The Wolfpacker

40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER I t's finally happened: Dave and Don Buckey have gone their separate ways. In most ways, NC State's most famous football twins are as close as ever. The brothers still sit on the same row at Carter-Finley Stadium for NC State football games in the fall. They still talk, text and email constantly, though probably not as much as the dozen years they lived in the same section of Wake County. They and their wives still do as much as they can together. But the womb-mates, college roommates and likely tomb-mates now live three states apart, no longer working together at the same transportation company. Dave, the option quarterback who helped make Lou Holtz's twin veer offense famous, still lives in Raleigh, where he works for Whitley Logistics, in an office that is brim- ful of NC State football flavor. He works with three-time All-ACC defensive back Jack Whitley and quarterback Charlie Nog- gle. Between the three of them, they've been a part of four of NC State's seven ACC titles. "We spend a lot of time talking about Wolfpack football," Dave said. "I have no interest in ever leaving Raleigh. My dream is to be here when State wins its next ACC championship or gets a chance to play for the national championship." Don, the talented wide receiver who was his brother's most frequent target for four years with the Wolfpack, has retired to Florida with his wife Elaine. They bought a house in the massive retirement complex called The Villages, near Ocala, where they spend time playing golf and participating in hundreds of club activities. The good thing is that Don, a licensed pilot for the last 10 years, manages to fly wherever the Wolfpack plays. "I'm more active than I've ever been," Don said. They are still adjusting to life apart, though, the second time in their lives they've lived in different states. Dave once lived in Virginia, while Don was working in Raleigh. "It's different," Dave said. "We've spent most of our lives together." "It's a little different these days," Don says. "But we always see each other at football games." That included last year, when Dave and his wife Anna stayed with Don and Elaine for the Wolfpack's game against Central Florida at the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. The twins' story is familiar for anyone who grew up watching the "Golden Era" of NC State athletics during the 1970s. Un- dersized but gritty, they came down from Akron, Ohio, and were the cornerstone in the foundation of Holtz's offense. They worked together to help the Wolf- pack record the best four-year winning per- centage in school history (71.8 percent with a 33-12-3 mark) from 1972-75. They set multiple school records, with Dave passing to Don and others, while leading the Pack to the 1973 ACC title, a top 10 final UPI rank- ing and four consecutive bowl games. Dave was first-team All-ACC as a senior and set a passing efficiency mark that stood until Philip Rivers came along. Dave com- pleted 58.6 percent of his passes and threw for 4,286 yards. Don was also a first-team All-ACC performer as a senior, led State in receiv- ing three seasons and averaged 17 yards per catch. In four seasons, he caught 102 passes for 1,735 yards. The Buckeys became the first — and so far only — identical twins to earn first- team All-ACC honors. Ever since they first arrived on campus, the Buckeys were Wolfpack royalty. They showed up on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine as the poster boys for the inau- gural season of freshman eligibility before they ever played a game at NC State, but that also could have created some dissen- tion on a team that had an established corps of running backs — Willie Burden, Charley Young, Roland Hooks and Stan Fritts — and veteran quarterback Bruce Shaw. Yet Shaw and Dave Buckey were a com- plementary, not competitive, platoon. Shaw was taller with a stronger arm. Buckey was more mobile, with great timing in the option-style offense Holtz installed in their first season together. Shaw was named first-team All-ACC, while Buckey was named the most valuable player in the blowout 49-13 victory over West Virginia in the 1972 Peach Bowl. Buckey started in place of Shaw, who broke his arm during pre-bowl practice. He connected with Don on a 37-yard touch- down pass, the first TD reception of Don's career and just the second scoring pass of Dave's career. The Wolfpack scored five unanswered touchdowns in the second half, including a two-yard run by Dave and a touchdown pass to Pat Hovance. On the day, Dave Buckey was 8-for-13 passing for 139 yards and two touchdowns and had one scoring run. The Wolfpack gained 337 yards on the ground, setting a school bowl record that still stands today. While quarterbacks of the modern era are always defined by their passing num- bers, those from the Holtz era were defined by how they ran the option. Dave Buckey came in with a strong corps of ball carriers and ended his career with ACC all-time rushing leader Ted Brown. As a result, his pitching results way overshadow his pass- ing numbers. "Dave was so smart as a quarterback," Holtz said. "He knew when to pitch it and when to keep it. He didn't have a real strong arm, but he threw a nice ball that was easy to catch." Don blossomed later in his career, earn- ing first-team All-America honors from the Football Writers of America Association as a senior, when he caught 34 passes for 551 yards in a ground-oriented offense. He's been passed by the likes of Torry Holt, Jerricho Cotchery, Eddie Goines and more than a dozen others, but Don Buckey was the first Wolfpack receiver to grab more than 100 receptions in a career. "Don was an underrated receiver," Holtz said. DYNAMIC DUO Dave And Don Buckey Helped Make Lou Holtz's Twin Veer Offense Productive Dave (11, standing) and Don (19) Buckey both earned first-team All-ACC honors during their NCSU careers. They are the only identical twins to earn All-ACC football laurels. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Dave Buckey Age: 62 Living: Raleigh Occupation: Works for Whitley Logistics Did you know? Dave Buckey's 4,286 passing yards still rank ninth all-time in school history, and he was the first Pack quarterback to eclipse 4,000 yards throwing. Don Buckey Age: 62 Living: Ocala, Fla. Occupation: Retired Did you know? He spent one year in the NFL, playing for the New York Jets in Lou Holtz's only year as an NFL head coach. ? WHERE ARE THEY NOW WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

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