To varying degrees, cities and their citizens across the nation take pride in their sports arenas and the memorable stories made in them. In the case of Greensboro, North Carolina, the Greensboro Coliseum holds quite a few stories, too.
Before we look at the remarkable run of games that took place there in March, 1974, it’s worth pointing out something exceptional about the city itself. Almost all of the big arenas across the country are located in a major market. Greensboro is not.
The population of the Greensboro metro area (784,000) currently ranks 78th. Hard to know what it was in the early 70s, but it’s probably in that lower percentile.
So perhaps it was a gamble when the city leaders pushed for and built the first iteration of the coliseum in 1959.
The initial capacity was 9,000. That doesn’t sound like much by today’s standards, but it was one of the highest figures on the East Coast. In 1970, the building was expanded to 16,000, keeping it the largest in the South until Atlanta’s OMNI opened in 1972 with 16,181.
Like needy souls at a Billy Graham sermon, the patrons kept coming and coming down the aisles. As the Coliseum website notes, over the past 65 years, the Complex has hosted an incredible number and variety of events. More than 65 million patrons have enjoyed the action and entertainment.
Given all that history, it seems like it would be very difficult to pick out one great month-long stretch at the arena.
But it happened fifty years ago. In March, 1974, the stars aligned to produce a once-in-a-lifetime coming together of exciting and meaningful games there. Coliseum manager Jim Oshust, his staff, and the workers must have been both exhilarated and exhausted. The games included the CIAA Tournament, the ACC Tournament, the NCAA Final Four tournament, the playoffs for the Greensboro Generals, and the final slate of regular season games for the Carolina Cougars, who also made the playoffs. In the middle of it all, some singer named Elvis Presley brought the house down.
With March Madness about to descend across the nation, let's take a look at this perhaps never-before-told story.
CIAA tournament
February 28 to March 2, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
The month started off with the CIAA tournament. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association was founded in Hampton, Virginia in 1912. Made up of historically black colleges and universities, it is the oldest African-American athletic conference in the US.
Star players include Sam Jones (North Carolina Central), Earl “The Pearl” Monroe (Winston-Salem State), and Earl Lloyd. Lloyd who grew up in Alexandria and attended Parker-Gray High School, led West Virginia State to two titles, and became the first African American to play in the NBA and on an NBA championship team (Syracuse Nationals, 1955).
Legendary was Clarence “Big House” Gaines, who played for Morgan State and coached at Winston-Salem State from 1946-1993. He hoisted eight CIAA title trophies and led the Rams to the 1967 Division II title.
The accomplishments of those who played in the CIAA in the first half of the century and into the sixties go beyond their statistics, titles, and honors. A simple walk down the street could find them dodging some awful facet of Jim Crow laws and prejudice.
The desegregation that unfolded across the county in the 1960s owes something to the sit-ins in downtown Greensboro in February, 1960. The brave four protestors at Woolsworth were students at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro. The Aggies played in the CIAA conference from 1924 to 1970.
In 1974, the teams in the CIAA from North Carolina were Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, Johnson C. Smith (Charlotte), Livingston (Salisbury), Saint Augustine (Raleigh), Shaw (Raleigh), and Winston-Salem State (left 2006, rejoined 2010).
From Virginia were Hampton (left 1995), Virginia State (Petersburg), Virginia Union (Richmond), and Norfolk State (left 1996).
Note: North Carolina A&T (Greensboro) played in the conference from 1924 to 1970. Howard University in Washington played in the conference from 1912 to 1970. Morgan State (Baltimore) played in the conference from 1929 to 1970. Delaware State (Dover) played in the conference from 1945 to 1970. All those teams joined the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in 1970.
The first three playings of tournament took place in Washington, DC at Turner’s Arena (1946-1948), a bandbox with a capacity of 2,000. It was held at the Uline Arena from 1949-1951, with a capacity of 8,000. The players surely enjoyed playing in the bigger space and visiting the big city, but logistically, Washington was not centrally located to the teams.
In 1960 the tourney took place in Greensboro, and then settled down there from 1964 to 1975. Playing in the Greensboro Coliseum meant a lot for the players and schools. In the early days, they had played in those smallest of places. As noted by TheCIAA website, “the tournament shifted into an era of “the super crowds” in 1960 when it moved to Greensboro.”
