The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/644580
78 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER J im Hipps was an all-state football player who helped Pisgah High School near Asheville, which was coached by for- mer NC State player Pat "Piggy" Powell, a Roman Gabriel-era lineman, win the 1967 state championship. Powell guided Hipps, a future engineer, to his alma mater. It was a time of massive transition for State's football program. Four-time ACC Coach of the Year Earle Edwards ended his 17-year career with the Wolfpack, giving way to one-year interim coach Al Michaels and then to young coaching sensation Lou Holtz. Hipps played defensive end for all three coaches, while pursuing his degree in bio- logical and agricultural engineering and a graduate certificate in sanitary engineering. His playing days ended after Holtz's in- augural year of 1972, and Hipps began a career as a civil engineer that took the western North Carolina farmboy all over the world. While there were significant changes in the football program, there were some sta- bilizing personalities on staff that made a big impact on Hipps' life. Recently, Hipps and his wife Kathleen established three en- dowed scholarships and a graduate student award in honor of two athletics support personnel who helped him on the football field and two professors who helped him in the classroom. • The Henry D. Bowen Endowed Un- dergraduate Scholarship in Biological and Agricultural Engineering honors a former NC State professor and adviser who mentored Hipps • The Cary Brewbaker Football Schol- arship honors an inspirational former as- sistant football coach who continued to work on the Wolfpack's sidelines for sev- eral years after brain surgery to remove a tumor that left him with significant physi- cal disabilities. • The Chester Grant Athletic Trainer Scholarship honors a former trainer, de- scribed as gentle and quiet, who was the only African-American on the athletics de- partment staff for many years. • The Charles Smallwood Jr. Graduate Student Award in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering honors a former NC State professor who ran the sanitary engineering graduate program. Hipps spent 35 years as a civil engineer, working on small wastewater treatments plants in rural North Carolina to helping in the construction of China's Longtan Dam. He's lived in the Southeast, the Midwest and overseas, where he worked on projects in the United Kingdom, continental Eu- rope, Africa and Asia. He retired to Kansas in 2009 but splits time between there and his native Asheville. "Growing up, just going to Raleigh for school was a big deal for me," Hipps said. "But because I went there to play football and to study engineering, I saw the Great Wall of China, went to the pyramids in Egypt and traveled all over the world and ■ PACK PAST Former NCSU Football Player Jim Hipps Gives Back In Appreciation Former NC State defensive lineman Jim Hipps and his wife Kathleen established three endowed scholarships and a graduate student award. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Trainer Chester Grant was the only African-American on the athletics department staff for many years, and former Pack defensive lineman Jim Hipps endowed the Chester Grant Athletic Scholar- ship in his honor. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS