Post 1 of 1973-74: Reliving the NC State Wolfpack's Title Run
The Foreword; About the Author; and, the Dedication
As the 50th anniversary season of NC State’s men’s basketball team winning the 1974 NCAA Championship progresses, my book—1973-74: Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run—is being published in its entirety throughout the 2023-24 season on this website. You are invited to read the book in this space, or, if you want to jump ahead to read how NC State played each game, or if you need a gift for a NC State Wolfpack men’s basketball fan, please purchase a paperback or hardcover edition. Click these links Paperback or Hardcover for the best source to buy a copy of 1973-74: Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run.
The book, which I published in 2015, contains 94 chapters of actual game stories in the Technician, the NC State University student newspaper, some written by me and others penned by other staff writers. The game accounts are preceded by a Dedication; Foreword; a short story; and, Introduction. At the end of the book, there’s an Afterword; a Postscript: Interview with David Thompson; an Overtime: The Stuff of Memories; Acknowledgements; player and team stats; and, season results. This book is a different kind of narrative, putting you into the season as it happened. Enjoy!
POST 1: The Foreword, written by Eddie Biedenbach; About the Author; and, the Dedication.
The Foreword
By Eddie Biedenbach
Reading 1973–74 Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run brought smiles and the reminder of a few shed tears of joy and emotion as I relived each game and the events around them during this account of the season leading to State’s first national championship, the greatest time in Wolfpack basketball history. That season was the climax of the unprecedented two consecutive undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference seasons with two ACC tournament championships.
This account is an outstandingly real reminder of the life, emotions, and pride that the 1973–74 team brought not only to the student body, the university, and its alumnae, but also to Raleigh, the State of North Carolina, and the entire ACC geographic area.
Mindfully important is the knowledge that this NC State success story was preceded by a rich NC State tradition, which was significant in setting the stage for the Wolfpack’s 1974 national championship. That great NC State tradition dates back to the truly accomplished and amazing coaching of Everett Case, Press Maravich, and Norm Sloan, along with prior remarkable NC State All-American players Dick Dickey, Sammy Ranzino, Vic Molodet, Ronnie Shavlik, Lou Pucillo, John Richter, and Bobby Speight, all of whom set the pattern for greatness in NC State and ACC basketball.
NC State fans of all ages, including those born since that illustrious era, will find this account fascinating and enormously enjoyable. Jim Pomeranz’s journal provides a unique historical chronicle, which entertainingly also includes enlightening personal interviews with individual players and of head coach Norm Sloan, who guided NC State to win that magical national championship in the years when the challenging ACC from top to bottom was the very best in the country.
Having been a member of the coaching staff during that incredible unmatched era in NC State and ACC basketball, it was extremely enjoyable to relive those days and recount the events from a different perspective. My college coaching career began in 1969 in the recruiting of these notable players, who were coached to play the game with intelligence, intensity and skill. The bar that was set for excellence during the era of the 1973–74 team has become the driving force in how and what I demand in coaching my teams in order to have them strive to be the best they can be each game and each season.
Every team has its own storyline with serious and humorous occurrences that combine to mold a team into one unit as a season progresses. This team was no exception, but what this team also had was an abundance of excellence.
At the core of the starting lineup were three remarkable athletes: Tommy Burleson, Monte Towe, and David Thompson. At the core of this team’s storyline were the ordeals and successes of Tommy Burleson, State’s 7'2½" center (touted as 7'4" by the sports information director). Add the contrast of one of college’s smallest point guards 5'5" Monte Towe (5'7" in the press guides), whose heart and personality were much larger than his diminutive stature.
Then there was David Thompson, who, without a doubt, was the very best non-big man that ever played college basketball. David’s post-season personal interview with Jim Pomeranz revealed good insight into the quality of David’s character and why he was loved by teammates and basketball fans worldwide. Having had the good fortune to come to know and admire David’s family and background, I saw firsthand just why David’s work ethic, character, and love of the game became so great.
