big deal for me and my city." When did it hit you that people knew who you were thanks to teaming up with fellow walk-on Staats Battle and doing some Battle-Cannon videos? "It still hasn't hit me yet. It's a little different for the scholarship guys than the walk-ons. Those guys, every - one knows, or a lot more people know. "When we started doing the Battle-Cannon video last year, it started to get big. People would randomly walk up and say, 'Hey, I love your videos. I love what you guys do on the court when you get in at the end. We stay to the end just in case you guys get in.' "Whenever I have someone walk up to me and start talking, when they reach out, it hits you. We are here on a bigger scale than people realize, and most of the time bigger than we realize. People look at us in a different light, and it is a pretty cool feeling. It did take me a little while to realize how big and different it is." How do you react when the fans start chant - ing your name to come into the game, and you aren't sure what the end result will be? "It gets a little bit awkward. If we are up 13, 15 points, we could go in or we couldn't go in. It could go either way, but then you have the fans out there yelling. We don't want Coach to get mad about it and not put us in. "We are just trying to glance down at the end of the bench once in a while and sneak a peak to see if they are talking about putting us in. It is more exciting than anything to have people cheer to put you in, and to support us all the way to the end of the game is cool too." What was it like to make more three-pointers — 6-to-5 — than current Sacramento Kings wing Nik Stauskas in the fifth-place game at the 2011 Holiday Invitational at Raleigh Broughton High? "We played against Nik Stauskas and [6-11 center] Kaleb Tarczewski, who is now at Arizona. Between Andrew White and I, and then Nik and other players, we had set a record for the most three-pointers in a tournament game [20]. I had a big game, going 6 of 8 on three-pointers [in a 79-70 loss]. "To do it against a guy who was a first-round draft pick and in the NBA now in Stauskas is the kind of memory that you keep." Who inspires you? "I'd go with my whole family. My mom lives up here in Raleigh, and my father and his side of the family are down in Morehead City. It was a big change for me to go from my hometown where I grew up my whole entire life to 5 1/2 hours away in another state at a private school. "They supported me through that, and my dad would drive there just to watch a game, and then turn right back around and go home. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive from Morehead City to Raleigh, and my dad and two grand - parents are always here. "For them, that is why I do all this stuff, do well in class and why I try so hard in basketball. I don't want them to worry about me. I want to live up to the expectations they have for me because they put me in the right positions growing up." — Jacey Zembal Cannon had opportunities to attend an Ivy League school but chose to join the Wolf- pack as a walk-on, and now he has been accepted into the MBA program at NC State. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN Getting To Know: Chase Cannon ■ Men's Basketball Quick Questions What was it like going from a beach town to the Miller School? You go from the coast to a small town up in the mountains in Virginia. I had never seen as much snow as I did when I went up to Virginia. In Morehead, you might get snow once every two years. What NC State athlete do you enjoy watching in another sport? That is a tough one, but quarter- back Jacoby Brissett for football. He came in from Florida and made a huge impact on our team the first year. Favorite class at NC State? Golf, which I'm in right now, and I love it. We are indoors now, but in the spring, we'll get to go out twice a week and play. If you didn't go to NC State, where do you think you would have gone? I had an opportunity to walk-on at UVa as well. If I was going to go somewhere to play, that's a tough one. If had the chance, I would have gone to an Ivy League school for the education. I talked to Princeton and Dartmouth some. Who does the best coach Mark Gottfried impersonation on the team? [Senior shooting guard] Desmond Lee. He does the best impersonation of anybody and is by far the funniest person on the team. [Sophomore power forward] Lennard Freeman is pretty funny too. What player at another school do you like to watch play? I like watching Duke freshman center Jahlil Okafor. He's so good in the post and in one-on-one situations. When he played against us, he had a pretty big game, but we still beat them. He's phenomenal.