NC State AD Boo Corrigan talks COVID vaccines and the Wolfpack’s baseball debacle
Members arrived early Wednesday, quickly filling up plates with barbecue and chicken, and packing the tables in Bradley Hall at Highland United Methodist Church.
The Raleigh Sports Club is back up and running.
N.C. State athletic director Boo Corrigan was the guest speaker as the club, after an 18-month hiatus because of the pandemic, resumed its weekly luncheons.
“It felt just like old times,” club member John Watkins said.
Corrigan, with a lot of Wolfpack red in the audience, spoke of the myriad trials the pandemic have brought, the Pack’s ill-fated trip to the 2021 College World Series, and the potential impact such issues as conference expansion and name, image and likeness for athletes could have on college sports. The meeting over, he stayed long enough to greet some Pack fans and patiently answer questions and concerns.
“I think it further attaches N.C. State to Raleigh,” Corrigan said of appearing at the club. “It’s wonderful to meet people who graduated from N.C. State in the 1960s and ‘70s. I think it always gives you the perspective of: why we are where we are is because of where we come from. That’s really important.
“It’s a shame that for 56 consecutive years the club (met) and then a pandemic is what it took to break them up. But they’re back again this year.”
Humble origins
The Raleigh Sports Club began in January 1964 when Raleigh was a much smaller place — a cozy state capital and college sports town — when small group of men got together and created the club.
“I think I wrote a check for 50 bucks,” said Lou Pucillo, a former N.C. State basketball star and Raleigh businessman. “That was the beginning. Why the longevity? People just love sports.”
Among the early speakers were Olympic hero Jesse Owens, football stars Red Grange and Otto Graham, and baseball Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Satchel Paige. The late Jim Valvano, Dean Smith and Kay Yow were guest speakers, as was Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The lineup should again be a strong one with this year’s re-start — N.C. Central basketball coach LeVelle Moten, N.C. State baseball coach Elliott Avent and UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham are scheduled to follow Corrigan in the next few weeks.
Corrigan speaks
Corrigan spoke for 30 minutes, touching on several issues and taking questions from the audience.
He mentioned that going into 2020-21, he initially believed the NCSU athletic department would face a $23 million deficit during a pandemic year. But more than 30 percent of Wolfpack fans who had bought $13 million in football tickets for the 2020 season converted their payments into donations, he said.
“When that occurred, I realized we’ve got a shot at figuring this out,” Corrigan said.
Corrigan noted that a new group called the Guardian Wolves donated more than $6 million.
“We approached about 20 people and 15 said yes,” Corrigan said in an interview after the meeting. “They played a huge role for us because it was a time of great need , a unique time of great need. They delivered, and delivered in a big way.”
Corrigan said the Pack finished in the black financially by “a couple of hundred thousand dollars” — potential crisis averted.
The World Series debacle stung. The Pack was ruled out of the competition because of too many COVID-19 positive tests — by unvaccinated and vaccinated players — just as N.C. State had the look of a national championship team in the making.
“I thought we were going to win. It all just felt right,” Corrigan said.
Asked why Avent didn’t require his players all be vaccinated before the Series, Corrigan replied: “It’s a deeply, deeply personal decision to be vaccinated. ... We don’t have the authority to mandate but we do strongly encourage.” He again said NCAA COVID-19 protocols for caused the situation to go from “not good to bad to worse”” with no recourse at the World Series, ending what he called an “incredible” season.
Corrigan said about 94 percent of the Pack’s athletes, and 98 percent of the coaches, now were vaccinated for COVID-19.
Moving forward
So it went Wednesday. Club president Robert Hinson said the head count was 113. The club had 235 members a year ago, Hinson said, and hopes to top 200 again this year.
Carol Pope of Raleigh is a former club president. She likes to joke when she first attended, the only other woman in the room was helping serve the BBQ. While the membership remains most older and male, there are more women who come to meetings and an ongoing goal is to have more diversity in the club membership.
The speakers offer a diverse group. The club honors a local high-school athlete at each meeting — Cary Christian soccer standout Marshall Moody was recognized Wednesday — and the past honorees are a diverse group.
“We’re hoping to do more to increase diversity in our membership and we need to,” Pope said. “We want to go out in the community, to churches. We’re open to everybody.”
In addition to the weekly high school award, the club at its annual spring banquet hands out scholarships to high school athletes who did not receive college scholarships. It also recognizes a high school coach or mentor with a Distinguished Service Award.
“We never really stopped meeting,” Pope said. “Last year we had a few speakers on Zoom. But we had to take it positively and keep going. We wondered will people come back? You have to keep walking the path and make it happen.
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 11:36 AM.
