Those of us who were not in Reynolds Coliseum on March 6, 1965, or March 16, 1974, or Feb. 21, 1993, have often heard about how quiet and emotional it was on those afternoons three decades apart.
We have heard about the eye-dabbing impact of seeing Everett Case, fragile and cancer-stricken, being lifted by his former players to cut down the final strand of a net following the Wolfpack’s victory over Duke in the 1965 ACC championship game.
We have heard about the silence and fear after David Thompson, angered over a no call on the other end of the court, took flight to block a Pittsburgh player’s shot in an NCAA regional championship game. Thompson rejected it, but tripped over 6-foot-9 teammate Phil Spence’s shoulder — yes, he was that high in the air — while doing so.
Thompson lay motionless on the wooden floor, his head surrounded by a small puddle of blood.
And we have heard about the sniffles and sobs that broke the silence the day Jim Valvano gave the first — and frankly better — version of the “Don’t Give Up” speech in a pregame ceremony the day NC State honored the 10th anniversary of Valvano’s crowning coaching achievement, the 1983 ACC and NCAA titles. That speech became more well-known at ESPN’s ESPY Awards.
They were each times when the crowd at Reynolds came together to pray and hope for positive outcomes in serious situations.
It was hard not to recall those times Saturday afternoon, as a stunned crowd watched in pin-dropping silence as emergency medical personnel feverishly worked to save the life of South Carolina State fifth-year senior guard Tyvoris Solomon after he collapsed on the sideline in the middle of the first half.
For more than 30 minutes, there was no soundtrack to the game, just an occasional, impassioned outcry from the Bulldog bench as they watched team trainer Tyler Long and Wake County paramedics perform CPR and use an automated defibrillator to revive their teammate.
It was a frightening, horrifying moment that no one expects to be part of when they buy a ticket to a basketball game.
As players held their heads in towels, unable to watch what was happening to someone who had just played the first four minutes of the game without incident, the stands were full of people with their heads bowed in silent prayer. The NC State dance team circled behind the south end zone, locked arm-in-arm, to pray for his recovery.
NC State first-year head coach Kevin Keatts embraced his inconsolable counterpart, South Carolina State coach Murray Garvin, as emergency personnel worked on the player.
I’ve seen something like this several times during my writing career, and it never gets easier being a spectator to a life-threatening moment. I was covering the North Carolina-Virginia football game in Chapel Hill when game official Jim Knight collapsed on the field of Kenan Stadium from a heart attack. His life was saved because it happened next to a world-class emergency hospital that managed to treat him without delay. I had to write about Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams and NC State’s Sidney Lowe collapsing during games, and even though those were caused by less dangerous circumstances like vertigo and flu symptoms, it’s no less difficult in the moment.
Solomon was as similarly fortunate as Knight. The immediate chest compressions and defibrillations helped save his life. He regained consciousness in the hallway of PNC Arena and was alert throughout his trip to UNC Rex Healthcare’s N.C. Heart and Vascular Hospital.
As he said Monday during a meeting with local reporters, the outcome could have been tragic if the unexpected heart failure had happened somewhere else. Or, he might not have made it even with quick emergency care, as happened with Loyola Marymount’s Hank Gathers during a West Coast Conference tournament game in 1990.
“It could have been a whole different situation,” Solomon said.
Solomon received visits from his teammates on Saturday after the game. His mother and other members of his family raced to Raleigh from Charleston, S.C., to be by his side. A few NC State fans dropped by to wish him well. He’s getting tested to see what caused his collapse.
Solomon knows that he received a second chance. The fifth-year senior guard’s playing career is certainly in jeopardy, but hopefully he can be lifted in the knowledge that Thompson returned from his significant head injury to participate in the Wolfpack’s next game — a double-overtime victory over seven-time national champion UCLA in the NCAA semifinals five days after his fall.
Two nights later, Thompson helped the Wolfpack win its first NCAA championship with a win over Marquette.
Knight, who collapsed in front of 50,000 people at Kenan Stadium and a regional television audience 20 years ago, returned as an ACC official the following season.
Hopefully, Solomon will recover quickly enough to be with his family at home for the holidays and to finish his academic career. Whatever the future holds, he will be forever tied to the Wolfpack community, who dropped everything last Saturday to pray for his well-being.
Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
——
• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker
• Like us on Facebook
- WR
- WR
- TE
- CB
- RB
- DE
- PRO
- DT
- WR
- CB
