The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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22 ■ THE WOLFPACKER With that, one team, one coach and four former standout athletes joined the 30 others previously inducted in 10-member classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014. This class and all future classes will be elected on two-year cycles and will be limited to no more than five athletes and teams and one special con- tributor, coach or administrator. It's the first class inducted directly into the new permanent resting place for the Hall of Fame inside the grand hallway of Reynolds, which had been closed for the last 16 months for a $35 million renovation and restoration that moved the court to the south end zone and opened space for the Reynolds Coliseum Walk of Fame and History. Three of the four former athletes were in- ducted posthumously: multisport star Dave Robertson, football All-America Dick Christy and women's basketball star Linda Page. The other, four-time lacrosse All-America Stan Cockerton, played a sport that is no longer part of the Wolfpack's varsity athletics. The night was made grand, however, by the fact that the first team to win an NCAA championship at NC State became the first team inducted into the school's hall of fame. Players David Thompson, Tommy Burleson and head coach Norm Sloan of the 1973- 74 national title team were already inducted individually, but now the whole squad — which ended seven-time defending national champion UCLA's strangle-hold on the sport — has joined them. Finally, swimming coach Don Easterling, who won 17 ACC titles and coached mul- tiple Olympians and All-Americans, joined a couple of his former swimmers in the hall. Here's a quick breakdown of the most re- cent inductees. Dave Robertson, Football, Baseball, Track And Basketball A four-sport letterman while at the North Carolina School for Agriculture and Me- chanic Arts, as NC State was originally named, Robertson because the school's first professional athlete when he left in 1912 to play baseball for John McGraw's New York Giants. In Raleigh, Robertson was a star on the football and baseball field. He set school re- cords on the track and was a reserve member of the school's first basketball team in 1911. As a pitcher, he once struck out 23 Guilford College batters in one game, a college record at the time. His pitching career ended after he broke both shoulders while playing in a football A ChAmpionship ClAss The 1974 National Title-Winning Basketball Team Headlines The Latest Group Of Inductees Into The NC State Athletic Hall Of Fame BY TIM PEELER W ith a champagne toast, athletics director Debbie Yow welcomed the newest class of inductees into the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame. "To those who brought honor and glory … thank you so much," Yow said at a private unveiling ceremony before the Sept. 16 gala to induct the fourth Hall of Fame class and re-open newly reno- vated Reynolds Coliseum.