The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS The Wolfpacker staff has enjoyed getting to know various guests on their podcast ev- ery Tuesday around 12:30 p.m. at Amedeo's Italian Restaurant in Raleigh. The podcast is always available to listen to on TheWolf- packer.com, iTunes and most everywhere else podcasts can be downloaded. Here are some excerpts from former NC State baseball catcher Francis Combs, who has missed one Wolfpack football game in 52 years and is a spotter for the radio crew. He was a guest April 24: What was the reunion like for the 1968 baseball team that finished third in the country? "We really had a great time and had about 17 players come back. Two of them had died … Steve Martin and Chris Cammack, who were both All-Americans. "Eight of us played golf at Lonnie Poole [Golf Course] on Friday. We had a cookout Friday night with barbeque chicken and all the works, and had a great time. "On Saturday, the baseball team provided us a cookout before the game. We all met at 4 p.m. over there and talked. A lot of them brought their families, and we had a good crowd. "I hadn't seen some of those guys in a long time. We've had a few get-togethers, but a few guys hadn't gone to those. A few had never been back since 1968." What did you think of the uniforms that commemorated the reunion? "I thought the uniforms looked great. I talked to some of the players recently, and I was throwing a little batting practice — I'll throw batting practice now and then to try to stay in shape — and the guys said they love wearing those uniforms. They really liked them and hoped they could wear them again. I thought they looked good. "Our uniforms were wool and a little heavier than the uniforms they have now." What was it like to play in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska? "We were really close to winning it all. We opened up against Southern Illinois and beat the Salukis. What I remember about Southern Illinois is they had batgirls and they wore polka dot batting helmets. They were a flamboyant team, but we beat them. "In our second game we played St. John's, and we lost in 13 innings. There was a play at the plate in the 13th inning, and we really got the guy out but the umpire called him safe. I think he was ready to go home because it was like 1 a.m. "Then we played Texas. We had the wool uniforms on, and it was so hot. I had never been that hot in a baseball game. I went into the dugout and we had ice towels with water, and we just put them over our heads. "I thought our pitcher, Alex Cheek, was going to die out there. He was redheaded and he was dying, but we beat Texas. "Then we lost to Southern Cal 2-0 for the right to play for the national championship. With the bases loaded, the Southern Cal cen- ter fielder made just an unbelievable sliding and diving catch that robbed us. It cost us the game. "I signed with the New York Yankees the next year, and I actually played in the minor leagues with the guy who made that catch." What had changed in Omaha when NC State broke the drought and made the Col- lege World Series in 2013? "The stadium has changed. We had played at Rosenblatt, and it had been played there for years. We went back for a little trip to Rosenblatt. The stadium is gone, but they still have a little replica of it to go back, and they still have the foul pole there. The ball used to travel pretty good there with a lot of home runs at Rosenblatt. "Now they have the new stadium, and it's really nice and bigger, but the ball doesn't travel there, and not as many home runs are hit there. They've changed the bats and changed the balls a little bit. That makes a little difference." How good do you think this year's NC State baseball team could be? "Before the season, talking to the coaches and being around, they thought they were pretty good, especially position-wise. They were unsure because they had a lot of young pitchers. They weren't sure about the pitch- ing, and then they had a couple of injuries with [sophomore pitcher] Dalton Feeney. "They have guys like Brett Kinneman and Will Wilson and Brock Deatherage and the new catcher, Patrick Bailey. He's been really good for them. He's great at calling the game and being a good receiver. "I think they have a lot of potential and could go all the way, but it still depends on pitching." Extra Points Former NC State right guard Tony Adams on how good he was at tennis: "I was No. 1 singles [at Charlotte Independence High]. When I was around 12-13 years old in New England, I was ranked in the top 20 for 14-and-under. "I have been playing since I was 2. I'm a pretty good tennis player. We play in our family as fre - quently as possible when I go home. "It is one of those sports you can play forever. That is what my mom says. She had two knee surgeries and she still plays." Ex-NCSU running back and 2018 NFL draftee Nyheim Hines on his love of playing the video game Fortnite versus scoring a touchdown: "I'm addicted to Fortnite. They have the same feeling. Scoring touchdowns is great, but when I got my first win at Fortnite, I screamed like I just scored a touchdown." Former NC State men's basketball assistant coach Dick Stewart, who joined Jim Valvano's program just after the 1983 NCAA championship season, died on April 6, 2018, in Raleigh. He was 70. Born in Cincinnati on Oct. 21, 1947, and raised near Pittsburgh, Richard Edward Stewart played prep basketball for Worcester Academy for legendary head coach Dee Rowe and at Rutgers with teammate Valvano under Bill Foster. In 2009, he was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. NC State, where he was part of Valvano's staff for seven seasons, was one of eight stops Stewart made during his coaching career, including two years as the head coach at Fordham from 1976-78. He also served as an associate athletics director at UNC Greensboro, where he also was a radio commentator for bas- ketball games. Stewart is survived by his wife, Patricia Wentzel Stewart, and five children and six grandchildren. His daughter Kelley Catlett is the director of premium seating for the Wolfpack Club. The family requests that memorials be made to the Richard E. Stewart Memorial Basketball Scholarship at Worcester Academy (worcesteracademy.com/givenow. Special Instructions: type name of scholarship) or to the Coach Stewart Caregiver Fund (gofundme.com/coach-stewart-caregiver-fund). — Tim Peeler Former Pack Basketball Assistant Coach Passes Away