Jaybird's Jottings

Giant on the Hill: A Brief History of the Giant Grocery Store in Groveton

For more than sixty years, a Giant grocery story has stood on top of Beacon Hill in Groveton.   Lest we forget what this anchor has meant for the community and surrounding areas, let’s take a brief look at its story.

 

The Giant in Groveton opened in 1960.  It was located where the current one is, near the corner of Richmond Highway and Memorial Avenue (then known as W. Oak Street).   The address, as it is today, was 6800 Richmond Highway.   The new store was part of a wave of supermarkets from the growing chain.  The first Giant had opened at Georgia Avenue and Park Road in NW DC in 1936.  Five years later, Arlington got bragging rights as the first outside the District, followed by Silver Spring in 1946.

In the summer of 1955, the supermarket company, based in Landover, opened their 30th store and eighth in Virginia at the Bradlee Shopping Center at 3708 King Street.   It must have seemed like the company could not build them fast enough.  The great suburban boom was on in the Washington region.  Fairfax County’s population would leap from 98,557 in 1950 to 275,002 in 1960.  Giant was on its way to a total that has now reached more than 150 stores in the greater DMV region.

A long forgotten figure in Washington’s retail history is Nehemiah Myer Cohen (1893-1984), who founded the company.   A native of Jerusalem, he owned three grocery stores in Lancaster, Pennsylvania before opening that first Giant in DC in 1936.

The story of the Groveton Giant began in 1956.  The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors held meetings to discuss two proposals in this growing part of the county two to three miles south of Alexandria.   One developer wanted a shopping center in Hybla Valley.   Tower Construction, Giant’s shopping center builder, wanted one in Groveton on top of Beacon Hill.   

At that time, this crown of land was occupied by the Beacon Airport and City View II, a landmark home built in 1920.    Beth Mitchell's Interpretive Map of Fairfax County in 1760 shows small tobacco plantations made up the county.    To get to Alexandria, George Washington took the colonial road that Route One partly follows today.    Groveton sprung up on both sides of the road in the 1870s.   The completion of the Richmond-Washington Highway in the 1920s signaled the start of a new era that would forever change the once rural landscape.    

Harry Lehman, grandson of W.F.P. Reid and son of Franklin Reid, was born and raised in City View II.  Its all-weather top deck provided sweeping views of not only Alexandria, but also Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C.

“When you sat up there,” Lehman said, “you were high in the sky.”

Note:  City View II replaced City View I, which was built in 1868 and burned down in 1918).

Groveton was an early suburban neighborhood in the county.  By 1937, a number of homes had sprouted up near the airport and on both sides of the highway.   Route One was on its way to becoming a busy artery for both local traffic and travelers.   Interstate 95, the Beltway and the Wilson Bridge would not be built until the 1960s.   This part of the county, especially Penn Daw, became a mecca for travelers.   Almost all of the motels are gone, but a few remain to remind us of those earlier times.     

Another busy place in Groveton was the Dixie Pig Restaurant, a culinary landmark that fed many a hungry tummy from 1947 to its closing in the early 1990s.  In her book, “Groveton, Images of America,” author and local resident Charlotte Brown tells us Benjamin and Helen Bishop of North Carolina imported the Tar Heel state’s signature recipe for moist pork and beef barbecue to their location.   Their restaurant was situated across the street from City View II and the airport. 

In 1957, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors initially denied the application by Tower Construction for the City View tract.  The Board was worried that a shopping center there would pull business away from the one approved for Hybla Valley, about a mile to the south.

The dispute went to court.  That same year Judge Harry L. Carrico ruled the Board of Supervisors could not deny a request for a commercial zoning on the basis of “fear of competition.”  The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision.     

City View II (site Famous Dave's) was demolished in 1959.  That summer Giant Food announced record sales and the start of their new “Super Giant” stores, which combined foods and department store items.

Photo: Historic Aerials, 1949

 

One of those Super Giants was the new Giant in Groveton, built right where the one is located today near the corner of Richmond Highway and Memorial Avenue.  

Historic aerials show that for a few years, parts of the two runways were still there.  The store was located steps from where the two runways had crossed.   Even today, the  long fence behind the store between Memorial and Southgate marks the location of the north-south runway.   The site of City View is between the Panera and Famous Dave’s.   

Photo:  Historic Aerials, 1962

 

How exciting it must have been on Monday, August 22nd, 1960 when the new store opened their doors.   The Washington Evening Star (August 21) reported “the store will display some innovations in super market design.”   An ad in the Star said, “Super Giant, a new dimension in retailing.”   A photograph in the August 23rd edition shows Cohen admiring a “modernistic 90-foot agricultural mural decorating each of two Super Giants, which the firm opened yesterday.”

The manager was James L. Tartar, 30, of Alexandria.  He previously ran the Giant on North St. Asaph Street in Alexandria. 

A Super Giant also opened in Springfield. The stores were 30,000 square foot combination supermarket and self-service department stores and “the first examples of Giant’s new market designs.”   

In addition to food, shoppers could purchase clothing, small electric appliances, glassware, china, toys, and kitchenware, and “Charge It” with the company’s credit plan.  Bonus stamps was another popular program.

It’s hard to know the store’s sales figures, but the 1960s was certainly a good time for retail in the area.  The population of the county lept from 275,000 in 1960 to 455,000 in 1970.  The surrounding neighborhoods such as Bucknell Heights, Jefferson Manor and Virginia Hills were on board or coming soon.  

The store also brought good attention to Groveton.  For example, an ad in the Star (December 6,1967) showed the manager of the Giant in Groveton, presenting a scholarship award to the Thomas Edison High School faculty advisor Miss Elizabeth Cofer and three students.  Giant sponsored the popular TV Quiz program on WRC, Channel 4.

It’s also hard to know all the places where folks in Groveton went for groceries before the Giant was built.   Alexandria was certainly an option.   Anne Marie Hicks told this writer about “Chauncey's Groveton Market,” a full service grocery directly across from the airport.  Margaret W. “Peggy” Chauncey’s obituary in the Post tells us she (1906-1996) she helped run the King Street store in the 1940s and 1950s. 

In “Snake Hill to Spring Bank,” Jason Hoffman recalled Chauncey’s Market being “up here on the hill.” 

The Giant store was initially the only building on the footprint that is now the Beacon Center (renamed in the 2000s.  In 1972, the Washington Post reported the start of construction for “Beacon Mall,” the “first enclosed shopping mall in southeastern Fairfax County.”   

 

The Beacon Mall grew throughout the 1970s.  A 1978 ad in the Post listed 33 stores. Among them were Baskin-Robbins, Beacon Florist, Beacon Mall 4 Theatre, Beacon Tailors, Eastern Palace, Giant, Goodyear Tire, Mr. Foto, People’s Drug Store, Record Rack, and Woolco.

The Beacon movie theaters must have been a big deal. The first movies, shown in March 1974, were Jesus Christ Superstar, M*A*S*H* and Westworld.   Prior to that, residents could choose between the Alexandria theaters and the Mount Vernon Drive-In that was located where Costco is today on Route One at the corner of Ladson and Richmond Highway.   In the late 1980s, the drive in was demolished and replaced by a set of theaters that were later demolished to make way for the Costco.   

Like neighboring Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, Fairfax County’s population continued to grow.  It reached 596,000 in 1980 and 818,000 in 1990.  Giant grew with it every step of the way.   In 1989, the company controlled 48 percent of the local grocery market.   Israel Cohen, son of Nehemiah Myer Cohen, had kept the helm steady.   In 1998, Royal Ahold, a Dutch conglomerate, acquired Giant for about $2.7B.  It ranked 19th in sales in the US.   Israel Cohen, the founding CEO and Chairman, had passed three years earlier.

The turn of the century saw the population of the county reach 969,749.  In the mid 1990s, the Beacon Mall had gained more restaurants, including the Outback.  In the first part of the 2000s, the design of the mall was tweaked to its current configuration.   A big and popular newcomer was Lowe’s, giving the shopping center a one-two punch.   

Groveton’s identity, lacking in historical and “third places,” continues to be juxtaposed with the popularity and size of the shopping center.    The neighborhood had also lacked historical markers.  But several years ago, a county historical marker was erected to honor the Beacon airport.  It stands just a few steps from the Giant.

Last year, the Giant store was revamped with a new look.   Perhaps pleasing many long time shoppers, the seafood section was moved from the far corner spot to a more central location.  The self-service area in front was also reconfigured.   

With competition from Harris Teeter, Whole Foods and others, Giant’s share of the market in the region has dipped to about 20%.  Nevertheless, it remains the region’s largest grocer. 

What the future holds for this landmark store we do not know.   County planners have big ideas that would transform the Beacon Center into an urbanesque footprint with residential and mixed-use.   Metro has said it could extend the Yellow Line to Groveton, possibly by 2040.   A new Bus Rapid Transit line is on tap for later this decade and one of its stops will be Groveton (Beacon Hill). 

They say you can’t eat history, but you can sure appreciate buying food from a place that now has six decades under its belt.   We salute all the workers who have brought us and sold us the food these past sixty plus years and related items.   Their efforts were especially noteworthy during the Covid.  

 

 

 

 

 

1971-1974: A Glorious Run for the Greensboro Coliseum

Whenever a sports writer decides to spend some time on a book or lengthy article, the topic is usually a team, a player, a season, an era, or the like. 

In the case of Greensboro, North Carolina, someone could write a book about its Coliseum.   Admittedly, it wouldn’t be a best seller.  But its story is rich, unique and worth telling.   

Almost all of the bigger arenas in the US have, as tenants, either one or two major league teams, a Division One team, or a combination.  The Greensboro Coliseum has none of those.  It does have a counterpart that way, the Tacoma Dome.  But Greensboro is the largest of all the indoor arenas and has been around since 1959.  The Tacoma Dome opened in 1983. 

Adding to Greensboro’s uniqueness is the city’s population, 299,000 in 2020, ranking 70th.  The metro region (Greensboro/High Point/Piedmont Triad) ranks even lower at 76th (776,000).   

The Gate City does have professional baseball, an “A” level minor league franchise with a ballpark capacity of about 7,000.   UNC-G did become Division I in the 1990s, but it has not had a football team, and pro football, basketball, and hockey are elsewhere in Charlotte and Raleigh.

Nevertheless, the Greensboro Coliseum has a place in the story of sports in North Carolina.   It’s been filling up with fans ever since its start in 1959.   Conveniently located in the heart of the Piedmont near two Interstates, and adjacent to downtown, the arena has hosted a variety of events, concerts, and acts, including the ACC tournament twenty-eight times. 

But it’s not just the ACC tournament that makes the story of the Greensboro Coliseum stand out sports-wise.   From 1971 to 1974, the arena had a glorious run that included hosting not only the ACC tournament, but also the Big Four tournament, the Carolina Cougars of the ABA, the Greensboro Generals hockey team, the CIAA tournament, and its piece de resistance, the Final Four in 1974.

It’s been fifty years or so since that hey-day, a good time to take a look back.

 

The Coliseum

On November 11, 1926, officials in Greensboro unveiled War Memorial Stadium.  The Cone family had donated the 14 acres of land adjacent to the center of downtown.   

In his article (Greensboro Daily News, May 29, 1971, “Stadium Started Outdoor Sports Era”), Tom Einstein gave a run down of the uses.  Football included college and high school.  Baseball included semi-pros, Legion, college, high school, and pro.

The Greensboro Patriots won the league title there in 1926, 1929, 1932, 1933, 1942, and 1960.   The “G-Yanks” of the 1960s are part of the stadium’s long history, as are the Hornets and the Bats.   It now serves as the home field for the North Carolina A&T baseball team.   The landmark stadium (capacity 9,000) is on the National Register for Historic Places. 

In 1944, talk began of erecting a memorial auditorium in Greensboro.  The initial desire was for a suitable war memorial to honor the men and women who had died in the still on-going war, as well as a constructing a downtown auditorium. 

Herman Cone and Allen Preyer served as the first members of the World War Memorial Commission.  The idea of using tax money for funding was nixed.    By 1945, $400,000 had been raised or pledged with $750,000 total needed.   

Some of the boosters supported a site at the corner of Eugene and Bellemead Street. Others warned this downtown location would produce traffic jams.  This spot was ultimately not chosen and later became a Sears & Roebuck store.  The location is just south of where the Greensboro Grasshoppers minor league team has played their games since 2005.

The city then favored a site on N. Elm Street near downtown.   Moses Cone Memorial Hospital would later be built there across the street.  Contributions continued and reached $900,000.   Over the course of the next ten years, the commission, the city council and other groups continued to hash out their ideas.    

In his book, “Once Upon a City,” Howard E. Covington Jr. devotes a chapter to the story.    He tells us Charles T.  Hagan Jr. joined forces with former Mayor Sullivan, who was involved from the beginning.   Hagan himself was a veteran of the war and received the Bronze Star.

With continued pushback on the proposed downtown location, the commission looked to a spot about a mile and a half southwest of downtown.   George A. Hamid Sr. owned the fairgrounds property there facing High Point Road and Lee Street (both later renamed Gate City Boulevard).  Where the large parking lot sits today, the city’s annual agricultural fair had been held there as well as races on a small dirt track. 

In 1956, the public approved a $3M bond referendum that funded the coliseum and an auditorium.    Construction began a year later.   Jim Oshust, the Managing Director, headed up the governmental department that first ran the complex.  The new coliseum did not win style points in all corners, but the auditorium pleased non-sports fans and downtown would not be choked with traffic.

On October 29. 1959, a “Holiday on Ice” show christened the new facility.   Capacity was 9,000, one of the highest on the East Coast and comparable in high capacity to Philadelphia’s famed Palestra (10,000).   

Note:  Seating would increase to 15,500 in 1968, keeping it as the largest in the south.  In the early 1990s, capacity reached 23,000.  The Coliseum now includes three exhibition halls, a 4,500-seat mini-arena, the 300-seat Odeon Theatre, The Terrace, the White Oak Amphitheatre, the Greensboro Aquatic Center, ACC Hall of Champions, The Fieldhouse and Piedmont Hall.

 

The Generals (1959-1973)

Given North Carolina’s love of basketball, it may be hard to believe, but the first sporting event at the new Coliseum in 1959 was not hoops, but hockey.   The Greensboro Generals, who played in the Eastern Hockey League, helped christen the new arena and would make a fifteen-year run there from 1959 to 1973.  From 1973 to 1977, the Generals played at the Coliseum in the Southern Hockey League. 

Before the 1950s, minor league hockey was not played in the South.   The Eastern Hockey League had brought the fast-paced action to Charlotte in 1956, making the Checkers (first known as the Clippers) the first hockey team in the Southeast.  The Clippers won the league championship in their first season and drew big crowds to the Charlotte Coliseum.   

The ’59 start for the Generals came eight seasons before the NHL expanded from the “Original Six” of Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, New York and Toronto (added were LA, Oakland, Philly, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Minnesota).   The NHL didn’t come south of the Mason-Dixon Line until Atlanta in 1972 and Washington in 1974.

Smith Barrier announced the story of the Generals in his Feb 3, 1959 column in the Greensboro Daily News.  “City Commission Set to Apply for Hockey.”  At the bottom of the page, many readers surely looked more closely at the league standings for the first time, which showed Clinton in first, followed by Johnstown, New Haven, Philadelphia, Washington and Charlotte.  Geography teachers must have been smiling as well as transplants who knew the game.

The Troy Bruins of the International Hockey League became the new Greensboro team.   They had played from ’51-’52 to ’58-’59.   Lexington native and founder of Bain Oil Co, Carson Bain, who had served as Mayor and provided leadership to the Jaycees and the GGO golf tournament, emerged as the owner/president.   Irwin Smallwood called him “one of the giants of Greensboro.”

It didn’t take long for Smallwood, sports columnist and editor for the Greensboro Daily News, to have some fun with the newly arrived sport. Early that first season, he wrote:

A Southerner on ice skates, or why 99 and 44/100 of all organized ice hockey players are born and bred in Canada.

Smallwood pulled double duty, covering the Generals home opener, a 4 to 1 win over the Washington Presidents.  4,646 attended the game.  That figure may not sound like a lot, but the Generals’ average that season, 3,028, led the league.   They typically drew good crowds, including 6,524 in the '62-'63 opener versus Charlotte. 

Not all the fans in Greensboro knew what icing was, but they soon learned.   The Generals made the playoffs in all of their 15 seasons and had a combined 542-381 record.   

Pat Kelly, who played in the debut season, became an early fan favorite.  Kelly would go on to be inducted into the league Hall of Fame and became commissioner of the ECHL in 1988. 

A heated rivalry with Charlotte developed, helping boost interest and attendance.    “When Greensboro and Charlotte played, we’d fill buildings,” said Kelly.    

Boxing was not a part of the Coliseum history, but some of the fans might have quipped they didn’t need it with all the fights that broke out during the hockey games.  For the opener in 1970 against Charlotte, the Greensboro Daily News wrote: 

You might call the Greensboro Generals’ home opener tonight a return bout — like in boxing…  The two clubs fought (literally)… five times.

In November 1971, Meyer Anthony wrote: 

When the Checkers and Generals meet the action is fast and furious, that no quarter is asked or given.

Sports fans sometimes have to wait a long time before their team wins it all.  Greensboro was fortunate that it took just four seasons. On March 22, 1963, they beat the Charlotte Checkers 3-2 in overtime at the Coliseum to advance to the championship game.   A crowd of 4,349 watched in delight as left winger Ron Muir scored the winner.  The puck “hit the left post, caromed over to the right post, and stayed in the cage.”

Two weeks later the Generals beat Clinton 7 to 3 in Uttica.  Don Carter, a fan favorite from the original team in ’59, turned the hat trick.

The Generals were in their 12th season in 1971.  Coach Ronnie Spring had led them to the title in 1962 and 1963, and kept them going in the league.  The years 67-68 to 69-70 had been great ones, with the team advancing to the second round twice and the Finals once.   

Like any minor league outfit, fans in Greensboro saw a parade of players come through.   Carter, a native of Toronto, drew many cheers in his great career.  Number 14 lit up the lamp 364 times, with the majority while wearing the Generals uniform.  He coached the team in 71-72 and 72-73. 

Other standouts inducted into the Generals Hall of Fame include Stu Roberts.  Roberts played with the team from 67-68 to 75-76.   His best season was 70-71 when he scored 62 times and had 45 assists.

The Generals final season in the Eastern Hockey League came in 1972-1973, the year the league folded.  They made the playoffs for the 14th straight time and lost in the first round.

For the 1974 to 1977 season, the Generals played in the Southern Hockey League.   Their winning ways had run out and they moved to the Piedmont Sports Arena, only 5,000 or so capacity.    

Hockey came back to the coliseum 1989 with the Greensboro Monarchs of the East Coast Hockey League.  They brought back some of the magic, winning the league championship in that first season, and made the playoffs four out of five times.    

Then came the Carolina Monarch of the American Hockey League, but the league lasted just two seasons.   In 1997-1999, the Coliseum hosted the Carolina Hurricanes, the franchise shift from Hartford.   Then came the Greensboro Generals of the East Coast Hockey League, who played form 1999 to 2004.   They did not cover themselves in glory, except for the 2002-2003 season when they advanced to the Division Finals.    

 

The Carolina Cougars (1969-1974)

For many basketball fans in North Carolina, college hoops is their number one love.  Of course, the main drawback with that love affair is that a favorite player can only stay a maximum of four years.   Pro basketball offers something more steady, but most of the time, a favorite who played nearby gets signed by another club.

At least in North Carolina, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association, took care of some of that situation.  In 1969, the year before the Big Four tournament made its debut, and two years before the ACC Tournament began its run in Greensboro, the Cougars began a five-season stay at the Coliseum.   

The Mavericks, a charter member of the ABA, had played two seasons in Houston, 1967-1968 and 1968-1969.   North Carolina native Jim Gardner bought the team and moved it to Greensboro. 

The Cougars took a unique regional concept approach, playing their games in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh.   In 1970, North Carolina ranked as the 12th largest state.  Rich in textile jobs, Greensboro’s population’s had jumped from 74,000 in 1950 to 119,000 in 1960.  Nevertheless, that was still small potatoes, and Charlotte’s population of 241,000 in 1970 was also not at major league levels.

During the first season, the Cougars played 20 games in Greensboro, 14 in Charlotte and 8 in Raleigh.   The team’s offices were in Greensboro and they drew best there.  Carolina finished third and advanced to the playoffs.    

Hawkers that season trying to sell programs faced a stiff challenge.  The team was full of familiar faces.  Point guard Bob Verga, who played for Duke (64-67), led the team in scoring that first season with a 24 point game average, a figure that was second best in the league.  He also played in the All-Star Game.

Small forward Doug Moe had played for the Tar Heels (58-61) where he was a two-time All American.  He averaged 17 points.  In 72-74, Moe was the assistant coach for the Cougars, sitting beside Larry Brown. 

Larry Miller certainly needed no introduction.  He starred for the Tar Heels (65-68), earning ACC Player of the Year in ’66 and ’67.  Miller’s averages with the Cougars were 69-70 (10), 70-71 (12), and 71-72 (18).   On March 18, 1972, he blistered the nets for 67 points (Carolina 139, Memphis 125).  Dr. J, Rick Barry, nor anyone else ever matched or topped it.

DC born Gene Littles was a Cougar from 1969-1974.  In that first season he averaged 13 points.  Littles was the pride of neighboring High Point.   He attended the university there and holds the all-time scoring record for the school and was a three time NAIA All American.   

Bill Bunting averaged 14 points.  Born in New Bern, he played for the Tar Heels from 66-69, those first three seasons that marked the rise of Coach Smith.

The familiarity also included head coach Bones McKinney.   The summary for his biography described him as:

A chain-smoking, Pepsi-swilling Baptist minister who was not averse to using colorful language, but also a devoted family man to his six kids and wife of 55 years.

The website RemembertheABA writes McKinney, “was a gate attraction all by himself.”

Born near New Bern, the skinny forward played at both UNC and NC when they were in the Southern Conference.  His pro career took him to Washington and Boston, where he averaged nine points.   McKinney is best known for coaching at Wake Forest.  He turned around the floundering program with a 46 and 10 run from 59-60 to 62-63.   

McKinney then took over at the helm for the Cougars from 69 to 71.  He went on to have a long career as a color commentator on ACC basketball games broadcast on TV.   Behind the mics he teamed up with Billy Packer, who played at Wake and then served as McKinney’s assistance coach.   

It’s also worth noting that Ed Manning played for the Cougars from ’71 to ’74.   His son was Danny Manning, who would star for Greensboro Page High School before leading Kansas to the national title in 1988.  Danny Manning went on to an All-Star NBA career.   

The Cougars never won it all, but attendance was good in Greensboro, and the team went to the playoffs in five of nine seasons. 

Their best season was a first place finish in ’72-’73, their 57 wins the most in the league.  They finished second in the league in attendance.    The Cougars won 8 of 11 pre-season games, going 5-1, including a memorable romp over the Boston Celtics.   Perhaps some pre-game chatter included talk of the Celtics as one of sports greatest dynasties when they had Bill Russell, John Havlicek, and cigar-chomping coach Red Auerbach.   

The team the Cougars faced featured Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas and Don Chaney (13 ppg).   The Celtics would go on to win the Atlantic Division with a 68-14 record before losing to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, 4-3. 

This writer was one of 5,019 fans in attendance.   The Celtics led at half time, but the Cougars cut loose with 22 straight points in the third quarter.  Cowens, a future Hall of Famer, kicked the ball in a fit of anger.   Slapped with his second technical, the ref gave him the heave-ho.  The crowd went nuts.    