As noted by Ebony magazine (“The 90th anniversary of the CIAA,” February, 2002), the tournament is more of a week long social event than just the games, and a family reunion of sorts for many African-Americans.
The Greensboro Daily News gave excellent coverage of the tournament, which was played on Thursday, February 28; Friday, March 1; and Saturday, March 2. In his column Bob Heller noted a first for the tournament. Thursday, the opening round of games, held a "High School Day." Thousands of students from North Carolina and Virginia were invited to participate in a special display and clinic at the Coliseum Complex.
He also noted the State 4-A Championship Game would take place at 7 pm on Saturday, followed by the tournament title game at 9 (Undefeated Vance County (north of Durham) beat Cumberland County of Fayetteville).
Drexel Ball added that “the CIAA has become, perhaps by design, the most prized spectacle in the nation involving black athletes.” He touted Winston-Salem State senior Earl Williams as the “Player of the Year.” Students there had only to travel 22 miles to the coliseum.
The boxscores did not give attendance, except for the championship game (9,691). The standout player was 6-6 Sophomore forward and Fredericksburg native Gene Cunningham (1953-2018). He dropped 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in the title tilt.
Cunningham would also lead the Spartans to the CIAA title in 75 and 76. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Golden State Warriors but did not play in the NBA. 2018
Game Results:
Thursday
Virginia Union 85
WS State 81
Virginia State 91
Fay State 77
JC Smith 91
Hampton 90
Norfolk St 86
Shaw 61
Friday
JC Smith 97
VA State 72 OT
Norfolk State 86
Va Union 77
Saturday
Norfolk State 74
J C Smith 65
A: 9,691
Norfolk State advanced to the NCAA Div II South Atlantic Region and J.C. Smith to the NAIA District 26 playoffs.
The ACC Tournament
Thursday, March 7; Friday, March 8; and Saturday, March 9
After the CIAA tournament was over, all eyes on Tobacco Road turned to the ACC tournament. Always the hottest ticket around, it was held Thursday, March 7; Friday, March 8; and Saturday, March 9.
(Note: In 1982, the tournament began playing the quarterfinals on Friday, semis on Saturday, and the championship on Sunday.)
In 2018, the ACC sent nine teams to the NCAA tournament (Virginia, Duke, Carolina, NC State, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Syracuse and Virginia Tech). Given that large number, it must be hard for some today to believe that from 1954 to 1974, only one team from the conference made it to the NCAA tournament. And it didn’t matter how good you were in the regular season. To advance, you had to win the conference tournament.
This early form of March Madness first played out in Raleigh, where coach Everett Case knew how to whip the fans into a frenzy. Reynolds Coliseum hosted the tournament from 1954 to 1966 and the Wolfpack won it and the sole berth to the NCAA in ’54-’56, ’59, and '65.
Greensboro, centrally located in the middle of Tobacco Road and getting the expansion to 16,000 in 1970, gained the tourney in 1967 and also held it from 1971 to 1974.
Vic Bubas had led the Blue Devils to an overall 106-32 record, but Bucky Waters and Bill Foster had tougher times. In Chapel Hill, Dean Smith had turned UNC into a powerhouse. State had faded from that early great run, but led by coach Norm Sloan (nicknamed "Stormin' Norman”), the Pack came roaring back. They would win 57 of 58 games in 72-73 and 73-74.
One of the most colorful characters in the league was Charles “Lefty” Driesell, who passed away earlier this year. He was always good for a flash of a smile, a quip or a boast. But make no mistake. Maryland’s coach meant business and wanted to win as badly as the others.
Driesell, who had learned a thing or two about hoops in North Carolina by coaching at Davidson from 1960-1969, gave the fans at Cole Field House something to be proud of. His Terps made the ACC Finals in 71-72, 72-73, and 73-74 and would go a combined 119-28 from 71-72 to 75-76.
Before leaving the conference and going independent after the ’70-’71 season, South Carolina had won the tourney in 1971 and won 69 of 85. When the Gamecocks left, the league dropped to seven teams, a figure it would keep until Georgia Tech joined in 1979. The league winner did receive a bye during this time, but nevertheless, the tournament was always tough to win.
