Dunno anything about him or even how accurate this story is but other posters here probably do. RIP.
Basketball hero who scored the most memorable point in NCAA history is killed when bus he was driving crashed
A basketball hero, who scored the most memorable shot in NCAA Tournament history, was killed today when a bus he was driving crashed.
Lorenzo Charles, 47, who worked for Elite Coach company, had been driving along Interstate 40 in North Carolina when the coach veered off the road.
Police have been sketchy on the details of the crash, but video shows the windshield broken out with tree limbs sticking through the window frame. The rear wheels of the bus were on an embankment, leaving the right front tire elevated from the road.
They think it's all over... it is now: Lorenzo Charles slamdunks his way into the history books during the last minute of the nail-biting 1983 national college championship when North Carolina Wolfpack triumphed over the Houston Cougars
No one else was on board at the time, according to Elite Coach General Manager Brad Jackson. Charles had been on his way to Durham to pick up passengers.
The company also stated that Charles had no known medical problems.
Charles shot to fame during a 1983 national college championship game that saw underdogs North Carolina State Wolfpack beat the Houston Cougars all thanks to his last-second slamdunk.
Charles had grabbed Dereck Whittenburg's 30-foot shot and dunked it at the buzzer to give the Wolfpack a 54-52 win over heavy favourite Houston and its second national title, sending coach Jim Valvano spilling onto the court, scrambling for someone to hug in what has become one of the lasting images of the NCAA tournament.
Accident: The bus veered off Interstate 40. Its rear wheels were on an embankment, leaving the right front tyre elevated from the road
Damage: Police have been sketchy on the details of the crash, but video shows the windshield broken out with tree limbs sticking through the window frame
Whittenburg was despondent when discussing his teammate and friend.
'It's just an awful day,' he aid. 'An awful, awful day.'
Charles secured his spot in N.C. State lore in the final moments of that game in Albuquerque, N.M., to cap off an improbable run to the championship.
N.C. State entered the NCAA tournament with a 17-10 record, having beaten Virginia to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and an automatic berth into the national field. No one expected much.
Birds eye view: The crash scene from above shows the traffic moving single file along the interstate
Ploughed up: The bus left a deep trench in the grass along the side of the interstate
Disbelief: Charles' Elite Coach colleagues chat to investigators at the crash site. A company spokesman said Charles had a 'heart of gold' and had been a 'member of the family'
'It's still kind of amazing to me that people are still talking about it,'' Charles said in an excerpt from his comments about the championship game on his N.C. State Web page.
'I remember when (it) first happened, I figured I would have my 15 minutes of fame and that would be it. Here we are and it is still a conversational piece.
'I don't really think that was the only great Final Four finish that has been played since then, but for some reason people just single out that game and talk about it. Maybe because it was such a David and Goliath thing.'
Legend: Former North coach Dean Smith, right, seen here with Charles, centre, and former Maryland Lefty Drizzelle on court during a 'Legends of the ACC' ceremony at Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, NC, in 2008
Charles finished his college career two years after the championship win with 1,535 total points - 15th on the school's scoring list - and his .575 shooting percentage in 1985 remains a school record for seniors.
In the 1983 run, Charles hit two free throws with 23 seconds left in the West Regional finals against the Cavaliers to give the Wolfpack a 63-62 win and the spot in the Final Four.
Their semifinal win over Georgia sent them to the matchup with the Cougars, known as Phi Slamma Jamma in those years and led by stars Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
We DID it! Late North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano embraces then sophomore Charles after his victorious shot
Jubilation: Valvano also became famous for his emotional burst onto the court afterward, running around almost in disbelief
Michael Young, director of basketball operations at Houston, was a member of the team that let a national championship slip away. He told KRIV-TV in Houston that he's never quite gotten over Charles' heroics.
'For him to dunk the ball at that moment to win the game, it was one of the most heartbreaking moments I have ever felt in my whole career,' Young said.
'Twenty-eight years later, it's still with me. Every day somebody asks me about it. I thought I was going to get away with it today and then you called me. I'm very sorry to hear what happened.'
Jim Valvano also became famous for his emotional burst onto the court afterward, running around almost in disbelief. Valvano died in 1993 after his public fight with cancer.
NC State retired Charles' No. 43 jersey in 2008, the 25th anniversary of the championship.
Thurl Bailey, one of Charles' teammates on the championship team, said it's tough to accept that the player who made the game-winning dunk is gone.
'But I heard someone say, I was talking to them on the phone about this, that Jimmy V finally found somebody to hug,' Bailey told WRAL-TV.
Current coach Mark Gottfried said his staff had just gotten acquainted with Charles and was saddened to hear the news.
'He holds a special place in Wolfpack history and in the hearts of generations of fans,' Gottfried said in a statement.
'We just reconnected with him last week and our staff was stunned to hear this terrible news.'
ACC Commissioner John Swofford said Charles' play had an uplifting impact.
'As a former player, he made us believe in the amazing and all of us in the ACC send out our thoughts and prayers to his entire family,' Swofford said in a statement.
While his colleagues at the Elite Coach company said Charles had a 'heart of gold' and after a decade working for the company had been 'part of the family.'
Charles played one season in the NBA, averaging 3.4 points in 36 games with the Atlanta Hawks in 1985-86, and played internationally and in the Continental Basketball Association until 1999.
Then he started coaching. Talking in an interview with ESPN in 2003 he said: 'I was basically done with (playing). It was 13 or 14 years. I just hung up the sneakers.
'Then I got a call from the Fargo Beez asking me to help run the team and I figured I'd take a look at it - I wanted to see what coaching was like.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...killed-bus-driving-crashed.html#ixzz1QZeEPcUk