Cunningham won the league MVP, Brown Coach of the Year, and Carl Scheer Executive of the Year.  Cunningham, Caldwell and Calvin played in the All Star game in Salt Lake City.   

Carolina beat the New York Nets in the first round of the playoffs, winning the clincher 136-113.  In the semifinals, they won Game Two at home against Kentucky, but the Colonels were too much. 

 

ABA All Star Game

January 23, 1971

A highlight of the Cougars stay in Greensboro was the ABA All-Star game on January 23, 1971.   Hanging over the game was the on-going talk of merger with the NBA.  Greensboro Daily News writer Larry Keefe quoted ABA commissioner Jack Dolph as saying:

“We believe a merger is inevitable, as we always have.  But negotiations with the NBA have ceased, and, for the time being, we must pursue a totally independent course.”

The ABA had seen some shuffling of teams.   The Washington Caps had moved to Norfolk to become the Virginia Squires, who won the Eastern Division.  The Los Angeles Stars became the Utah Stars, who finished one game behind the Indiana Pacers in the Western Division.   Former UNC star Charlie Scott led the Squires.

To the delight of the fans, the Eastern stars won the game, 126-122.  The contest was nationally-televised on CBS, but blacked-out in North Carolina.   The game was a near sell out, with 14,407 attending.

Smith Barrier wrote:

The ABA game came of age at the Greensboro Coliseum the Saturday afternoon, with a 14,000 plus crowd to match the NBA All Star game attendance about 10 days ago in San Diego.

Larry Keefe told his readers the game was “almost perfect.”   There were 20 tie scores and 18 lead changes.   The 14,407 attendance figure was a record for both the event and the recently expanded Coliseum.    

The East was sparked by the play of Joe Caldwell (21 points), the Cougar’s star forward.  He had been a great catch for the team, coming over from the NBA in 1970, where he had averaged 21 with the Atlanta Hawks.  In February 1971, Caldwell busted loose for 56 points with the Cougars, a 156-139 romp over Kentucky, with 6,173 on hand at the Coliseum.   

After the All-Star game, he told the reporters,

“This area is a college-oriented one.  But the fans are learning the pro game and they appreciate it.”

The Cougars final season was '73-'74.   All the key players were returning.  But as O’Henry magazine notes:

“Fate struck in an unmerciful fashion.Cunningham was sidelined with a serious kidney ailment and sat out most of the season.”

The team finished 47-37. 

Apparently, the Cougars wanted to stay.  But Ted Munchak, the absentee owner, did not want to pay the proposed higher rent at the Coliseum.   New ownership moved the team to St Louis.   Brown, Moe and Scheer headed to Denver.  The ABA folded in 1976.   Among its appeals had been the red, white, and blue basketballs and the adoption of the three-point shot. 

 

The Big Four Tournament (1971-1981)

In the spring of 1968, Greensboro voters approved a bond to expand the Coliseum from 9,000 to 15,550.   In the winter of 1970, the new arena opened with basketball fans poured in.   Are we talking about the ACC tournament? 

Actually this was the debut of the Big Four tournament in December.   It became an annual set of games at the Coliseum with a ten-year run.

One obvious factor for holding the tournament in Greensboro was the city’s central location along Tobacco Road.  But the biggest factor in getting the new tourney was the Coliseum’s expansion in 1971.  Its capacity jumped from 9,000 to 15,500. 

By way of comparison, Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill held 6,822, Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum 8,500, the Charlotte Coliseum 8,600, Cameron 8,800, and Reynolds Coliseum 12,400.   

The tourney consisted of two rounds, with Round One (random drawing) played on a Friday night.  On a Saturday night, the two winners then played for the championship and the two losers would play for third place.

The teams did not have to travel far.   Wake Forest is just 25 miles west of Greensboro and UNC, NC State, Duke are about 50 to the east.   On all but the final mile, the team buses rolled down Interstate 40, an easy spin across the central part of the Piedmont.

Although the Big Four tournament games did not count in the league's regular season standings, they did in the overall record, as well as player stats.   Greensboro fully embraced the tournament in its run from 1971 to 1981.   

Note:   Greensboro hosted the ACC tournament in 1967, followed by Charlotte in 68-70.   Greensboro then gained it on a regular basis beginning in 1971. 

 

State of the Programs

Before we look at the results of the Big Four Tournament, it’s worth looking at the state of the programs going into the ’71 season and a bit of their history.    

As a rough measure, they all had played in three eras of college basketball.   The first took place when sport on college campuses had started out as recreation rather than a form of commercial entertainment.  Growing interest in football led to the desire for scholarships.   The Carnegie Foundation warned of college football becoming “a highly organized commercial enterprise.”  UNC President Frank Porter Graham was worried that funding for scholarships would come from ticket revenue and would lead to “unwholesome attempted control of the college.”   

Second came the start of the scholarship era and fanatical interest in not only football but basketball.   During this time, the Southern Conference rose to power and had a great run from 1928 to 1953.   It was one of the first to hold a post season tournament.   

Then came the ACC in 1954 and the continuation of the tourney winner being the only one to advance to the NCAA tournament.   The NIT was also a viable option, especially for regular season runner ups.

It’s worth mentioning that forgotten in this era is a point-shaving scandal in 1961.   22 college teams were involved, including UNC and State.  Among the 37 students charged were UNC’s All-American Doug Moe.  The Dixie Classic was cancelled.

 

Duke

Eddie Cameron (1902-1988) ushered in Duke’s first great era in basketball.  Like the other Big Four teams, the Blue Devils played in the Southern Conference in the 30s and 40s before joining the ACC in 1953.   Duke’s record during Cameron's 14-year tenure (1928-1942) was 226-99.  They won the tournament in 1938, 1941 and 1942.   When Duke’s new Indoor Stadium opened in 1940, a crowd of about 8,000 watched in glee as the Blue Devils beat Princeton.   That mark was reported to be the largest attendance ever for a basketball game in the South.

Cameron’s best season was ’41-’42, going 22-2 and winning the conference tourney in Raleigh.   Duke not making the NCAA tournament had nothing to do with Cameron or the university.    

In that season, there were 12 conferences across the nation, but only 8 slots in the NCAA and 8 in the NIT.   These tournaments were in their infant stages.   The televising of what became known as the Final Four of the NCAA tournament would not begin on a regular basis until the late 1960s.

Because of the “Cameron Crazies,” we remember Cameron, but forget those Duke coaches in between him and Coach K’s arrival in 1980.   Harold Bradley had all winning seasons and danced in ’55.   Vic Bubas (1927-2018) had a combined 213-32 record and took Duke to the NCAA four times (’63, ’64, ’66).  His best year was 1964 when the Blue Devils clobbered Connecticut 101-54 and then beat Michigan 91-80 to reach the Finals (UCLA 98-83).  Star players were Jeff Mullins (24) and Jay Buckley (14). 

Bucky Waters took over in 1969.  He lasted just four years with no NCAA appearances.   Duke was not at its best during the early Big Four years, until Bill Foster took the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament from 77-78 to 79-80.  Coach K then began what became his legendary run.

 

Wake Forest

“Little ol’ Wake Forest” was first located in Wake Forest, a town near Raleigh.  The college, founded in 1834 with Baptist roots, made the move to Winston-Salem in 1956. 

Murray Greason (1900-1960) is a forgotten name, but he coached the Demon Deacons from 1933 to 1957.   Greason had a 283-244 record, with two NCAA appearances in 1939 and 1953.     

Bones McKinney gave the program a boost with two NCAA appearances (’61 and ’62) and a combined 46-10 league record from 1959-1963. 

During the Big Four years, Wake was coached by Jack McCloskey and then Carl Tacy.  Tacy took the Deacons to the NCAA in 1977, 1981, 1982, and 1984.   

 

NC State

The greatest coach in the history of NC State?