The seven ACC teams rolled into Greensboro on March 7th. Dean Smith and his boys in blue were used to strutting into the Greensboro Coliseum. The conveniently located arena, about a mile from Interstate 40, and outside the central part of the city, became a home away from home for the Tar Heels. As Akil Guruparan (“UNC’s history at the Greensboro Coliseum”) notes, “the Tar Heels have won more games there than any other off-campus venue, with a 115-30 record.”
Woody Durham, the Tar Heels play-by-play announcer and sports director for WFMY in Greensboro, hosted “The Dean Smith Show.” It was watched religiously by the fans every Sunday morning. And as mentioned, Carolina had won the ACC tournament in 66-67, 67-68, 68-69, 70-71, and 71-72.
This time, however, the Tar Heel swagger might have thinned out a little. State had gone 27-0 in ’72-’73 and beat Maryland 76-74 in the ACC finals (recruiting violations kept them at home). In ’73-'74, the Wolfpack were 25 and 1 and ranked number one coming into the tournament. The Terps finished the regular season 23-5 and were ranked fourth in the national polls. UNC was ranked 12th.
Norm Sloan had put together an unstoppable one-two punch with forward David Thompson and center Tommy Burleson. In his three seasons (71-72, 72-73, 73-74), Burleson (7-2) averaged 19 points and 12.7 rebounds. Thompson (72-73, 73-74, 74-75) averaged 26.8 points and 8.1 rebounds. Monte Towe stood a whopping 13 inches below Burleson, but that did not stop him from averaging 11.1 points across his three seasons. Phil Spence chipped in an average of 11.2 points, also in three seasons. Freshman Kenny Carr was good for 13.8 in ’73-’74 and would lead the ACC the following season with 26.6 and grabbed 10.3 rebounds.
As it always was in those days of do or die, the ticket to the tournament was one of the hottest around. Every game was sold out. 15,451 filled the coliseum for all of the games.
WFMY televised the two semis — State vs VA and UNC vs. MD — and the finals on Saturday afternoon. It’s hard to know what the ratings were, but in those days of just three channels, a top show could reach a good chunk of viewers.
Thursday, March 7
Maryland did not have the star player such as David Thompson, but they packed a mean punch overall. Their season averages were John Lucas, (20.1), Tom McMillen (19.4 and 10 rebounds), Len Elmore (14.6 and 14.7), Maurice Howard (12.2) and Wilson Washington (10).
On Thursday, the Terps manhandled Duke 85 to 66, while UNC got by Wake Forest 76-72. Virginia topped Clemson 68-63, with Wally Walker scoring 22 points. The Wolfpack enjoyed the night off.
Friday, March 8
In the semis, State cruised over Virginia, 87-66, with Thompson dropping 37. On 38 of 60 shooting, Maryland beat Carolina 105 to 85, a drubbing the Tar Heels and Dean Smith surely did not soon forget.
Saturday, March 9
With the sun setting on the Gate City, a number of fans filed into Stamey's, the BBQ restaurant across the road from the Coliseum. The culinary landmark still serves up some of the finest pork and slaw sandwiches in the state. As good as the eating there was, the title game was even better.
My Dad used to use the word “barn burner” to describe a close basketball game we would watch on TV. The finals were certainly that.
A native of Concord, North Carolina and a graduate of Chapel Hill, Smith Barrier (1916-1989), longtime executive Sports Editor for the Greensboro Daily News, and arguably the preeminent expert on Tobacco Road hoops in the building, wrote: “Never has the ACC Championship been played in such style, teams always on the go, turnovers held to a working minimum, and the loser, Maryland, shot 61 percent from the floor.”
Tied at 97, the game went into OT. Towe made a pair of free throws with six seconds left and State held on to win, 103-100. Tommy Burleson led all scorers with 38, a brilliant 18 for 25 from the field. Thompson added 29. The Terps scoring line was McMillen and Howard 22, Elmore and Lucas 18, and Brown 14.
The game may not be the greatest ever in the ACC, but it is certainly right up there. Both teams kept their starters in for all but a few minutes. The combined 203 points and that was before the three-point play.
