The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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MARCH 2016 ■ 13 TRACKING THE PACK Joe Rodri wandered down to Raleigh from Pennsylvania in 1955 for an open tryout for NC State's football team in 1955, hoping to find a place on head coach Earle Edwards' team. He was one of 30 players on the field, with only a recommen- dation from one of Edwards' former high school players and a two-year stint in the United States Army on his résumé. Rodri knew nothing of the South, NC State College or Raleigh. When Edwards asked Rodri what he thought of NC State, the 22-year-old said: "Coach, I don't have anywhere else to go. I want a college education. I don't have any money, other than the GI Bill. If I could come here, or anywhere else, it would change my whole life." Rodri — who died on Dec. 15, 2015, from the effects of cancer at the age of 82 in his adoptive hometown of Wilson, N.C. — not only received a scholarship, he also helped the Wolfpack in 1957 win its first ACC football title. A year later, he was named second-team All-ACC and played in the North-South All Star Senior Bowl in Florida. Like 90 percent of Edwards' players, he earned a degree from NC State. Rodri became a high school teacher and football coach. He eventually opened his own paper packaging store in Wilson and made a vow to one day repay the $4,000 athletic scholarship he received from the Wolfpack Club. For more half a century, he made annual contributions to the Wolfpack Club, including lifetime seating rights for tickets at Carter-Finley Stadium with his son Christy (named after former NC State teammate Dick Christy). "It's been a wonderful life," Rodri said in 2007. "I owe an awful lot to Coach Edwards and all of the coaching staff that was there at the time. I have always tried to support the school as much as I could. I set the goal that one day I would repay my scholarship, to give the school enough money so that other young-ins could take advantage of the same opportunity I had. "I wanted to help them make something of themselves." — Tim Peeler Rodri was second-team All-ACC in 1958, a year after he helped the Pack win its first-ever ACC title. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Former Wolfpack Football Player Joe Rodri Passes Away The 2015-16 Learfield Sports Direc- tors' Cup Division I standings were updated Jan. 14, and NC State was sitting in 35th place but poised to rise up the rankings. The Wolfpack scored points in three sports during the fall: men's and women's cross country, and football. Women's cross coun- try's fifth-place showing at the NCAA Cham- pionships led the way with 75 points. Results on the field this winter showed signs of a windfall potentially coming NC State's way by the time the standings are updated April 21. That release will include the results of rifle, indoor track and field, wres- tling, men's and women's swimming, gym- nastics and women's basketball. Wrestling enters the ACC Champion- ships March 6 and NCAA Championships March 17-19 ranked No. 2 nationally in the USA Today/National Wrestling Coaches' As- sociation poll. Men's swimming began its de- fense of an ACC title Feb. 24 ranked No. 7 in the country and spent the entire season in the top 10. That program's national championship meet is held March 24-26. Women's swimming recorded its highest finish since 1982 at the ACC Championships Feb. 10-13, coming in second behind peren- nial conference power Virginia, and were ranked No. 10 nationally ahead of the NCAA Championships March 17-19. The Feb. 22 release of the USTFCCCA poll for indoor track and field had NCSU's women ranked No. 9 and the men rated No. 18. The NCAA Indoor Championships are held March 11-12. Rifle (No. 10) joined the litany of winter squads ranked among the top 10 nationally. A top-10 finish in a sport earns a school at least 67.5 points. Gymnastics, which has scored wins over No. 19 Penn State and No. 14 Nebraska dur- ing its season through Feb. 22, is likely to earn a spot in the NCAA Regional. ESPN's Char- lie Creme had NC State women's basketball as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament in his bracket projections released Feb. 22. At this point a year ago, the Wolfpack was 42nd in the standings and finished at a school- best 27th. Men's swimming's eighth-place national finish garnered NCSU's most points that year. ACC Schools In Directors' Cup (Jan. 14 Standings) No. School Points 2. Syracuse 347.5 3. North Carolina 342 6. Virginia 295 9. Notre Dame 275 12. Florida State 267.5 17. Clemson 230 19. Duke 218 23. Louisville 192 26. Boston College 186 35. NC State 146 39. Virginia Tech 142 66. Wake Forest 98 111. Miami 50 155. Pittsburgh 25 — Georgia Tech 0 NC State In Position To Move Up In Directors' Cup