Now that discussion would rattle the bars in Raleigh.   All would agree, however, the conversation, if done chronologically, would start with Everett Case (1900-1966).   After winning 4 state titles in Indiana, the “Gray Fox” turned around a struggling program at NC State.  His teams (1946-1964) had a .700 or better winning percentage 12 of 18 times, with six NCAA appearances.   Under Case, State won the ACC tournament in 54, 55, 56, 59 and 65.  In 1949, he founded the Dixie Classic.

In her book, “The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South,” Bethany Bradsher writes:

Before Everett Case came south to coach at N. C. State, football was the region's big sport.  Within a few years, though, Case and his Indiana-style basketball changed all that.  And nothing showcased the South's new obsession better than the Dixie Classic.

After Case, and one year under Press Maravich, Norm Sloan took the helm in 1966-1967.   Like Case, he came from Indiana.  Into the ACC hot bed Sloan walked, going just 7 and 19 in his first season (66-67).  In 1969-1970, Sloan, known for wearing plaid sports jackets, tasted the sweet tea of winning the tournament.   They beat SC in a 2 OT thriller.    Prior to that, Dean Smith’s had won the tourney three times in a row.   As a reminder, until 1975, the only way to advance to the NCAA was to win the tournament.    

 

UNC

Concerning the greatest basketball coach at UNC, there is no argument.   It is very important, however, to note that Frank McGuire certainly distinguished himself from 1953 to 1961, with a dream-like, 32-0 season capped off by a thrilling win in the NCAA final over Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas.  McGuire also mentored Smith, the assistant coach from 1958 to his promotion in 1961.

Long forgotten is Norman Shepard who guided the Tar Heels to a 26-0 record in the 23-24 season.  In their retro ranking system, Patrick Premo and Phil Poretta have them as the number one team that season.    Shepard’s best player was Cartwright Carmichael, the first member of the Tar Heels to earn All-American honors in any sport.   Jack Cobb also starred on the team.

In his 36 years at Chapel Hill (1961-1997), Dean Smith became a coaching legend.   Under his helm, the Kansas native won 879 games, the NCAA tournament twice and 11 Final Four appearances. 

But it certainly wasn't easy in the beginning.  After a 107-85 loss to Wake Forest in 1965, someone hung Smith in effigy in a tree in front of Woolen Gym.   In the next season, Smith’s Tar Heels went 26 and 6 and never looked back.   

But coming into the Big Four, UNC had not made the NCAA in 69-70 (State won the tourney) or 70-71 (SC beat UNC 52-51 in the tourney).   They did, however, accept a bid to the NIT in ’70 and won it in ’71.

 

The Big Four Tournament compared with the Dixie Classic

Not long after the announcement of the Big Four Tournament in 1970, the writers drew comparisons to the Dixie Classic.  It had been held at Reynolds Coliseum in the state capital in Raleigh from 1949 to 1960.   The Dixie Classic was the brainchild of Everett Case, coach at NC State.   As Bradsher put it:

“basketball backboards in North Carolina were scarce back then… the sport that had captivated the region was football.” 

The Dixie Classic was played on a weekend after Christmas.  Its field was the big four Tobacco Road teams and four others from other leagues.   No non-Big Four team ever won the tournament.    In its dozen times, the winners were State (7), UNC (3), Duke 1 and Wake Forest (1).   Woody Durham, Greensboro’s beloved sports anchor on WFMY, said, “The Dixie Classic was probably the foremost holiday tournament in the country.”

As things turned out, the Dixie Classic was too big.  A point-shaving scandal put an end to it in 1961.   Seven years later, the ACC Athletic Directors announced a Big Four tournament would be held annually in the Greensboro Coliseum during the Christmas holidays.   

 

First Playing of the Big Four Tournament

Dec 18-19, 1970

The Big Four tournament date moved around a few times.  It was initially held on the weekend before Christmas (December 18-19, 1970).  That timeframe was chosen as it was one of the “dull-times of the schedule.”    

In the first playing, State beat UNC 82-70.   This gave Wolfpack coach Norman Sloan his first win against Dean Smith, and ended State’s ten-game losing streak against their rivals.   Ladd Baucom of the Greensboro Daily News quoted Sloan as saying, “This is my fifth season at State, and to tell you the truth, it had been hanging in my mind.” 

In the consolation game, UNC faced Duke.  It’s hard to know the full mood of the fans as they poured into the expanded Coliseum.  Some must have thought it weird that the two teams were playing for third place.  For some, perhaps the game was their first chance to see them square off. 

As it turned out, the two rivals gave the 11,000 on hand a thriller.  As time ran out, Carolina’s small forward Bill Chamberlain (UNC’s second black scholarship basketball player) made a reverse lay-up for the win.   Barrier pointed out the score was tied no less than 20 times.   Duke was behind 78 to 70 but rallied to tie it.  Chamberlain and center Lee Dedmond combined for 42 points. 

In the championship game, State beat Wake 73-70 to take the first new set of bragging rights on Tobacco Road.  Sophomore Bill Benson iced the game with two free throws and led all scorers with 27 points. Attendance at all four games exceeded 11,000.

The Wolfpack did not parley their success in the Big Four’s first tournament, finishing 5-9 and 13-14.  UNC took the regular season 11-3, but lost 52-51 to South Carolina.   

When the first tournament did not sell out, the date was moved to the weekend after the big Bowl Games played on New Year’s Day.   In 1976, the tourney went back to December.

 

Mixed Feelings

Initially, at least one of the coaches, Norm Sloan, played the ACC organ and touted the benefits of the tournament.    Soon enough, however, most bemoaned it.   Each playing meant one of the teams would be saddled with back to back losses.    And when the ACC tournament rolled around, there was the chance two teams might be facing off for a fourth time.   

The athletic directors certainly loved the money.   As Tim Peeler pointed out, “That was huge in the 1970s, before there were even whispers of conference television packages.”

Peeler also noted the tournament kicked off the unofficial start to ACC season. 

The fans in Greensboro and nearby loved seeing the action with just a short drive to and fro.   High Point Road, later renamed Gate City Boulevard, fed some of the masses with fast food galore and beloved places like Stamey’s BBQ and Libby Hill Seafood.  The tickets were certainly not as tough as the ACC tourney, but attendance was high.   

The press spilled the commensurate amount of ink.  Covering the 1979 tourney, Barry Jacobs of the Christian Science Monitor pointed out that the tourney that year drew 235 media representatives and a regional television audience for the championship game.

He also noted that the tournament tickets were used to reward contributors left out in the cold after ACC tournament tickets went out.  For Duke and Wake, the private and smaller schools, the Big Four was a major revenue producer.

In his Christmas Day article in 1972, “Cry Wolf in Carolina,” Sports Illustrated’s Ron Fimrite wrote:

The event is only in its third year, yet it has been embraced by local fanatics as hidebound tradition and, therefore, just cause for hysteria.

The Big Four had a good run, but it took its swan song in 1980.  Wilt Browning of the Greensboro Daily News explained the problem (“End May Be In Sight,” November 16, 1979).

“An 0-2 start courtesy of the Big Four is now considered to be too great a risk for the Big Four teams looking to post season NCAA berths.”

Dean Smith led the way in nixing the tournament.  The final tournament was held on December 6-7, 1980.  The winners were State (71), UNC (72), State (73, 74), Wake (75, 76, 77), UNC (78), Duke (79, 80).  Overall records were State 13-9, UNC 12-10, Wake Forest 10-12 and Duke 9-13.   

 

Tobacco Road

Before we look at the ACC Tournament and the Final Four in 1974, it’s worth a diversion to talk about "Tobacco Road" and how the term came about.   

Before the ACC formed in 1954, the four schools had played in the Southern Conference from 1936 to 1953.    It was around the 1940s that some sportswriters in North Carolina began to use the term “Tobacco Road” in its basketball sense.   