’73-’74 was the final do or die game in the tournament, The NCAA changed the rule the following year and allowed more than one team. 32 teams made it as opposed to 25 including UNC and MD.
The National Invitational Tournament was an option, but Maryland voted not to go. Carolina went, but lost to eventual champion Purdue, 82-71, in the first round.
Thompson, Burleson, Towe, Lucas, Elmore, McMillan went to the pros. Googling the game produces results such as “State Beats Maryland in ACC’s Greatest Game” (Sports Illustrated), “The Greatest Game Ever Played” (Daily Press), and “The Game Above All Others” (Winston-Salem Journal).
Sunday, March 10
With "blue laws" preventing the sale of gas and booze until after church services, Sundays were typically slower in Greensboro and in other parts of the south.
But not on this Sabbath day, which brought no rest for the coliseum workers and the press. On the Sunday (March 10) after the ACC final on Saturday, the Carolina Cougars hosted the Kentucky Colonels. 6,694 was the attendance. The win raised their record to 45-31 and put them just two back of the league leading Colonels with ten games left. Carolina had clinched making the playoffs, but finishing second would give them home court advantage.
It wouldn’t be until 1988 when North Carolina gained its first NBA team, the Charlotte Hornets. But professional ball had arrived in 1969 with the Cougars and the ABA. Before merging with the NBA in 1976, the league with the red, white and blue basketballs and the three-point circle had formed in 1967. It also brought the regional concept, with the Cougars (Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh) and the Virginia Squires (Norfolk, Hampton and Richmond) playing in multiple cities.
The Cougars had arrived in North Carolina for the 1968-1969 season. North Carolina native Jim Gardner had acquired the Houston Mavericks, a charter member of the ABA. Greensboro was their headquarters and they played games there and in Charlotte and Raleigh. In that first season, they played 20 games in Greensboro, 14 in Charlotte, and 8 in Raleigh. Capacities were 15,500, 11,666, and 12,400 respectively.
In their five seasons, the Cougars brought some familiar faces to the games. They include, Larry Miller, who had starred for the Tar Heels. In a game (March 18, 1972) that saw the Cougars beat Memphis 139-125 at the Greensboro Coliseum, he blistered the nets for 67 points. The mark set the single game league record and was the most by any pro until Peter Maravich scored 68 in 1977.
Miller, who chose the ABA over the NBA, went on to score 3,046 points for the Cougars in his three seasons (68-70, 70-71, 71-72).
The Cougars never won it all, but attendance was good in Greensboro, and the team went to the playoffs in five of nine seasons. The team and Greensboro hosted the league All-Star Game in 1971. Attendance was 14,407, a near sell-out.
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 at the Coliseum. The Celtics featured John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas, and Don Chaney.
Not having a TV contract proved to be too much to overcome for the ABA, but in the case of the Cougars, having those familiar faces must have been crowd pleasing. The 1973-1974 roster included Billy Cunningham (UNC, 20.5), Mack Calvin (18), Jim Chones (14.8), Joe Caldwell (14.4), Tom Owens (South Carolina, 13.8), Ted McClain (13.1), Gene Littles (High Point 8.4), and Ed Manning (8.3). Manning was the father of Danny Manning, who made Greensboro proud with a career that included leading the Kansas Jayhawks to the NCAA title in 1988. Larry Brown (UNC) coached the Cougars.
Wednesday, March 13
On Wednesday, March 13, three nights after the Cougars beat the Colonels, Elvis Presley played at the Coliseum. His health was not the best at that time, but he continued to sell out shows. The King performed five times in Greensboro between 1972 and 1977. The ’74 show sold out in minutes and drew 16,000.
Greensboro’s YesWeekly wrote: “The King looked sharp that night in his high-collared, Blue Starburst belted jumpsuit with wildly exaggerated, pleated flairs.” His remaining shows in Greensboro are not easy to read about, as his physical condition got worse.
Friday, March 15
After the Elvis show, the Cougars had eight games left. As mentioned, they were guaranteed to make the playoffs, but finishing in second instead of third would give them the home court advantage in the first round. On Friday night, March 15, they beat the Utah Stars 114 to 105. Unfortunately, they then lost their next six games. The Cougars finished the regular season on March 27, with a 99 to 91 win over Virginia at Greensboro.
