The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/89497
The seven athletes and a family member or friend of each of the three coaches who have passed away all joined together on the stage when the first class of 10 inductees to the NC State Athletic Hall Of Fame was honored on Oct. 5. WOLFPACK'S BEST HONORING THE ees into the inaugural class of the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame, the answer was pretty easy, since many of them grew up watch- ing the athletic artistry of David Thompson while he led the Wolfpack to back-to-back ACC championships and the 1974 NCAA title. I 92 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER Into The NC State Athletic Hall of Fame "To me and the people of my generation, The First Class Of 10 Is Inducted f you were a legend, surrounded by a roomful of legends, who would you most want to be? For many of the seven living induct- David Thompson is so big he almost doesn't exist," said former three-time soccer All- American Tab Ramos. "He was a legendary figure. There was achieving greatness, and then there was David Thompson. "Some may consider what we did as greatness, but what David did was far be- yond everything we accomplished." It's hard to imagine that the player who did so much to popularize the game of soc- cer in the United States might be so awed by another athlete's accomplishments, but Ramos certainly has an appreciation for how much Thompson transformed the game of college basketball, as the ACC's first great above-the-rim player. In many ways, Ramos was similarly trans- formational, as a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team and three U.S. World Cup teams. He inspired many young kids — es- pecially those who didn't have the height or bulk to play basketball or football — to pursue athletic greatness in a different realm. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS