The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/672211
70 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER H is is not a name that has lived on through the decades following his big- gest contribution to NC State athletics. It's not on the long list of names associ- ated with the home of Wolfpack football or among the seemingly endless list of bene- factors whose names are part of the pro- gram's legacy through major gifts. Suffice it to say, however, without the tireless efforts of Raleigh businessman R. Walker Martin the longtime dream that became Carter-Finley Stadium may never have been realized. This fall, NC State's football stadium by the State Fairgrounds celebrates the 50th anniversary of its grand opening on Oct. 8, 1966. The story of how that concrete and steel structure came to be is a fascinat- ing tale of grass-roots giving, large-scale individual donations and the rallying of Raleigh's civic masses. And Walker — a former president of the NC State Student Aid Association who was lovingly called "Mr. Wolfpack" — de- serves lasting credit for that. He owned North Carolina's only and the country's largest General Electric dis- tributorship, based out of his Walker Martin Inc., headquarters in Raleigh. A native of Enoree, S.C., Walker did not attend NC State, but because of his business he be- came tied to the university and its engineer- ing program. In the early 1960s, he led an effort to raise $340,000 for the school's Engineering Foundation, serving as its president. That allowed the school to receive a $760,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, elevating NC State's regional engineering school to a nationally prominent level, on par with those at Georgia Tech, Florida and Texas. When Chancellor John T. Caldwell went looking for someone to head a stadium- funding project, he again turned to Martin to lead a committee of prominent com- munity leaders who would be responsible for raising the $2 million expected to pay for a replacement for inhospitable Riddick Stadium, a decrepit on-campus home that hardly ever reached its capacity of 19,000. The rest of the committee included E.N. Richards, Cliff Benson, James Poyner and Micou Brown of Raleigh; C.M. Vanstory of Greensboro; and T.W. Church of Charlotte. Walker, however, was the unchallenged leader. Early on, the NC State Board of Trustees approved a financing plan that included a $1 million city bond with the remaining amount coming from private donations. As costs for the project went up, creative financing was necessary to pay the final bill of $3.7 million for the 75-acre complex that included a 40,050-seat stadium, a three- story press box, a two-story field house with locker rooms for both teams and the endless parking lots for some 12,000 cars. The final financing did not include the state-of-the-art electronic scoreboard or the stadium lights. Brothers Nick and Harry Carter, execu- tives of the J.P Stevens Company textiles conglomerate and both NC State alumni, gave an early gift of $200,000 to get the project going and their name on the sta- dium. Raleigh philanthropist A.E. Finley gave a lead gift of $290,000 to pay for the ■ PACK PAST R. Walker Martin — The Driving Force Behind Fund-Raising For Carter-Finley Stadium From left to right, NC State athletics director Roy Clogston, consolidated university system president William C. Friday and Martin, who was known as "the man who gets things done" and spearheaded the stadium-funding project. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS