The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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■ PACK PAST As a sophomore, he threw the first no- hitter ever pitched against Florida State and was the ace of a team that set a school record with 49 wins and was ranked as high as No. 2 in the polls. "When they throw Terry Harvey, there's not a better ball club in America," Seminoles head coach Mike Martin said afterwards. The Dacula, Ga., native was 10-3 as a sophomore, and matched that record as a junior. He won nine more games as a se- nior, setting NC State records with 35 career wins, 60 starts, 4251 ⁄3 innings pitched and 386 strikeouts. Harvey played four seasons of profes- sional baseball, but his career was cut short by shoulder surgery. He and his wife, Cath- erine, returned to the Triangle after his play- ing career was over. He now works as a business development manager for Ceva Logistics and travels wher- ever he can to watch his three sons play what- ever sport they choose. Harvey's life, he says with a smile, is hardly boring. Tracy Woodson When Tracy Woodson was inducted into the NC State Baseball Hall of Fame, the greatest compliment he received was to be called "a baseball man." And it's true. The native of Richmond, Va., has been involved with the sport ever since he left NC State in 1984 as the third-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Four years later, he was on the postseason roster when the Dodgers won the 1988 World Series. Woodson spent five years in the major leagues with the Dodgers and St. Louis Car- dinals. He played professionally until 1996, winning three Triple-A championships and earning the most valuable player award for the 1996 Columbus Clippers. The following season, he became the hit- ting coach for the Carolina Mudcats in Zebu- lon, N.C. He managed his first team in 1998 and worked at every professional level, while spending his offseasons officiating college basketball games. Woodson led the Mudcats to the Southern League championship in 2003 and was the manager of the Southern League All-Stars. In 2004, his last season as a minor league manager, he led the Albuquerque Isotopes. Woodson was hired as the head coach at Valparaiso University in 2006 by athletics director Mark LaBarbera, a former associate athletics director at NC State. Since Woodson played just three seasons of college baseball, he never completed his college degree. As a condition of his employ- ment at Valpo, Woodson spent nearly four years in the offseason completing the 56 hours 90 ■ THE WOLFPACKER he needed to graduate. He earned a sports management degree from Valparaiso in 2010. "I kind of let my grades slip my last semes- ter and I only spent three years at NC State," Woodson said. "It was huge for me to get my degree. It wasn't easy, but it's something I wish I had done earlier. As a college baseball player, you never know when you might get hurt, so that degree is something you should work to get while you are here playing." Though his degree is from elsewhere, Woodson still bleeds red. "I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Coach [Sam] Esposito and the NC State baseball program," Woodson said. "The op- portunity I got to play there helped to jump start my career in professional baseball." No NC State baseball player ever had a greater season than Woodson did in 1984. The overwhelming choice for ACC Player of the Year slugged an ACC-record 25 home runs and drove in 77 runs — in just 40 games. The second-team All-American also posted a slugging percentage of .914, which still stands as an NC State record. Woodson just began his sixth season as Valpo's head coach and has sent seven play- ers into professional baseball. Last season, he took the Crusaders to the championship game of the Horizon League Tournament. Frank Weedon For all that Frank Weedon did as a college athletics administrator, he never lost his love and passion for baseball. The Washington, D.C., native graduated from Maryland in 1955 and devoted his life to athletics promotion and administration. Whenever he got the chance, however, he sneaked out to the ballpark. Some say Weedon — who officially retired as a senior associate athletics director in 1995, but stayed on another 15 years as the athletics department's unofficial historian and host — enjoyed the national pastime so much because he was never out of earshot of the umpires. Riding officials in any sport was Weedon's passion for more than six decades. Perhaps the only sports information director ever given a technical foul during an ACC basket- ball game, the only administrator to ever slap the mat on an official's behalf for a pin in a wrestling match and a guy whose primary exercise routine in the fall was running up and down the sidelines yelling at officials is best captured by this anecdote, which has been told with varying degrees of accuracy over the years. Former NC State baseball and football player Francis Combs, Weedon's surrogate son, verified it while accepting the induc- tion on Weedon's behalf. The 74-year-old Weedon was unable to attend the induction Frank Weedon came to NC State in 1960 as the school's sports information director, and he spent 50 years in its athletics department in various capacities. FILE PHOTO banquet for health reasons, though, like any NC State athletics banquet, he was there in spirit. It seems one hot afternoon in Buies Creek, N.C., Combs was coaching a summer-league team and Weedon was enjoying a long after- noon of chiding the officials from the dug- out. The home plate umpire eventually had enough of the abuse. "I don't want to see or hear you for the rest of this game!" he told Weedon. So Weedon offered to come stand on home plate, because, "You haven't seen it the entire game." He was quickly ejected. Weedon was included for his many con- tributions to NC State athletics, including the promotion of multiple All-Americans; his service as official scorer for football, bas- ketball and baseball; the establishment of the region's first radio broadcasting network; and his work as Willis Casey's right-hand man on an administrative staff of only two people. But he is also recognized as the athletics department's largest contributor to the Wolf- pack Club, giving more than $200,000 during his lifetime to NC State's athletics booster organization. That total included a $100,000 scholarship endowment and a $50,000 nam- ing gift for the new press box at Dail Field at Doak Park. Weedon also served as the president of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Commit- tee and the Bill Dooley/Triangle East Chapter of the National Football Foundation, giving recognition to athletes from all over the state. In 2008, he was awarded the Marvin "Skeeter" Francis Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements and service to the media for coverage of ACC basketball. ■ You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.