NC State’s ’83 title team finally gets a trip to White House

N.C. State’s 1983 national championship team will forever have a spot in NCAA tournament history for its dramatic win over Houston.

That Wolfpack team even got its own ESPN “30 for 30” documentary but what it didn’t get to do was go to the White House and meet the president after its incredible win.

Thirty-three years later, that’s about to change. After some behind-the-scenes work by Thurl Bailey, and help from U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the 1983 team is finally going to Washington.

The Wolfpack will visit President Barack Obama on May 9 on an overdue visit to the White House.

“Every time I’ve seen a team going to the White House over the years, I always felt like we missed out on something,” Ernie Myers, a freshman on the ’83 team, said on GoPack.com. “To have this opportunity is like another dream come true.”

Bailey, one of three seniors on the ’83 team with Dereck Whittenburg and Sidney Lowe, came up with the idea to finally get the team to the White House.

Bailey, who spent nine of his 12 seasons in the NBA with the Utah Jazz, wrote the president and had Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, follow-up the request in January.

The team was informed earlier this month it would get the chance to spend its annual reunion in Washington with the president.

Jim Valvano, the team’s coach, actually got to visit the White House and met with President Ronald Reagan in April 1983 but the players stayed back in Raleigh.

The trip on May 9 will be a chance for the whole team to experience the ritual of visiting the White House.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 1:15 PM with the headline "NC State’s ’83 title team finally gets a trip to White House."