The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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24 ■ THE WOLFPACKER than a player and worldwide ambassador for the sport who still owns an NCAA record nearly four decades after his college career ended. The 5-7 dynamo was a scoring machine with the Wolfpack, after he found his way to Raleigh from his native Oshawa, Canada. In just 44 games over four years, Cockerton scored an amazing 193 goals, which was an NCAA record until 2008. His 4.39 goals per game and 6.36 assists per contest still rank second in the NCAA record books. He also had 87 career assists. "I had great teammates," Cockerton said. "They worked hard to get me the ball. I admit that I enjoyed scoring and had some talent in putting the ball in the net. It was a good combination." Cockerton was a four-time All-American, four-time All-ACC selection, four-time ACC scoring champion and a two-time ACC Player of the Year. Shortly after his career ended, he became just the fourth Wolfpack athlete in any sport to have his jersey number retired when his No. 15 joined quarterback Roman Gabriel's No. 18, basketball superstar David Thompson's No. 44 and running back Ted Brown's No. 23. After leaving NC State, Cockerton helped Canada win its first ever Lacrosse World Cup. He has been an executive with the Ontario Lacrosse Association and International La- crosse Federation, as well the founder of the Heritage Cup. His final pitch to Yow about seeing la- crosse back at NC State? "I do a lot of work for international la- crosse and I can tell you that North Carolina is the fastest growing state for lacrosse in the country," Cockerton said. "Most of the top 10 teams in the country in college lacrosse are from the ACC. I'd love to see it back at NC State." 1973-74 NCAA And ACC Championship Team Former men's basketball All-American center Tommy Burleson believes that the one blemish in his final two years as an NC State player is what helped the Wolfpack win the school's first national champion. In 1973, UCLA won its seventh consecu- tive national championship, with the play of Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes and Dave Meyers. Both the Bruins and the Wolfpack finished the year undefeated, with the Wolfpack going 27-0 but ineligible for postseason play. So head coaches Norm Sloan and John Wooden got together while working at the Campbell College basketball camp in Buies Creek, N.C., and agreed to play a made-for- television doubleheader in December 1973 in St. Louis, in the same arena where the Bruins won the 1973 NCAA title. The highly anticipated game was close, but the Bruins surged in the second half and won to extend its NCAA-record winning streak. The Wolfpack returned to Raleigh with bruised egos, but the determination to cre- ate a rematch with Wooden's team in the NCAA Tournament, which was slated to end with the semifinals and finals in Greensboro, N.C. Behind the play of Thompson, Burleson and point guard Monte Towe, the Wolfpack swept through ACC play and won the most dramatic game in ACC Tournament history, beating Maryland 103-100 in overtime for the right to be the ACC's only representative in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack survived a near-fatal Thompson fall on the floor of Reynolds Coliseum against Pittsburgh in the East Re- gion finals to create a rematch with the Bru- ins, and the trio of Burleson, Thompson and Towe helped Sloan's team come back from a seven-point second-overtime deficit to end the Bruins' dynasty and stop its streak of 39 consecutive NCAA Tournament wins. "If we had not lost that game in Decem- ber, John Wooden was such a great coach, he would have come in with a better plan for us in Greensboro," Burleson said. "They came in thinking that they were better than us. Without that loss, I think there would have been a different outcome in Greensboro. "Was our season perfect? No, it wasn't. But that game had value because it taught us we could beat them, it made them overcon- fident and it helped up beat them the second time around." After defeating the Bruins, the Wolfpack beat Marquette two days later to claim the first team championship in NC State athletics history and make the 1974 national champi- ons one of the greatest basketball teams in college basketball history. Over two seasons, the Wolfpack was 57-1. Thompson, Burleson and Sloan were in- ducted in the first two classes of the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame. Now the rest of the team has joined them. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. You may contact him at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. The 1973-74 Wolfpack men's basketball squad — the first team to win an NCAA championship at NC State — became the first team inducted into the school's hall of fame. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson with Hall of Fame inductee Stan Cockerton (right), a four- time All-American lacrosse player at NC State. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN