Benevolent One
Team Owner
Lorenzo Charles Dies At 47
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lorenzo Charles, the muscular forward whose last-second dunk gave underdog North Carolina State a stunning win in the 1983 national college championship game, was killed Monday when a bus he was driving crashed along a highway, a company official said.
Elite Coach general manager Brad Jackson said Charles, 47, worked for the company and was driving one of its buses on Interstate 40. No passengers were aboard.
Charles grabbed Dereck Whittenburg's 30-foot shot in the 1983 title game and dunked it at the buzzer to give the Wolfpack a 54-52 win over heavy favorite Houston and its second national title, sending coach Jim Valvano spilling onto the court, scrambling for someone to hug in what has become one of the lasting images of the NCAA tournament.
Whittenburg became emotional when recalling his teammate and friend with ESPN.com's Andy Katz.
"It's a terrible day for the '83 team, a terrible day," Whittenburg said. "He's just a positive, a warm spirit. On the court, he never smiled. He was a competitor. He was tough and all that. Off the court. He was a gentle giant. Man, he came with that bubbly smile."
Sidney Lowe, Charles' teammate and NC State's coach through last season said "Lorenzo was just happy with his life. He certainly would have loved to have played longer in the NBA. He was one of those guys that never complained. He never complained about this or that opportunity. He just went on with his life and accepted it. He got involved in other things to be involved with. You never saw him in a bad mood. I have never talked to him or seen him in a bad mood. I never talked to him where he had one negative thing about anybody. He never had a negative thing to say. The way he lived his life."
The 1983 team has now lost four members: Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993; McLean, who died unexpectedly on April 27; walk-on Quinton Leonard, who died at age 44 of a heart attack in 2006; and Charles.
"It's just hard to grasp," Lowe said. "It's just sad now when you talk about that team who have passed away. It's very difficult. You talk about special moments in your life and relationships you have and things you cherish and that's something no one can ever take away from us. We experienced something a lot of athletes will never experience. We have a bond that will never be broken. When I tell you he was a loyal friend to the end -- he was. He was a loyal friend to the end."
Thurl Bailey, one of Charles' teammates on the championship team, said it's tough to accept that the player who made the game-winning dunk is gone.
"But I heard someone say, I was talking to them on the phone about this, that Jimmy V finally found somebody to hug," Bailey told WRAL-TV.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lorenzo Charles, the muscular forward whose last-second dunk gave underdog North Carolina State a stunning win in the 1983 national college championship game, was killed Monday when a bus he was driving crashed along a highway, a company official said.
Elite Coach general manager Brad Jackson said Charles, 47, worked for the company and was driving one of its buses on Interstate 40. No passengers were aboard.
Charles grabbed Dereck Whittenburg's 30-foot shot in the 1983 title game and dunked it at the buzzer to give the Wolfpack a 54-52 win over heavy favorite Houston and its second national title, sending coach Jim Valvano spilling onto the court, scrambling for someone to hug in what has become one of the lasting images of the NCAA tournament.
Whittenburg became emotional when recalling his teammate and friend with ESPN.com's Andy Katz.
"It's a terrible day for the '83 team, a terrible day," Whittenburg said. "He's just a positive, a warm spirit. On the court, he never smiled. He was a competitor. He was tough and all that. Off the court. He was a gentle giant. Man, he came with that bubbly smile."
Sidney Lowe, Charles' teammate and NC State's coach through last season said "Lorenzo was just happy with his life. He certainly would have loved to have played longer in the NBA. He was one of those guys that never complained. He never complained about this or that opportunity. He just went on with his life and accepted it. He got involved in other things to be involved with. You never saw him in a bad mood. I have never talked to him or seen him in a bad mood. I never talked to him where he had one negative thing about anybody. He never had a negative thing to say. The way he lived his life."
The 1983 team has now lost four members: Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993; McLean, who died unexpectedly on April 27; walk-on Quinton Leonard, who died at age 44 of a heart attack in 2006; and Charles.
"It's just hard to grasp," Lowe said. "It's just sad now when you talk about that team who have passed away. It's very difficult. You talk about special moments in your life and relationships you have and things you cherish and that's something no one can ever take away from us. We experienced something a lot of athletes will never experience. We have a bond that will never be broken. When I tell you he was a loyal friend to the end -- he was. He was a loyal friend to the end."
Thurl Bailey, one of Charles' teammates on the championship team, said it's tough to accept that the player who made the game-winning dunk is gone.
"But I heard someone say, I was talking to them on the phone about this, that Jimmy V finally found somebody to hug," Bailey told WRAL-TV.