The term itself came from “Tobacco Road,” Erskine Caldwell’s 1932 novel, which also became a Broadway play, and a Hollywood film in 1942.    The story involves depictions of poor white Southern cotton farmers in Georgia.   Letters to the Editor in the 1940s reflected the objections of many readers who thought the novel slandered the South.    One letter even pointed out the family grew cotton, not tobacco (Erskine noted the family’s forebears had grown tobacco). 

In 1935, a business news column in the Greensboro Daily News used the term as a subtitle for flue-cured tobacco farm reports in eastern North Carolina.

In 1942, a Wilmington paper wrote:

In Southern Conference basketball lingo, Tobacco Road is composed of Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and NC State.  Many a high-riding team has come a cropper by meeting the four schools on this circuit.   

That year, the Southern Conference was made up of 15 teams.   In the semifinals in the tournament were Duke, Wake, NC State and William & Mary, with Duke beating State in the finals.   The four North Carolina schools did not always dominate the top of the standings, but they were coming on strong.   In the ACC’s first season of 1953-1954, the semis were Duke-State and Wake Forest-Maryland.  State took the title in an OT thriller.    

In 1951, Earle Hellen of the Greensboro Record used the term Tobacco Road and Big Four in the same column.  

Sad indeed is the way that Big Four football supremacy was toppled by outsiders this Fall.  The once proud Tobacco Road teams can not point with pride to a single outstanding victory with out of state competition this season.

Of course, that was football.

In 1954, the Greensboro Record (no by-line) wrote:

The only outside threat to the Big Four’s dominance of the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball race, the Maryland Terps, starts its first invasion of the Tobacco Road tonight when the Terps face Duke at Durham.

In his March 5, 1957 article, Hellen used Tobacco Road seven times.   Interestingly, an ad in the same issue invited movie goers to see the Tobacco Road film at one of the city’s Drive In Theaters.

There is no actual Tobacco Road, although there could be a conversation about Interstate 40 and Highway 70, the spine of the Piedmont.   The historical footprint of the industry spans the distance across much of the state from Winston-Salem to Durham and includes all those farms that were in the eastern fields.   

While tobacco is synonymous with North Carolina, the “obnoxious weed” was the economic lifeblood of Virginia and Maryland in colonial times.   Alexandria was founded in 1749 as a seaport where several tobacco inspection warehouses had been located at the terminus of a rolling road.  Tidewater planters stuffed the leaf into wooden casks called “hogsheads” and had them rolled to the Potomac River.

A dated (1939) but excellent primer on tobacco in North Carolina is, “Tobacco Manufacturing Industry in North Carolina.”   The author points out “North Carolina manufactures a greater volume and a greater value of tobacco products than any other similar area in the world.”

In 1926, the Tar Heel state surpassed Kentucky as the leading grower and by 1937, the output was almost twice the Bluegrass State.   The Tar Heel State’s forte was the blue flue-cured tobacco.  At one point, it made up 69% of the nation’s production.   

A word cloud from this rich history would include the leaf growers, the handlers, the auctioneers, the sellers, and the cigarette workers in the manufacturing centers in Winston Salem, Durham, and Reidsville.   

At that time, Greensboro stood out as the chief maker of cigars.   Winston-Salem got its name from two brands of cigarettes made by R.J. Reynolds, and Durham might as well be called Duke City.   Exact numbers are hard to know but safe to say education in North Carolina owed something to the sale of tobacco.   

 

ACC Tournament

As we have seen, the Generals, the Cougars, and the Big Four Tournament were key components of the Coliseum’s great stretch in the first half of the 1970s.    The star of the show was, of course, the ACC Tournament.   

The obvious appeal of the three-day tourney was the quality of the Big Four teams and the intensity of the rivalries.   It’s also worth repeating that until 1975, the only way to advance to the NCAA tournament in March was to win the conference tournament.    The regular season runner-up could get an invite to the NIT, but by the early 70s, that tourney was losing some of its luster.     

In his March 8, 1970 column, “ACC Tourney Tickets — They’re Like a Gold Mine,” Smith Barrier wrote, “An ACC tournament ticket is about the most precious sports ducat in the southeast.”   

He also told his readers all tickets had sold out each year beginning in 1965, and that “the demand has practically eliminated the college student.”   He added, “tickets are tied in with contributions to the athletic department.” 

Raleigh and its Reynolds Coliseum had grabbed the glory as host of the tournament from the ACC’s first season in 1954 to 1966.   During that time, only about two dozen teams across the country made it to what would become known as March Madness.  1969 brought an increase but only to 25.  In 1975, the number would rise to 32.   

Greensboro hosted the tournament in 1967, followed by Charlotte in ’68-’70.   Greensboro then gained it on a regular basis beginning in 1971 and has even trademarked the term, “Tournament Town” with the commensurate marketing campaign.

 

1971

SC 52, NC 51

Forgotten in these tales of ACC basketball are the South Carolina Gamecocks.   A force they once were, winning the Southern Conference in ’27, ’33, ’34, and ’45.   Then came the Frank McGuire era.   After he guided St. John’s to a bit of glory, McGuire turned around the program at Chapel Hill in just two seasons.   He then signed on with South Carolina in 1964.  His teams went a combined 69-16 from ’68 to ’71 with John Roche taking back to back ACC Player of the Year Awards.   The Gamecocks beat State (42-39) in the 1970 ACC tourney in Charlotte, in a double OT thriller.

In 1971, the year Greensboro regained the tournament for a five-year run, South Carolina finished the season with a 23-6 record, ranked number six in the country, and finished second in the ACC.   Led by a pair of junior forwards, Dennis Wuycik (18.4) and Bill Chamberlain (14.4), North Carolina went 26-6, ranked 13th, and won the regular season.   The two would meet in the ACC finals.

With the eight teams, the tournament had a perfect symmetry to it.   Work productivity and school attendance took a dip in Greensboro on that Friday afternoon, with Game One tipping off at noon, followed by Game Two around 2 pm.   After a smoke and supper break, Game Three started at 7.  Game Four began around 9.    

The finals in 1971 were what perhaps some dubbed a Carolina Classic.  The Tar Heels had many fans in Greensboro and had played four times there during the regular season.   

With six seconds left, things looked good for Dean Smith’s squad.   With Carolina leading by 1, a jump ball was called between 6’3 Kevin Joyce and 6’10 center Lee Dedmon.  Somehow, Joyce out-leapt Dedmon and tapped the ball to center Tom Owens who laid it in for the 52 to 51 win.  This was their only such title and South Carolina left the conference the following season.   

Smith Barrier pointed out the crowd of 15,170 set a conference and coliseum record for paid attendance.  He added that the working press table had 100 seats, plus another 18 in the radio boxes, and 30 photographers.

After South Carolina beat UNC in 1971, Maryland pulled off a rare accomplishment.  They made the finals of the tournament three times in a row (72,73,74).  This kicked off an era where the Big Four did not dominate as they had before.  In fact, the only Big Four finals in the 1970s were 1975 (UNC-State), 1978 (Duke-Wake Forest) and 1979 (UNC-Duke).  And the next time wouldn’t be until 1987 (State-UNC).

 

1972

UNC 73 MD 64

South Carolina was gone, but Maryland was just getting started.   Under the guiding hand of Charles Grice Driesell, the Terps would make it to the finals of the tournament in Greensboro in ’72, ’73, and ’74.

“Lefty” they called him.   Born in Norfolk, he played center for Duke from 1951-1954.  Driesell then turned around a struggling program at Davidson, located near Charlotte.  The small college that would produce the great Stephen Curry, went 176-65 under Driesell, and made the NCAA tournament three times.  Twice they advanced to the Elite Eight.  Driesell then arrived at College Park in 1969 and turned around the program at Maryland. 

It's hard to know what Lefty Driesell thought about playing in the Greensboro Coliseum.   He surely reveled in the chance to showcase his team in the big spotlight.  For a catchy title to an article about the Tar Heels, more than once did Sports Illustrated take a page from the song “Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.”  One can imagine Driesell thinking, “Nothing could be finer than to beat Carolina in the ACC tournament.”

