Dan Collins - The ACC Basketball Book of Fame

The ACC Basketball
Book of Fame

1406 Plaza Drive
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27103
www.blairpub.com

Copyright 2013 by Dan Collins
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. For information address John F. Blair, Publisher, Subsidiary Rights Department, 1406 Plaza Drive, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27103.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Collins, Dan, 1952

The ACC basketball book of fame / by Dan Collins ; foreword by Dave Odom.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-89587-606-5 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-89587-607-2 (ebook) 1. Basketball
TournamentsUnited StatesHistory. 2. Atlantic Coast ConferenceHistory. 3.
BasketballRecordsUnited StatesHistory. I. Title.

GV885.49.A84C67 2013

796.3230973dc23

2013013545

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Front cover image: Shutterstock.com / B. Calkins; background: psdgraphics.com

Design by Debra Long Hampton

To every player
who ever suited up for an ACC game,
and all of us who were there
to cheer and/or boo them on

CONTENTS

Kenny SmithNorth Carolina

Hawkeye WhitneyN.C. State

For six decades, the Atlantic Coast Conference has brought excitement, joy, and even an occasional tear to fans living within its geographic footprint. While ACC teams have excelled in nearly every sport, mens basketball has unquestionably been the leagues beacon.

Growing up in eastern North Carolina, I learned early on that the best Christmas gift was a ticket to the legendary Dixie Classic, held in Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of North Carolina State University. It was there that I cheered the exploits of my heroesRonnie Shavlik, Lennie Rosenbluth, Len Chappell, Art Heymanwho were coached by some of the games bestEverett Case, Frank McGuire, Bones McKinney, Vic Bubasas their Tobacco Road teams conquered national powers daring to visit that historic event.

In the late 1960s, the landscape of college basketball changed, and the ACC found itself at the forefront for the next two decades. Coaches such as Dean Smith, Lefty Driesell, Norm Sloan, and Terry Holland fueled the fire of fans and generated unsurpassed media attention. Outstanding playersJordan, Bias, Thompson, Sampsonfilled the rosters, and championships became as frequent as beautiful Southern sunsets. National titles in 1974, 1982, and 1983, National Players of the Year (10 awards), and national rankings that routinely included five or six conference teamsmore than half the leagues membershipwere celebrated fervently.

The 1980s and 1990s brought leaders such as Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, Bobby Cremins, and Gary Williams, as well as more great playersLaettner, Price, and two of my personal favorites, Childress and Duncan. Over a 19-year span, eight more national championship banners were hung in ACC arenas.

In no other sport in any other conference has the media been more woven into the fiber of history than with ACC basketball. Through the written word and stirring broadcasts long into the night, journalists and colorful commentators have always been part of ACC lore. Fans revel in the play-by-play calls and cant wait until the next day to read their favorite columnists analysis of action on the court and the locker-room aftermath. Television, of course, has played a key role in the popularity of ACC basketball, first on the regional level, then throughout the country, helping to make the ACC truly Americas conference.

Few, if any, reporters have covered ACC basketball longer or more capably than Dan Collins. He came on the scene as an undergraduate student in the days of the peerless David Thompson and witnessed arguably the greatest game ever played in the league when N.C. State defeated Maryland in the 1974 ACC championship game. Dan joined the Winston-Salem Journal staff in 1978 and has continued to follow closely every aspect of the ACC through portions of five decades.

In The ACC Basketball Book of Fame, Dan shares his unique perceptions from a lifetime of covering the countrys premier college basketball conference. To diehard ACC fans, this volume will prove a treasure chest of the names and games that have made ACC basketball truly the lifeblood of college sports for more than half a century.

Dave Odom

In the late summer and early fall of 2002, on the impending grand occasion of the ACCs 50th anniversary, a blue-ribbon committee selected the 50 greatest players in the leagues illustrious basketball history. The committee had 120 members, and I was one.

Thinking back, I never got my blue ribbon to show for it.

Regardless, it was a great honor, of which I wrote for the Winston-Salem Journal edition of September 27, 2002. An even greater honor was bestowed when the ACC reprinted the article on the first page of the conferences 20023 media guide. Of my millions of words as a sportswriter since joining the staff of the Chapel Hill Newspaper in the fall of 1972, these, given the subject and how they were used, may be my favorites:

We grew up together, my generation and the Atlantic Coast Conference. This is not ancient history, although my kids might beg to differ.

The league will turn 50 in May. I turned 50 last month. My freshman year in college was 1970, which means that of the 49 years of the ACCs existence, I was involved in 32 of them.