(Image source: SI)
BY JOSH FRYDMAN
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It’s a dunk replayed every March.
A play which resonates with every David trying to slay a Goliath.
NC State’s buzzer winning shot over Houston. 1983.
An indelible moment in college basketball lore.
“Oh its a long ways... OH!!!! They won it!”
But today fans are remembering the play -- and the player -- while mourning the loss of the man responsible for that famous -- National Championship winning shot.
Lorenzo Charles died Monday when the bus he was driving crashed along a Raleigh, North Carolina highway.
Charles was driving an Elite Tours bus when he lost control on Interstate 40 during rush hour traffic. No one else was on the bus at the time. Investigators are still looking into what caused the crash.
Former NC State player Chris Corchiani came to NC State two years after Charles.
He credited Charles' play for putting the Wolfpack on the map.
"He affected a lot of people's lives, a lot of people wouldn't have been at this university if it wasn't for that '83 team, and I'm one of those people.”
Charles won instant fame after he caught Derrick Whittenburg's 30 foot air ball in the 1983 title game and dunked it at the buzzer to lead the Wolfpack to an improbable 54-52 win over heavily favored Houston.
The infamous finish was followed by another iconic moment--NC State Coach Jim Valvano running onto the court in disbelief, just looking for someone to hug.
Valvano succumbed to cancer a decade later.
Of that video -- Charles’ former teammate Thurl Bailey tells WRAL in Raleigh “Jimmy V finally found somebody to hug.”
In reaction to his former teammates' death, Whittenburg said quote- "Its just an awful, awful day."
Valvano's widow, Pam Strasser, tells the Charlotte Observer - she was heartbroken over the news.
"That night in Albuquerque, you'd never known he'd made the big shot. He was so humble. That was just Lorenzo, though. He was the same nice young guy whether we'd won or lost. He was quiet, but he loved people and loved being around those guys on that team."
Finally -- Sports Illustrated columnist Joe Posnanski reflects on a March Madness legend taken too soon.
“Buck O’Neil, who lived to be almost 95, always said that we should save our tears for those who die young... Lorenzo Charles was too young to die. His friends talk about what a good person he was. They mention that smile that I remember so clearly... Countless people through the years told Lorenzo Charles what that shot meant to them.”
Charles played two more seasons at North Carolina State, finishing 15th on the school's all-time leading scorers list. He played one season in the NBA, averaging 3.4 points in 36 games with the Atlanta Hawks. Lorenzo Charles was 47 years old.
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