Spirit of Norm Sloan back in Reynolds Coliseum as famed plaid jacket returns
N.C. State’s 1974 national basketball champions are best remembered for the brilliance of forward David Thompson, the passion of center Tommy Burleson and the deft playmaking of guard Monte Towe.
And a fiery coach, Norman Sloan. And his plaid coat some believed lucky.
During the Wolfpack’s run to the NCAA title, Sloan often was seen in a sports jacket that some might have called garish with its touches of red, black and yellow plaids but was stylish enough for the coach.
Bobby Purcell, the executive director of NCSU’s Wolfpack Club, now has the jacket and wanted others to see it. He wore it Tuesday night as the Pack hosted Alcorn State in a Heritage Game at James T. Valvano Arena at Reynolds Coliseum, allowing Wolfpack fans to get another glimpse of the coat once synonymous with Sloan.
“I wanted to wear it to honor Coach Sloan in Reynolds,” Purcell said in an interview. “I think a lot of people don’t really remember what a great coach and what a great man he was. I wanted to do it for him for all he did for N.C. State basketball and for all he did for the university.”
Purcell said he received the jacket this past summer from Towe, an assistant coach for Sloan at NCSU and Florida. Towe, he said, had gotten it from Joan Sloan, Sloan’s wife, after the coach’s death in December 2003.
“Monte said it was the jacket Coach Sloan wore in the championship game,” Purcell said. “I talked to Mrs. Sloan to see if it was OK I wore it tonight. She was very happy I’m wearing it tonight.”
Burleson, who attended Tuesday’s game, had his eyes widen when he first spotted the jacket, then gave a lapel a playful rub.
“That’s the one,” he said, “That’s Coach. I’m having a flashback, being back in Reynolds and now seeing Coach’s jacket.”
Purcell also made a trip to the Wolfpack locker room before the game to give NCSU coach Kevin Keatts a requested look at the coat.
Sloan coached at N.C. State from 1966 to 1980, winning ACC championships in 1970, 1973 and ‘74. Ever competitive and at times outspoken, he acquired the moniker “Stormin’ Norman,” which Sloan once said was always used by the media because it rhymes while knowing better.
“He was one of the most competitive human beings I’ve ever been around,” Purcell said.
Sloan won 624 games in a college coaching career that began in 1951 at Presbyterian and ended in 1989 at Florida. A member of the NCSU Athletic Hall of Fame, he was inducted in the N.C. Sports Hall in 1994.
Many, including Purcell, believe Sloan belongs in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
“We’ve got to work more on that because that’s well past due,” Purcell said.
In a Heritage Game soon after Sloan’s death in 2003, then-Pack coach Herb Sendek placed one of Sloan’s plaid jackets across the top of an open seat on Wolfpack bench in his honor. “It’s something I will always treasure and remember,” Sendek said that day.
A display case in the N.C. Sports Hall has a replica of Sloan’s plaid coat. Purcell believes his is the authentic one.
“I’m just happy I was able to honor him this way,” Purcell said as he walked through Reynolds, talking with Wolfpack fans, sharing Sloan’s story and legacy.
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 7:54 PM with the headline "Spirit of Norm Sloan back in Reynolds Coliseum as famed plaid jacket returns."
