Stormin' Norman
I don't recall as much about Norman Sloan as some of the other old timers
because I moved from Raleigh in 1960 and it was not easy to get press accounts
of activities involving Big Four teams where I lived. I was still in the ACC
area, however, and I definitely recall the plaid coats and his wife singing the
Star Spangled Banner in Reynolds Coliseum. Plaid coats have long since been
shipped off to Goodwill, but I was always mystified by the negative comments
fans made about Mrs. Sloan singing the national anthem. I am not making a
judgment about the quality of her rendition of our national song, but I always
thought it was sort of neat to have the coach's wife singing before the game.
Maybe it's a bad comparison, but I wouldn't mind it if our Chancellor played the
organ in the Smith Center before games...that is if we had an organ.
There was a rumor earlier in the year that an organ had been donated to UNC and
would be installed in Kenan Stadium. Then, predictability, a rumor started that
the organ would be installed in the Smith Center instead. You know how that
goes. Both group of fans profess to love Carolina just as long as one sport
doesn't surpass the other in having goodies. More on that later. Turned out that
both rumors were rumors and nothing more. I was aghast when I first heard of it
but later warmed up to the idea. Only fault I could find with it was that it
seemed to be copying what professional sports have done in their arenas, but
please don't get me started on how I feel about professional sports.
My first memory of Norman Sloan was when he was a member of Everette Case's
initial group of Indiana recruits in 1946. Sloan was a guard and, most of the
time, he was not a starter. Let's see if I can recall the starting five for N.C.
State in '46. There was Dick Dickey at one forward, Paul Horvath at Center, and
Pete Negley at the other forward, Dick Bartells at one guard and lone non
freshman, returning veteran Leo Kacavick (sp). Sloan was the 6th man. I also
remember that Sloan played football his senior year and was not a bad halfback.
The next time I heard of Sloan was when he was Head Coach at the Citadel and I
saw them play in the Southern Conference Tournament in the old Arena in
Richmond. I believe that was during the same period that Lefty Dreisell coached
at Davidson.
Then Sloan popped up at Florida for a while and then to N.C. State. The
rivalries between State and Carolina during the period of time Sloan was at
State were something to behold. I know the rivalry is heated now, but it is
nothing like it was during that period. I believe at one point, State won 8
straight games against the Heels. Believe me, it wasn't a lot of fun going
through that drought. I remember sitting next to a State fan at the Big Four
Tournament in Greensboro when State beat us by one point and we had the ball out
under their basket at the end f the game. The ball came into Ed Stahl who was at
about the foul line and he missed the jumper. Game over. You think there wasn't
a lot of screaming and yelling going on around where I sat waiting for the
throw-in. I tried to be a good loser and I shook the hands of the State fan
after the game and she admitted we had scared the crap (or something similar, I
can't remember) out of the Wolfpackers. It gets a little fuzzy now, but I
believe we beat them later that year in the finals of the ACC Tournament. Those
were the days my friend.
The only other recollection I have of Norman Sloan is his volatile outbursts on
the sidelines during games. There have been only two ACC coaches who have made
me uncomfortable when they were ranting and Sloan was one of them. The other was
Terry Holland. These two were different from the other coaches in that their
eyes showed anger far beyond what we normally saw and made me think they were
regarding the game as being more than a game. I was always relieved when these
two gentlemen calmed down because I honestly thought there was a chance they
would blow an O ring or go off the deep end. Fortunately, this never happened.
The best Norman Sloan story I ever heard was in Sports Illustrated at the time
the Big Four Tournament was at its peak. The story was describing the intense
nature of the State-UNC rivalry and it told of a young UNC fan who attended the
same church as NS. After a close battle on the previous Saturday which State won
by a whisker, the boy was standing with his parents after church services doing
what people do in this situation. In a gesture of friendship, NS reached over to
pat the young fellow on the head and asked how he was doing. The boy recoiled
and said in a most serious tone "Don't touch me." SI didn't say what Sloan's
reaction was to this admonition but somehow, I think NS understood.
Another flashback. My web master was at an ACC tournament game during this
period with his father who was dressed in a State red polyester suit made by his
wife. The web master was sitting next to his father and outfitted in a Carolina
blue polyester suit made for him by the same person, his mother. It would have
made a great photograph for SI if the caption had explained the situation. I
often wish that I had a recording of the dialog that took place between the two
during the game.