NCAA Tournament Champions team portrait, March 25 1974; photograph by Ed Caram.
Fabulous 50: NC State's 1974 NCAA Championship Win
March 19, 2024
Blog post authored by Katelyn Cuomo, Special Collections Graduate Student Assistant with research assistance provided by Sarah Take, Special Collections Graduate Student Assistant.
As March Madness continues, we reflect on the fifty-year anniversary of the NC State men’s basketball team's first NCAA championship win. After the team's impressive victory in the 2024 ACC tournament, let's revisit another historic moment in men's basketball history in the latest installment of the Fabulous 50 blog series.
NCAA Championship Journey
The Wolfpack began the 1974 NCAA tournament with a strong showing in the early rounds, securing victories against formidable opponents like Providence and Pittsburgh. One of the most memorable victories on their journey to the NCAA Championship came in the Final Four, where NC State squared off against UCLA (who had won seven consecutive national titles) in the semifinals.
NC State beat Marquette in a 76-64 victory for the NCAA Championship title at the Greensboro Coliseum on March 25, 1974. The Wolfpack was coached by legendary head coach Norm Sloan who led NC State to three ACC championships and the 1974 NCAA championship. The 1974 team consisted of stand-out players like David Thompson, star center Tom Burleson, and point guard Monte Towe. David Thompson was named the NCAA Men's Championship “Most Outstanding Player” following the game, and Thompson, Burleson and Monte Towe were named All-Americans for the 1974 season.
Campus Celebrations
After NC State upset UCLA in the Final Four during the 1973-1974 basketball season, there were some epic and eventful campus celebrations. According to a Technician article from March 25, 1974, “…victory demonstrations concluded with tear gas, night sticks, beer bottles, and bruises early Sunday morning”. There were several student arrests and Chancellor Caldwell even made an appearance that evening when he unsuccessfully tried to convince the students to move their celebrations from Hillsborough Street to the Brickyard.
The celebrations intensified on March 27, 1974, after the NCAA championship. According to anotherTechnician article, six thousand Wolfpack fans flooded Hillsborough Street and a large group of fans marched to the State Capitol in downtown Raleigh. Celebrations included tossing toilet paper in the air and setting off fireworks and firecrackers, with a few roman candles and star shells brought out. Perhaps the most interesting anecdote from the article is that a mock war broke out between people on top of Hillsborough Square Restaurant and the people on the street. The two sides began throwing snow and ice chunks at each other and the rooftop group used tables as barricades. This spontaneous snowball fight is undoubtedly a unique way that fans have celebrated a big win on NC State’s campus.
Enduring Legacy
In 2016, the 1974 NC State men’s basketball team became the first team in school history to be inducted into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame. The enduring legacy of this historic NCAA championship is also shown through the recent unveiling of the David Thompson statue on December 6, 2023. Standing at over 13 feet tall outside of Reynolds Coliseum, the bronze statue commemorates Thompson, who is known as one of the greatest basketball players in collegiate sports history. He earned first-team All-American and ACC Player of the Year honors in all three seasons at NC State, scoring a record-breaking 2,309 points in 86 career games.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the win, Coach Norman Sloan and the 1974 NCAA championship team were honored during the “Stormin’ Praise for Norman Sloan” event that occurred before the NC State vs. Boston College basketball game on February 24, 2024. Players from the 1974 NCAA Championship team gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the big win and honored members of the team and Norm Sloan’s legacy.
Looking back 50 years ago, the historic win from 1974 had firmly established NC State’s legacy in college basketball and marked a pivotal moment in the history of NC State Athletics. After all, “the NCAA championship win marked NC State's first team national title in any sport and sealed the legacy of one of the best teams in NC State, the ACC and college basketball history.”
Resources for Further Research
For more information on the history of men’s basketball at NC State, visit our Historical State Timelines website! If you want to discover more about the 1974 men’s basketball team, check out some of these unique archival collections housed at the Special Collections Research Center: North Carolina State University, Athletics, Men's Basketball Audiovisual Materials 1939-2014, undated, University Archives Audiovisual Collection 1930s-2010, the Ed Caram Negatives Circa 1968-Circa 1975, North Carolina State University, Memorabilia Collection Before 1492, 1869-2012, 2023 (bulk 1869-2010), and the Alan Sykes Collection of NC State Athletics Publications and Memorabilia 1930-2013.
If you have any questions or are interested in viewing Special Collections materials, please contact us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu or submit a request online. The Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only. Appointments are available Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm and Saturday, 1pm–5pm. Requests for a Saturday appointment must be received no later than Tuesday of the same week.