Carolina then faced the Kentucky Colonels who swept them in four games. The final two games were at Greensboro, April 6th and 8th.
3,724 attended the first game (Kentucky 120-110) and 5,243 for the second (Kentucky 128-119). That was their last game as the Carolina Cougars. The next season the franchise moved to St. Louis. The Spirit played for two seasons but did not join the NBA.
The Generals
We noted earlier that on the Sunday (March 10) after the ACC finals on Saturday, the Cougars hosted the Kentucky Colonels. The coliseum workers then had to get ready for the next night (Monday, March 11) for the Generals playoff game against Charlotte. With the ACC tournament taking place in Greensboro, the Checkers had won the first two games at Charlotte.
Weary the Coliseum workers were, but they were used to switching from the hardwood to ice and vice versa. Professional hockey had arrived in Greensboro in 1959. It was one of the first games played in the new arena. Not all the fans knew what icing was at first, but they soon learned and the Generals had a loyal following. Games against their arch rivals, the Charlotte Checkers, drew the best attendance.
The Generals made the playoffs in all of their 15 seasons (1959-1973) in the Eastern Hockey League and had a combined 542-381 record. Their best season was 62-63 when they won the championship. They lost in the finals in 61-62, 63-64, 69-70.
For the ’73-’74 season the team joined the new Southern Hockey League and played in its four seasons. The league had formed when the Eastern Hockey League split into the southern teams and northern teams (North American Hockey League). The five other teams were Roanoke, Charlotte Checkers, Winston Salem, Suncoast (St. Pete Florida) and Macon. All but Macon had come from the EHL.
The Generals standout players were Howie Heggedal, 86 points, Kirk Bowman, 78 points, Wally Sprange, 74 points, and Stu Roberts, 67 points. Mike Ralph was goalie with 37 games and a 4.09 GAA. Heggedal’s 86 points ranked fifth in the league and Bowman’s 78 ranked tied for 9th. Heggedal had played for the Los Angeles Sharks the season before.
On Saturday, March 3, the Generals had made the playoffs, but their record, 33-37-1, was the team’s worse since the first season in 1959 (26-35-5). Attendance was falling. After the losses in Charlotte, they were now down two games to none.
Monday, March 11
Game Three was held March 11 at Greensboro. The boxscore in the Greensboro Daily News shows just 1,500 attendance, but, oh, did the ones who stayed see an epic battle.
Each team scored a goal in each of the three periods. In the first OT period, no one scored. In the second OT period, no one scored. Hard to say how many times during those two periods that there was a great game-saving save, or a heart-stopping shot on goal by the Checkers, but surely there were a few on both sides.
The game went into a third overtime period. Oxygen bottles were brought to the benches. After four hours and 25 minutes, and just after the face off, Heggedal lit up the lamp with a 12-foot slap shot past Gaye Cooley. Cooley had made 50 saves, while the Generals Mike Ralph made 78 saves with 12 in the first OT and 24 in the second.
Alfred Hamilton (Greensboro Daily News) wrote:
“Very simply now, the Greensboro Generals may have skated to their most dramatic win in club history early this morning.”
Sadly for the home fans, the Generals lost the next two and were eliminated.
NCAA Final Four
Another thing that may be hard for some to understand, is that Greensboro hosted the Final Four (Saturday, March 23rd and Monday, March 25). It’s worth talking about how the city was chosen.
As mentioned earlier, Greensboro’s population in 1974 was 175,000. (2020, 299,035). The metro region ranked 70th in the nation. Since the first time in 1949, the Final Four games had been held in a major market.
Samuel Walker and Randy Roberts cover this nicely in their book, “The Road to Madness, How the 1973-1974 Season Transformed College Basketball.”
After the announcement in 1968 that the Coliseum would increase the venue’s capacity to 15,500 (paid for by a bond), Smith 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 was concerned about the small airport. The carriers agreed to increase the number of flights. A big plus was that the capacity of the coliseum was the largest on the East Coast between Atlanta and Philadelphia. Barrier also emphasized that North Carolina was “basketball country.”
The NCAA approved Greensboro the following January. 8,800 tickets would be available to the public. They went on sale on April 1, 1973. The NCAA received 42,400 requests. Walker and Roberts point out the Final Four in St. Louis in March 1973 did not sell out until that January.
