Lorenzo Charles Dies At 47 in bus crash

[vikesfan]

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Former North Carolina State basketball star Lorenzo Charles, the muscular forward whose last-second dunk gave the underdog Wolfpack the 1983 national collegiate championship, was killed Monday when a bus he was driving crashed, a company official said Monday.

Elite Coach general manager Brad Jackson said Charles, 47, worked for the company and was driving one of its buses on Interstate 40.

Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue said no passengers were aboard.

Wolfpack hero Lorenzo Charles' buzzer-beating put-back dunk shocked Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma and gave NC State its second national title in 1983.
"It's a terrible day for the '83 team, a terrible day," said former NC State guard Dereck Whittenburg, who threw the infamous pass/shot that Charles grabbed and converted to beat Houston at the buzzer in the 1983 title game at the Pit in Albuquerque. "He's just a positive, a warm spirit. On the court, he never smiled. He was a competitor. He was tough and all that. Off the court. He was a gentle giant. Man, he came with that bubbly smile."

Whittenburg said he was recently with Charles at the memorial service for former NC State assistant coach Ed McLean who had passed away in late April and then saw him when Whittenburg was honored at a Wolfpack game earlier this season.

"You get him on the court. He was like a big bear. Off the court, a wonderful, wonderful kid," Whittenburg said.

Sidney Lowe, Charles' teammate and the former NC State head coach, said he was just with Charles two weeks ago.

"His smile. Always a good guy. Always. He always made you feel like he was excited to see you,'' said Lowe by telephone, who was audibly upset over the death of Charles. "That's what I remember about him. He had the biggest smile. He was excited to see you. He was always just so positive. We talked about things. He always just had the right thing to say. He didn't talk much but when he did he was profound and supportive. He's just a good guy."

Charles secured his spot in NC State lore 28 years ago in the final moments of the Wolfpack's matchup with Houston in the national championship game.

He grabbed Whittenburg's 30-foot shot and dunked it at the buzzer to give NC State a 54-52 win and its second national title, sending coach Jim Valvano spilling onto the court, scrambling for someone to hug in what has become one of the lasting images of the NCAA tournament.

"It's still kind of amazing to me that ... people are still talking about it," Charles said in an excerpt from his comments about the championship game on his NC State Web page. "I remember when (it) first happened, I figured I would have my 15 minutes of fame and that would be it. Here we are and it is still a conversational piece. I don't really think that was the only great Final Four finish that has been played since then, but for some reason people just single out that game and talk about it. Maybe because it was such a David and Goliath thing."

NC State entered the NCAA tournament with a 17-10 record, having beaten Virginia to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and an automatic berth into the national field. Charles would hit two free throws with 23 seconds left in the West Regional finals against the Cavaliers to give the Wolfpack a 63-62 victory and the spot in the Final Four.

Lowe said Charles never liked to have the spotlight on him about making the historic shot.

"He was very humble about it to the point of almost feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed that people would talk about it," Lowe said. "He never was a person thought he was better than anyone. He never acted that way. When he made the shot, he turned around like 'What?' He didn't realize how big that play was. He was very humble. That was his personality and character. If you talk about it. He wouldn't gloat. He stayed humble. That's who he was."

Lowe and Whittenburg stayed in the public eye by becoming head coaches. Lowe was fired as head coach of his alma mater in March.

"Lorenzo was just happy with his life," Lowe said. "He certainly would have loved to have played longer in the NBA. He was one of those guys that never complained. He never complained about this or that opportunity. He just went on with his life and accepted it. He got involved in other things and be involved with. You never saw in a bad mood. I have never talked to him or seen him in a bad mood. I never talked to him where he had one negative thing about anybody. He never had a negative thing to say. The way he lived his life."

The 1983 team has now lost its head coach (Jim Valvano), an assistant (Ed McLean) and two players (Charles and walk-on Quinton Leonard, who died at age 44 of a heart attack in 2006).

"It's just hard to grasp," Lowe said. "It's just sad now when you talk about that team who have passed away. It's very difficult. You talk about special moments in your life and relationships you have and things you cherish and that's something no one can ever take away from us. We experienced something a lot of athletes will never experience. We have a bond that will never be broken. When I tell you he was a loyal friend to the end -- he was. He was a loyal friend to the end."

New NC State coach Mark Gottfried said he was with Charles Sunday night after he had come by the team's camp earlier in the day.

"I'm just shocked and saddened," Gottfried said. "Our whole staff sat around with him for a half-hour and told stories (Sunday). We had camp going on and he just came by the camp."

Gottfried said he had re-connected with Charles last week after landing the Wolfpack job in the spring after his stint as an ESPN analyst. Gottfried said Charles played against his Alabama team when he was a junior with the Tide.

"We shared stories about our playing days," Gottfried said. "We had a great time reminiscing. He was so full of life. I'm so stunned. Not only did NC State lose one of the all-time greats as a human being, everyone loved him. He was a big-hearted guy. Everyone from the NC State family is calling. They're all so saddened and stunned."

Arizona State coach and former NC State coach Herb Sendek recalled the time he got to know Charles during his 1996-2006 coaching tenure with the Wolfpack.

"It's hard to express the tremendous loss that so many are feeling right now with this tragedy," Sendek said. "Lorenzo was a wonderful person and one of the true Legends in NC State basketball history. His game-winning basket against Houston in the 1983 national championship game is forever carved on the minds of anybody who has ever followed the sport."

Charles finished his college career two years later with 1,535 total points -- 15th on the school's scoring list -- and his .575 shooting percentage in 1985 remains a school record for seniors. He played one season in the NBA, averaging 3.4 points in 36 games with the Atlanta Hawks in 1985-86, and played internationally and in the Continental Basketball Association until 1999.

[revnecro1273]

very sad news

[Ricky Tan]

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