The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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28 ■ THE WOLFPACKER orchestra and great enthusiasm for their concert. I don't know who was more re- lieved — us or them." A Place For Everyone Nearly every generational icon other than Elvis made a concert appearance in Reynolds at some point. The Rolling Stones played a 30-minute show in 1965 as part of their second U.S. tour. There were too many other stars to mention, though no night was ever funnier than when the late Jim Valvano stole the mike — and the show — from comedian Bob Hope. For Billy Ray Dunn, Reynolds wasn't just a place to watch basketball games or attend a concert. It was a place he showed up to work almost every day for 55 of the building's 65 years before the renovation. He was hired part-time in high school to work on the cleanup crew, became fulltime in 1963, retired in 1995 and kept coming to work as a part-time member of the mainte- nance staff for another 20 years. The native of Clayton, N.C., ran the spotlights, cleaned up after shows and cel- ebrations, saw more games than you can imagine and cleaned up after the elephants and big cats after they stayed in the Reyn- olds' basement during the circus' annual week-long stay. He filled a water tank so TV star Flipper could do his traveling dolphin show at mid- court of the arena and delighted every time the Harlem Globetrotters came to town. "I've seen a lot of changes here at the arena and at the university during my time here," Dunn said. He helped clean the bathrooms, even back when there were separate facilities for African-Americans. And he's ingested so much second-hand smoke, which hung as a thick blue cloud in the rafters, back in the days when fans were allowed to light up a R.J. Reynolds-made Lucky Strike while watching a game, that it's amazing he's lasted these 73 years. "It would take two days for all that smoke to get out of there," Dunn said. "We could open all the windows up, and it still wouldn't push all the smoke out of here." Moments To Remember What we all remember, of course, are the games and the incredible players who competed on the hardwood and the rub- berized Tartan surface that Valvano had installed from 1980-91. NC State's list of All-Americans, male and female, will be prominently displayed in the new Walk of Fame and History in the lobby. There are several distinct moments when fans left the building with significant lumps in their throats. There was the night the members of the 1965 team, just after upsetting Duke in the ACC Championship game, lifted Case up to cut down the final strands of the net, reliving the tradition he introduced to col- lege basketball. There was the day in 1974 when David Thompson, while trying to lead his team to the school's first national team title, tripped over teammate Phil Spence's shoulder and landed on his neck and shoulder. He lay on the floor for some 15 minutes before being rushed to Rex Hospital. Stomachs turned and eyes leaked, while the entire coliseum wondered if they would ever see him play again. When he returned, his head wrapped in a white bandage, the lights on the noise- meter went through the girded rafters. It might be the loudest moment in Reyn- olds history. Six days later, with 16 stitches in the back of his head, Thompson helped the Wolfpack end UCLA's seven-year reign over the NCAA championship by beating the Bruins in the semifinal game. As a senior, Thompson scored a school- record 57 points against Buffalo State at Reynolds, topping the 55 points Ronnie Shavlik scored in the building against Wil- liam & Mary in 1955. Rodney Monroe (48), Sammy Ranzino (47) and Kenny Carr (45) all scored 45 or more points in the building. There were almost as many All-Ameri- can women's players there during the 34- year coaching career of Naismith Memorial NC State students would camp out on the sidewalks outside Reynolds Coliseum to se- cure football and basketball tickets for Wolf- pack games. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Coaches' Corner Will Honor Four Pack Legends The Coaches' Corner, a student-led initiative to honor four of NC State's greatest basketball coaches, is now fully funded and on schedule for a fall 2016 unveiling outside Reynolds Coliseum in conjunction with the opening of the Walk of Fame and History Project in the arena's lobby. The four full-body statues of Everett Case, Norm Sloan, Kay Yow and Jim Valvano will be located on the northwest exterior corner between the historic arena and the newly refurbished Talley Student Union. Case and Yow are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and Sloan and Valvano each won an NCAA men's championship for the school. All four have been enshrined in the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame. Originally, student government athletics chair Jeffrey Johnson led an effort to honor Yow shortly after her death on Jan. 24, 2009. Student volunteers created a memorial garden in between the west side staircases, and a bust was unveiled in August 2010. Andy Walsh, student body president 2012-13, fol - lowed in Johnson's footsteps in 2011 and began work- ing on adding statues of the three men's coaches to the area. Since then, Walsh, with help from the university architects office and university development, has worked with the Wolfpack Club and the NC State athletics department to raise $220,000 to have four new full statues created. Two noted artists, Tyson Snow of Salem, Utah, and Benjamin Victor of Boise, Idaho, were selected by the university's newly created committee on institutional art to cast two of the statues each. A new statue of Yow will be created to match the full-body statues that were planned for Case, Sloan and Valvano. Each statue will sit on a pedestal in a landscaped area that is a hub of activity on NC State's central campus for students, staff, faculty, alumni and visitors. "This has been a great student-led project to create a memorial to these four coaches for their contribu - tions to the traditions of NC State," said Walsh, who graduated in 2013 and now works in government relations at Smith Anderson Law Firm. "It will be the perfect complement in-between the newly renovated Reynolds Coliseum and Talley Student Union. "We hope it will be the perfect memorial for the coaches who did so many great things for NC State and is a destination that will showcase the great bas- ketball history that has taken place here." — Tim Peeler Four full-body statues of Everett Case (shown above), Norm Sloan, Kay Yow and Jim Valvano will be part of Coaches' Cor- ner outside Reynolds Coliseum. PHOTO BY TIM PEELER