It’s also worth discussing the tournament format. Once again, hard to believe now, but just 16 teams made it.
They were NC State, Providence, Pitt, Furman, New Mexico, San Francisco, Dayton, UCLA, Notre Dame, Big Ten, Marquette, Vanderbilt, Oral Roberts, Louisville, Creighton and Kansas.
When the topic of greatest sports dynasties comes up, the conversations typically involve the pro teams. Discussions ensue, with no clear winner.
Ask who was the greatest college basketball dynasty and the bartender moans. John Wooden led the UCLA Bruins to the top in 1964, 1965, 1967-1973 and in 1975. No one else has come close.
Making the Final Four were UCLA, State, Marquette and Kansas. Paradoxically, State, ranked number one, played UCLA, ranked number two in the semis.
The Bruins were led by Senior Bill Walton, who was a three-time National Player of the Year and one of the all time greats with a four season average of 20.3 points per game, 15.7 rebounds per game, 65.1% FG. Jamaal Wilkes, also a senior, averaged 16.7 that season, with Dave Meyers chipping in 11.4.
The Greensboro Daily New gave special coverage for the Final Four. They pointed out that tickets for the State-UCLA game had gone for $400 ($2,569 today). Tom Einstein wrote that 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, the practice session at the Coliseum on Friday was to be closed door sessions. But the NCAA changed their mind. 5,000 showed up to watch (I’m lucky to say I was one of them). Attendance 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 first two games were on Saturday, played at 1 pm and 3 pm. An estimated 27 million fans watched the State-UCLA game, the most ever at that time for a semi-final 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.
At the Big Four tournament at Greensboro on January 4, State needed everything to beat the Tar Heels 78-77 in front of a full house. At the time, Carolina was ranked fourth in the nation, with State fifth. Mostly, however, State’s wins were cruises. After being ranked second behind UCLA in the pre-season polls, the Wolfpack took the top spot on February 18 and held it going into the tournament.
UCLA actually fell to third in the polls after losses to Notre Dame (January 19), Oregon State (February 15), and — are you sitting down? — Oregon the following night. But Goliath reeled off seven in a row and pulled in behind NC State for the March 18 rankings.
Thompson had healed from his heart-stopping injury against Pittsburgh, but questions swirled over if he was 100%.
In the first game on Saturday, Marquette (ranked third) beat Kansas (ranked sixth). The State-UCLA game drew an estimated 27 million viewers, the most for a semifinal game at that time.
With their three OTs win over San Francisco in the quarter finals, UCLA had won 38 consecutive NCAA tournament games. With about eleven minutes left, they led State by eleven points. It looked like the mighty Wizards of Westwood would make it 39 and give them the chance to win their eighth straight NCAA championship.
But State fought back and went on a 10-0 roll. They had a chance to win in regulation, but Tim Stoddard’s 20-footer bounced off the rim. Tied at 67, the game went to OT.
The Wolfpack fell behind again. With 3:37 left, they trailed 74-67. But Thompson hit clutch shots, Burleson made a key steal, and twice Monty Towe made both ends of a clutch one and one. The lighted dots on the scoreboard 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 admitted, “critical mistakes” hurt his team. Walton’s 29/18 led all players while Thomson’s 28 led State.
In the Monday night finals, State played Marquette. Al McGuire’s team had been ranked third coming in, but with balanced scoring (Thompson 21, Towe 16, Rivers and Burleson 14), the Wolfpack won easily 76-64. The title win was State’s first, repeated only by Jim Valvano’s team in 1983.
Concluding Thoughts
The loss of the Generals and the Cougars ended a great run at the Greensboro Coliseum. Never to return, the CIAA tournament left after 1975.
The Coliseum would still hold the ACC tourney in some years, and became known as “Tournament Town,” but as more and more teams made the NCAA tourney, the nail-biting tension and drama of the early do-or-die 70s faded a bit.
Despite increasing its capacity to 23,000 in 1993, the Greensboro Coliseum has not 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 score 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. This year, the Coliseum once again hosted the ACC women.
No single month, however, has matched the sustained excitement of March, 1974, and probably never will. Perhaps we can say it was March Madness before March Madness...
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