NC State inducting exciting 2018 class to Hall of Fame

Two Olympic gold medalists, ACC Athletes of the Year from three different sports, a legendary coach and athletics administrator and the most iconic team in the history of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament highlight the 2018 class of the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame.

The six-member class is the fifth overall since the establishment of the Hall of Fame in 2012 and will be inducted at a gala in Reynolds Coliseum on Sept. 14, 2018.

“The committee has selected another tremendous class that personifies the spirit and excellence of NC State Athletics,” NC State athletic director Debbie Yow said. “We look forward to honoring and celebrating the legacy and achievements of this remarkable class in 2018.”

Rodney Monroe, who was known as “Ice’’ when he played for coaches Jim Valvano and Les Robinson, broke David Thompson’s career scoring record during his Wolfpack career (1988-1991). The two-time All-American had 2,551 career points and ranks second in program history with 885 field goals made.

Monroe — who was the 1991 ACC player of the year — led the league in scoring, which ranked seventh nationally at 27.0 points per game his senior year. He scored 48 points in a comeback victory over Georgia Tech that season, the fourth-best single-game performance in school history. He was also a two-time All-ACC performer, a two-time All-ACC Tournament choice and was named an All-American by seven different outlets following his senior year.

Joan Benoit (Samuelson) was a cross country All-American for the Wolfpack in 1977 and 1978, helping the Wolfpack win ACC cross country titles those two years. She went on to win the Boston Marathon in 1979 and 1983, and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She set an American Olympic record and an American record in the marathon that both stood for over a decade, and world records in the marathon and half marathon. Benoit won the 1985 Sullivan Award as the top U.S. amateur athlete.

Cullen Jones became a four-time Olympic medalist after his swimming days ended at NC State. He won the 2006 NCAA title in the 50-meter freestyle and was named that year’s ACC Swimmer of the Year and ACC Meet MVP. He has set NC State, ACC and American records in the 50 free during his career and still holds a world record as a member of the 100 freestyle relay.

Jones, who learned to swim after he almost drowned at the age of five, won a gold medal in the 400 relay at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, then brought home three medals from London in 2012 — gold in the 400 medley relay and silver in both the 400 freestyle relay and 50 freestyle. He is the first African-American to hold a world record (400 meter freestyle relay) in swimming.

Golfer Tim Clark is one of just four players in school history to earn All-America notice three times. He was tabbed for that honor by the Golf Coaches Association in 1996, 1997 and 1998. He is only player in school history to win two NCAA Regional titles, ranks third in school history in victories and second in single-stroke average. He won the 1997 U.S. Amateur Public Links to quality for the 1998 Masters Tournament during his Wolfpack career.

Clark joined the PGA Tour in 2002 and has two tour victories, four international victories and is a three-time President’s Cup competitor. The winner of The Players Championship in 2010 and the RBC Canadian Open in 2014, he has also recorded top three finishes at The Masters, the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.

Willis Casey served as NC State’s swimming and diving head coach from 1946-69 and was the athletics director from 1969-86 in a career that spanned 40 years. He led the Wolfpack to 11 conference titles, a dual meet record of 189-23, and coached 15 national champions.

Casey hired some of the most legendary coaches in NCAA history to work for the Wolfpack as athletic director, including Lou Holtz, Kay Yow, Jim Valvano, Richard Sykes, Rollie Geiger, Bo Rein, Dick Sheridan, Don Easterling, Bob Guzzo and Ray Tanner.

Casey was responsible for the inauguration and subsequent expansion of women’s sports at NC State and was the powerful chair of the NCAA Committee on men’s basketball. He helped spur on rules changes during the 1970s, including the expansion of the NCAA Tournament to more than one team per conference, freshman eligibility and the return of the slam dunk.

That slam dunk rule and one of the coaches he hired ended up making what is arguably the most memorable play in the history of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The 1983 Wolfpack, known as the “Cardiac Pack,” stunned the nation with a victory over highly-favored Houston in Albuquerque, N.M.

Lorenzo Charles’ slam dunk at the buzzer and Valvano’s running up and down the court after the win, looking for someone to hug, have become iconic symbols of the NCAA Final Four.

The 1983 squad entered the ACC Tournament with 10 losses, but won the league’s automatic NCAA bid with wins over Wake Forest, North Carolina and Ralph Sampson’s Virginia team. “Destiny’s Darlings” entered March Madness as a No. 6 seed, but knocked down Pepperdine, UNLV, Utah and the Cavaliers again to win the West Region.

NC State defeated Georgia in the semifinals for the chance to play Houston’s Phi Slama Jama in the finals. The game was close throughout, but with two seconds left on the clock, Lorenzo Charles slammed home the game’s decisive basket for a 54-52 victory.