Perhaps some fans saw Driesell as a lovable foe.  Whatever the sentiments, Maryland’s head coach provided moments of entertainment, like flashing the two-finger V sign to his fans and raising his hands to fire up his defense.   A history of the Coliseum would be incomplete without mentioning the time (March 5, 1982) Lefty stomped on a chair and was billed for it by Coliseum Director Jim Oshust.

In his first season, ’69-’70, Maryland went 13-13 followed by 14 and 12.  Then Driesell brought in Tom McMillen and Len Elmore for the 71-72 season.    The team went 27-5, was ranked as high as fifth, and finished in second behind North Carolina.

In the tourney, Clemson darned near upset Maryland in the first round, but the Terps survived 54-52.   Maryland beat Virginia in the semis, but lost to the Tar Heels in the finals 73 to 64.

For Greensboro, always a second home for the Tar Heels, the tournament in 1972 was a special treat.   Greensboro-born Bob McAdoo was the team’s star center.  His father worked at North Carolina A&T, whose campus was just a few miles from the Coliseum.   In his only season with Carolina, McAdoo averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds.  In the championship tilt versus Maryland, McAdoo won the MVP honors.

 

1973 

State 76 MD 74

For the 1972-1973 season, Lefty Driesell added freshman point guard John Lucas to juniors McMillen and Elmore and senior Jim O’Brien.   What a coup Lucas was, a native of Durham.

But the Wolfpack were loaded, too.   Norm Sloan had recruited a 6’4 forward from Shelby, a small town near Charlotte.  He burst on the scene in ’71-’72 averaging 35.6 points.   Sloan added tiny Monty Towe to join sophomores Thompson and giant Tom Burleson.    The result was a perfect 27 and 0 season.  Perfect, except the NCAA had slapped the cuffs on Sloan for a recruiting violation with Thompson.   

NC State was denied a slot in the NCAA tournament, but they could still strut their stuff in Greensboro.   While Maryland cruised over Clemson, Wake stunned the Tar Heels 54 to 52 in OT. 

State beat Maryland 76-74 in the finals, but it was Maryland advancing to the NCAA.   They earned a bye and then beat Syracuse 91-75, but lost to Providence 103-89.    

 

1974 ACC Tourney

State 103, MD 100

Dean Smith had another great team for the ’73-’74 season.   Bobby Jones, Darrell Elston, Walter Davis and Mitch Kupchak all averaged more than ten a game.   The Heels tipped off their 28 game slate in Greensboro, a 94 to 74 cakewalk over Houston.   The Heels also beat Kentucky, Duke and Florida State in the Coliseum.   They were 20-4 coming into the ACC tournament, ranked number six. 

All good stuff, but there were two better teams in the league that season.  Maryland was 23-5 and ranked number four in the final AP poll. Ranked number one in the country in the final six weekly polls, Sloan’s Wolfpack were 30-1, 12-0.  Carolina’s four losses were one to Maryland and three to the Wolfpack.

The 1974 tourney would be a repeat of State and Maryland.  Driesell must have been over the moon after beating Dean’s Tar Heels 105 to 85 in the semis.   They had warmed up their Tobacco Road romping by beating Duke 85 to 66.

After he lost to State, a third straight title tilt defeat, Driesell must have felt like Sisyphus.   But what a game it was.   

The oddsmakers liked State, but Maryland was 21 and 4 and on a roll, winning its last 10 games.  Their dismantling of the Tar Heels the night before had surely gotten Sloan’s attention.  Nevertheless, the Wolfpack had been ranked number one in the nation since February 20th.   The Greensboro Coliseum gave them home court advantage (attendance 15,451), although one wonders just how much.

The game lived up to expectations and predictions it would be close.  Maryland blistered the nets with a 63.4%, while State made half.    The high scoring affair soared past norms when there wasn’t a shot clock and three pointers.   There was only four turnovers.

With the game tied at 97, McMillen made a steal.  Lucas missed a 25-footer as time expired.   In OT, Lucas, no doubt exhausted, made a bad pass to Elmore.   With six seconds left, Towe drained both ends of one and one for the win.

“State Wins Epic Final, 103-100 in OT” read The Washington Post’s morning paper. 

Paul Attner said the game was perhaps the finest of all the 21 ACC tournament finals.   40 years later, Dan Collins of the Winston Salem Journal wrote it was, "the greatest basketball game in the long and storied history of the Atlantic Coast Conference."   Other writers have expressed similar thoughts. 

It’s hard to believe now, but Maryland used just seven players and State only six in the game.   Burleson led all scorers with 38.  Thompson added 29.   Maryland’s balanced sheet read —  McMillen and Howard, 22, Elmore and Lucas 18.  State was a woeful 15 for 26 from the charity stripe.  But Burleson was the difference with his 18 for 25 shooting, 13 rebounds and 38 points.

Maryland was invited to the NIT, but the players said no.

 

A March to Remember

The Greensboro Coliseum website notes its set of facilities holds more than 1,000 events a year and more than 65 million patrons have turned the stiles.  Picking a most remarkable or memorable month out of that 60 plus years period would be tough, but a case could be made for March, 1974.

After the ACC tournament and the State-Maryland thriller (March 7,8,9), fans turned their attention to both the Generals and Cougars, who were once again in contention for the playoffs.   

On Sunday, March 10, the Cougars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 94 to 91, to get to within two games of first place.   Attendance was 6,694.   Carolina also played on March 15, beating Utah 114 to 105 in front of 8,992, and on March 18, a 100-93 loss to San Antonio (4,679).

The Generals were facing their arch rivals, the Charlotte Checkers, in a best of seven, first round series.   They played Game Three at the Coliseum on March 11, and Game Four on March 16.    The Generals ended up losing the series 4 games to 2.

Music fans were in heaven during this time.  Elvis was in the house on the 13th, a ticket perhaps hotter than the ACC tournament final.    On the 17th, Charlie Rich, the “Silver Fox,” stepped on the stage.   His set list included the silky smash hits, “Behind Closed Doors,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.”  The Daily News pointed out, “Greensboro is in the unique position of being host this coming week to the two hottest male vocalists in the country, Elvis and Charlie Rich.”

Before the ACC tournament on March 7-9, the CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) had played theirs at the Coliseum (Feb 28 - March 2). In front of a Sunday crowd of 9,693, the Spartans of Norfolk State grabbed the glory and the trophy by beating Johnson C. Smith 74-65.   Sophomore center Gene Cunningham, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, starred with 23 points and 12 rebounds.   With Cunningham leading the way, Norfolk State won the CIAA tourney in ’74, ’75 and ’76.

The first playing of the CIAA tournament was in March 1946 at Turner’s Arena in Washington, DC.   The site shifted to Baltimore, then Durham and Winston-Salem, before Greensboro hosted in 1960 and from 1964 to 1975.   The CIAA, composed of historically black colleges and universities, has a proud history that goes back to 1912.  It is one of the oldest athletic conferences.   Their website points out that the tournament move to Greensboro shifted it “into the era of the super crowds.”   

Greensboro-based North Carolina A&T won the tourney in 1937, 1958, 1959, 1962 and 1964.   Cal Irvin, brother of Monte Irvin and a shortstop in the Negro Leagues, led the Aggies to four of those titles.   A&T is no longer in the conference, but the six other universities in the state make up the heart of the league.

 

The Final Four

The bracket in 1974 had 32 teams.   Drawing byes were State in the East, UCLA in the West, Michigan in the Mideast and Kansas in the Midwest.   Michigan and its head coach Johnny Orr stood on the cusp of greatness, while Kansas had been winning titles since “Phog" Allen arrived in 1907, replacing the game’s inventor James Naismith.   

John Wooden had arrived in Los Angeles in 1948.   The Bruins did not win the conference from 56-57 to 60-61, but what they did after that is one of sport’s greatest dynastic runs.    A great trivia question is —  What season did UCLA not win the NCAA tournament from 1963-1964 to 1972-1973? (1965)  Bonus points for knowing Oregon State won the conference that season.