But the incredible achievement of this team required that all the stars be aligned in order to attain such lofty success. Three great players would not have been enough to achieve such unparalleled team triumph. The addition of two proven winners, both great high school players, completed the starters. Tim Stoddard came to NC State as a three-sport standout from the highly regarded East Chicago Washington High School, where, as a senior, his basketball team won the state championship, and where Tim was undefeated as a baseball pitcher and was quarterback on a football team that lost only one game. And the outstanding junior college transfer Moe Rivers effectively rounded out the starting lineup, bringing experience as a superior ball-handler and great defensive player with a winning history. Those five starters were the heart of the team. They had exceptional skills, but, too, they were guided by the masterful coaching of Norm Sloan.
How fortunate to be a part of Norm Sloan’s coaching staff as we battled the great teams from both the University of Maryland, led by Lefty Driesell, and UNC, led by Dean Smith. Most people remember the two epic battles with the perennial national champion UCLA, but the manner in how this team achieved nine straight victories over UNC and ten straight wins over Maryland served as the basis for my personal learning experiences for future decades in coaching.
The widely held opinion was that UCLA, NC State, Maryland, Marquette, and UNC were the best five teams in the country in the 1973–74 season. NC State won seven of eight games in those matchups that season. The 103–100 triple overtime win over #3 Maryland in the ACC tournament is still regarded by most as the best game ever played in the ACC and is certainly one I will never forget and will forever treasure.
There are endless stories to relate, but I invite you to read and enjoy this account of that magical season, thanks to Jim Pomeranz. Enjoy this different way of looking at history. Relive the greatest time in NC State basketball.
Eddie Biedenbach played basketball for NC State 1965–68 and was selected first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference in 1966, playing for coach Press Maravich, and in 1968, playing for coach Norman Sloan. Those same years, Biedenbach was named to the All-ACC tournament team. In 1970, he joined Sloan’s staff as an assistant, coaching the Wolfpack through the 1978 season. After three years as head coach at Davidson, he was an assistant coach for eight years at Georgia before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach for three seasons under coach Les Robinson. In 1996, he became the head coach at UNC-Asheville and was there for 17 years after which he went to UNC-Wilmington as an assistant coach for one season. In the spring of 2014, Eddie was elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He remains today one of NC State’s most ardent fans.
About the Author
Jim Pomeranz is a 1977 graduate of NC State University, a native of Sanford NC, and an avid and lifetime Wolfpack fan. He ventured into journalism early in his college career, reporting on intramural athletics for the student newspaper, Technician, writing his way from staff writer to assistant sports editor and to sports editor and serving in that position when the Wolfpack basketball team won the 1974 NCAA national championship.
Following graduation, Pomeranz worked in the sports information department of the NCSU department of athletics and for the Wolfpack Club, 1977-87, as publications editor overseeing content and publishing of the basketball and football media guides and game programs.
Along with being at courtside in Greensboro, North Carolina for the 1974 title game, Pomeranz was also at courtside when the Wolfpack won the 1983 NCAA championship in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While a student, while working at State, and for a few more years, he covered Atlantic Coast Conference basketball and other topics for United Press International.
This book, 1973-74 Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run, is Pomeranz’s first published book. As a student writer and sports editor, Pomeranz followed in the footsteps of his father, Robert E. (Bob) Pomeranz (NCSU ’43) who also wrote for the Technician and was sports editor, 1941-42.
The Dedication
To the 1973–74 NC State University Wolfpack basketball team, its coaches, players, managers and others who were a direct part of winning the 1974 NCAA national basketball championship;
To my fellow staff members at the Technician, the NC State University student newspaper, especially those who tutored me as I entered the world of journalism, and to our longtime advisor A. C. Snow;
And, of course, last on this page but not the least of anyone else, to my wife of 32 years, Nancy, for her patience and encouragement. Without her, I could not have completed this journal. —Jim Pomeranz (2015)
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Go Pack!