The Greensboro Coliseum was always like ‘Home Sweet Home’ away from home for Phil Ford and David Thompson(Things were Alive back in ’75)

Phil Ford(North Carolina) and David Thompson(N.C. State) on the great UNC-State games over the years and how the Greensboro Coliseum hosted many of the top games ever, in that series between the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack….

from Caulton Tudor with the Charlotte Observer and the News and Observer in Raleigh…..
(www.charlotteobserver.com)

Phil Ford says about the great Carolina-State games and which one was best of all:

“It’s hard to pick one. We had some great games. We beat them twice in the ACC Tournament,” Ford said.

One of those two ACC Tournament wins was among the most significant in league history.
It was the 1974-75 ACC title game, Saturday March 8 in Greensboro Coliseum.

A 70-66 UNC win was a crowning moment in Ford’s college career. but more importantly it was also the final game of David Thompson’s incredible three-year varsity career for the Wolfpack.

One year earlier almost to the day – March 9, 1974 – Thompson and teammate Tommy Burleson had led the Wolfpack to a 103-100 overtime ACC title win over Maryland in the same Greensboro Coliseum.

Going into the 1975 Title Game with State and Carolina….

UNC had lost two of the previous three games – 82-67 on Jan. 4 in Greensboro’s Big Four Tournament and 88-85 in Raleigh on Jan. 18. The Heels had won 76-74 in Chapel Hill on Feb. 25.

Outside Greensboro Coliseum, on Championship Day, there were hundreds of fans begging to buy tickets at outrageous scalping prices. A guy offered $300 for my press pass. When I(Caulton Tudor) said no, he countered with $400, then $500 and finally walked away saying, “That’s it then. Five hundred is all I’ve got on me.”

Read more on this great North Carolina-N.C. State series from Caulton Tudor when you CLICK HERE…..(CharlotteObserver.com)