State, UCLA, and Kansas all advanced to the Final Four, while Michigan lost to Al McGuire’s Marquette 72 to 70.

State began their journey with some home cooking, the friendly confines of Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.   Coach Sloan watched his Wolfpack take care of Providence 92 to 78.  Thompson poured in 40 points.   

In the Regional Final, and with another dose of home cooking at Reynolds Coliseum, State then took on Pittsburgh, ranked seventh in the nation with a 22 and 3 record.   During the season, they had won 19 in a row.   

Reynolds was, of course, packed to the gills for the Saturday afternoon game.   State was winning 24 to 21 when Thompson came roaring down the lane and leapt high to try and block a shot.  He came down hard on Phil Spence’s shoulder and landed on the back of his head.   

After four minutes of being unconscious and some of his blood pooling on the floor, Thompson was rushed to Rex hospital.  12,400 in attendance fell into a stunned silence. 

Smith Barrier tells us C.A. Dillion made an announcement in the second half.  “X-rays have been taken and they show there were no fractures.” 

A stitched up and bandage-clad Thompson returned to the arena with about seven minutes left in the game.  His teammates had responded to the crisis and were winning 79 to 59.  State won 100-72.   Thompson recovered in time for the next game.

Meanwhile, Marquette took the Mideast final in a 72 to 70 thriller over Michigan in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, while Kansas topped Oral Roberts 93 to 90 in OT.   Out west, UCLA marched like Patton’s Army over the Dons of San Francisco, 83 to 60.   

The Greensboro Daily News provided special coverage for the Final Four at the Coliseum.  It’s interesting to note that wikipedia currently points out the term Final Four can be traced to Ed Chay, a late Plain Dealer sportswriter, in a story he wrote in 1975.   The Greensboro Daily News used the term in a small headline on March 23 — “Final Four Arrive Today to Launch NCAA Event.” 

They also noted its playing in Greensboro marked the first time in the South and that tickets for the State-UCLA game had gone for $400 ($2,280).   Tom Einstein pointed out the four teams, ranked 1, 2, 3, and 6 in the nation, made up “one of the most solid fields ever for the finals.”

Initially, practice sessions at the Coliseum on Friday were to be closed door sessions.  But the NCAA changed their mind.  5000-6000 showed up to watch.   Records of such were not kept, but an NCAA official was quoted as saying that figure was one of the highest he had seen.

The sports reporters converged on Greensboro like never before and probably will never again.   NBC had the coverage.   That Saturday morning, subscribers of the Greensboro Daily News and Record read Barrier’s column, “The Long Road of the 1974 finals,” told how Greensboro had gotten the Final Four.

After the announcement that Coliseum would increase the venue’s capacity to 15,500, Barrier talked with Bob Kent, the Coliseum’s manager about submitting a bid.   In March 1969, NCAA executive director Walter Byers nodded and referred Barrier to the committee.    The chairman was Dr. Tom Scott of Davidson.

A team of suits consisting of Barrier and Jim Oshust, who replaced Kent (who had been promoted to the same position in Atlanta), Woody Durham of WFMY, and two others made their bid in July 1970.   The NCAA approved it the following January.

In his column, Barrier pointed out that tickets had gone on sale April 1, 1973.   A back up at the Greensboro downtown post office reached ten blocks away.  Ticket demand of 136,000 was “an all-time record for sellouts in any sport, eleven months in advance.”

The first two games were on Saturday, played at 1 and 3. An estimated 27 million fans watched the State-UCLA game, the most ever at that time for a semi-final game.

Maybe for some, watching the Final Four felt like a tonic.  Americans had grown weary of the Watergate scandal.  On March 1, Walter Cronkite told the nation a grand jury had indicted former members of the President’s staff.   The Oil Embargo and panic buying had produced long lines at the pumps.  The war in Vietnam had divided the country.

The Associated Press covered predictions for the game.  Crystal ball gazers were reminded that UCLA had given State what would prove to be its only loss of the season, an 18-point margin in St Louis in December.   But Dayton gave the Bruins fits in the West Regionals.   Thompson had healed, but questions swirled over if he was 100%.

It had taken State one overtime to beat Maryland in the ACC final.  It took two to topple UCLA.  With about three minutes left, it looked like the Wizards of Westwood dynasty would win their eighth straight NCAA championship. 

Behind 74-67 with 3:27 to play in the overtime, State fought back.  Thompson hit clutch shots and twice Towe made both ends of a one and one.  Burleson made a key steal.   The lighted dots below Greensboro Coliseum read:  State 80 UCLA 77.  

The writers gave Burleson credit for not being dominated by Walton as the key difference.  In the press conference, Coach Sloan said the home crowd helped.    Wooden said “critical mistakes” hurt his team.   Walton’s 29/18 led all players while Thomson’s 28 led State. 

Everett Case had passed away in 1966 but he was somewhere smiling.  But wait, the team still had to play on Monday night.   

With balanced scoring (Thompson 21, Towe 16, Rivers and Burleson 14), the Wolfpack beat Marquette 76-64.   The title win was State’s first, repeated only by Jim Valvano’s team in 1983.    

In their book, “The Road to March Madness:  How the 1973-1974 Season Transformed College Basketball,” authors Samuel Walker and Randy Roberts make the case that this season was “pivotal in the making of” March Madness.

Among their points are that NC State’s championship gave credibility and prestige to the conference on the national stage.   For all its swagger, the ACC had not won the title since UNC’s 1957 win over Kansas.   

The authors quote Doug Krikorian, a writer for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner who wrote that there is more to this state than “grits, tobacco, textiles and Hillbillies.”   

And by beating UCLA and then winning it all, State “presented an opportunity to build even greater interest in participation in the tournament and a shot at the national title were extended to a large number of deserving schools.”

For the 1975 tournament, the NCAA committee approved what some had called the “Maryland rule.”  The  tournament increased to 32 teams and where selected, two entries from the same conference.   

TV ratings increased to 42 million, a new high.    CBS outbid NBC and began promoting the tournament in a bigger way.   Year-by-year everything got bigger and bigger with more and more teams qualifying.  March Madness is a cultural phenomena.  “Bracketology” has captured even casual fans.  Last year, the tournament produced more than $1B in revenue.    

 

Concluding Thoughts

The loss of the Generals, the Cougars and the Big Four ended a great run at the Greensboro Coliseum.  The Coliseum would still hold the ACC tourney in some years, but the magic of the early 70s began to slip away.  It was no longer do or die in the tourney, and when the amount of teams in the league grew way past the original eight, some of the Tobacco Road flavoring grew stale.    Despite increasing its capacity to 23,000, the Greensboro Coliseum never again hosted the Final Four, and very likely never will.      

The fans, however, did continue to see some great action at the Coliseum.  On January 29, 1983, a crowd of 14,423 watched Michael Jordan drop 39 in a 72-65 win over George Tech.  In 1994, a game between the Greensboro Monarchs and the Charlotte Checkers drew a record crowd of 20,908.    A year later Wake beat Duke, Virginia and UNC to win the ACC tournament before a sell out crowd of 23,311.   In 1999, the Duke women upset three time defending champ Tennessee in the Regional Final, with a record breaking crowd of 11,133 on hand.   In 2003, the ACC’s 50th Anniversary season, the Coliseum hosted both the conference’s women’s and men’s basketball tournaments, marking the first time a facility hosted both tournaments back-to-back in the same venue.

All great stuff, but for some in the Gate City, the best days had come in the first part of the 70s when the Greensboro Coliseum had that glorious run.   

For one of their March 1974 issues, Sports Illustrated had put a photo of Thompson leaping past Walton on the cover, with the caption, “End of an Era.”   

In Greensboro, it surely was.

 

Jay Roberts grew up in Greensboro, living about two miles from the Coliseum.   He has long called somewhere else home, but has many fond memories of attending baseball and basketball games in his hometown, as well as hockey, and eating at Stamey's and Libby Hill.   He can be reached at [email protected].