Thurl Bailey takes another, inside look at NC State basketball’s magical 1983 run
Thirty-seven years after the N.C. State men’s basketball team made its legendary run through the NCAA tournament to win the national title, one of its key players is pulling back the curtain for Wolfpack fans.
The story of the 1983 N.C. State team, led by their larger-than-life coach, Jim Valvano, has been well -documented since the Pack shocked the world and knocked off Houston to win the NCAA Tournament. But never has a first-person account from that team been put to paper by one of the men who was there for every turn.
Thurl Bailey was a starting forward on that ‘83 team as a senior, one of the key pieces, and after years of having the thought of a book in his mind, finally got it done. On Dec. 15, Bailey’s book “Team of Destiny” will be available for pre-orders.
Bailey tells the stories of that historic Wolfpack team from the perspective of the coaches, players, student managers, anyone who had any connection with the program.
“Other than interviews I don’t think that there’s really been a front-row seat perspective from the players and all those who are in that circle,” Bailey said in a phone interview with the N&O. “There’s been documentaries talking about, for the most part, the championship itself and of course our leader, Jimmy V. But my thought was do people really know much about the cast of characters who came together and just had this incredible journey and this incredible story? The answer is no.”
From big personalities like the late Valvano, to stars like Dereck Whittenburg, Sidney Lowe and Lorenzo Charles, to former walk-on Tommy DiNardo and freshman sensation Ernie Myers, Bailey wanted to make sure everyone’s real story, their real journeys, were told. Valvano, who died from cancer in 1993 and Charles, who died in a bus crash in Raleigh in 2011, had their stories told by those close to them, Bailey said.
“Even though I knew I couldn’t speak to Lorenzo, I spoke about Lorenzo through the voices of those who were around him and knew him,” Bailey said. “I was able to speak and talk to Pam Valvano, coach’s wife at the time.”
Personal stories
Bailey started drafting the book a while back, always knowing he wanted to write a book, even though he wasn’t 100 percent sure on the subject matter. People encouraged him to write an autobiography, and he flirted with the idea.
After winning the national title at N.C. State, Bailey was drafted by the Utah Jazz and spent 12 years in the NBA, most of them in Utah. From 1994 until 1998 Bailey played overseas, before returning to the Jazz and retiring in 1999. He’s currently on the broadcast team for the Utah Jazz and certainly would have had plenty of stories to share had he decided to go the autobiography route.
But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense to tell the story of the ‘83 Wolfpack. Not just from the perspective of the championship run, but how the team was formed and what they went through on their journey. The book is filled with the personal stories of so many members of the team.
“Everyone knows the story for the most part, most people do. It’s such an underdog story, it’s been told every year during March Madness or the beginning of the basketball season, the Jimmy V Classic,” Bailey said. “People who weren’t even born at that time have heard. But now they get an opportunity to understand how a championship mindset comes together. And it comes together with each individual’s personal journey, where they came from, finding their own purpose and then coming together with the other group, the other people and doing something special.”
After months of speaking with so many of his former teammates, Bailey was blown away when he learned so many stories that he never knew, even though he spent so much time with these people.
He was excited to share some of those stories, like that of Max Perry, a graduate assistant coach on the ‘83 team. Perry transferred to N.C. State from Oklahoma, playing his final year with the Wolfpack the season before they won it all. Perry told the story of how he wanted to go to Evansville but was pushed by an assistant coach to attend OU. His first year at Oklahoma was when the entire Evansville basketball team was killed in a plane crash.
“He is really clear on how grateful he is to be where he is today,” Bailey said. “It’s those kinds of things that once you read them you’ll feel some sense of internal appreciation.”
Bailey also dives deep into the backstory of Myers, who was a Parade All-America coming out of high school and the things he went through while N.C. State was on its title run.
“Him growing up in Harlem and having opportunities through basketball,” Bailey said. “His mom was in prison pretty much the whole time we were going through that championship run. Just hearing those things and hearing about the choices he made and the people that came through his life that kept him from that road, just incredible to hear.”
Myers, who resides in Raleigh and occasionally does broadcast work on N.C. State women’s basketball, had a pair of two-hour interviews with Bailey to share his story. He knew Bailey’s vision was not to talk so much about basketball, but really pull back the layers on the players’ differing backgrounds.
“You’re teammates and you think you know the guys, but you don’t really know them,” Myers said. “I’m excited about hearing from other guys what made them who they are, what they brought to the table on that team. A lot of them, from what I understand, had amazing stories and I’m looking forward to reading everybody’s stories. It’s a different perspective.”
A team with purpose
While this happened so long ago, Bailey wasn’t surprised with his teammates ability to recall certain moments from 1983 and articulate them to him for the book.
He was impressed, but not surprised.
“When you think about the culmination of everything, which was becoming a champion, those things aren’t easily forgotten,” Bailey said. “You can really go back and with clarity understand what got you there. Those things become even more important when you accomplish what we accomplish.”
The 1982-83 team went 26-10 (8-6 ACC) and won the ACC tournament, beating Virginia in the championship game, in earning a spot in the NCAA field. They won their first two NCAA games over Pepperdine and UNLV by a combined three points. After a 19-point win over Utah, the Wolfpack met Ralph Sampson and Virginia again in the next round, edging out the Cavaliers, the No. 1 seed, by one point to advance to the Final Four.
Bailey, 59, wants the book to be a legacy for his teammates, something their grand kids will read one day, reading about their contributions to a championship team. The players, now spread out around the country, got together to film ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Survive and Advance” which aired in 2013 and again in 2016, when they finally got their trip to the White House, 33 years after their championship.
“I think our team had a purpose,” Bailey said. “It was about the people we affected. It was about the letters we got, people we gave hope to. So I think we found our purpose within what we were doing.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Thurl Bailey takes another, inside look at NC State basketball’s magical 1983 run."
