12/03/24
June 28, 2011
N.C. State Star Lorenzo Charles Dies in Car Crash: Lorenzo Charles, the North Carolina State player who scored the dunk that won the 1983 NCAA basketball championship, died in a bus wreck on Interstate 40 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Monday. Charles, who was drafted in the NBA but played just one season, had been driving for a charter bus service for 10 years.
posted by rcade to basketball at 01:23 PM - 2 comments
My mom was always fascinated with Lorenzo Charles, entirely because of his mellifluous name. Say it out loud a few times and you'll see what I mean.
We were Maryland fans, but she loved when he'd take the court, because it meant she got to say "Oh, there's Lorenzo Charles!" and then talk about how he had two first names, two lovely names that fit together like Shakespeare. My whole family loved his name, and it inspired us to look for other great names in college basketball. Time passed and the men in my family took to Demetrius Gore or Fennis Dembo or Scientific Mapp, but my mom stayed true through the years to Lorenzo Charles.
If there's an afterlife, my mom would have been surprised to discover it a few years ago; it's not something I believe in either but I like to think, if that's where she ended up, she'd get her chance to greet Mr. Charles, to get him to stoop down for hug and poke him with her chin in return for his autograph, so she could read it aloud with relish, "Lorenzo Charles. Lorenzo... Charles."
To the original all-name-hall-of-famer, rest in peace. Thanks for making my mom so happy, just by being a man named Lorenzo Charles.
posted by Hugh Janus at 08:23 PM on June 28, 2011
I was watching the local news yesterday afternoon and they had an "eye in the sky" helicopter showing the scene of the accident. It didn't look too horrible, but they were saying that at least one person was dead; probably the driver. Of course, we didn't yet know who was driving the tour bus. I thought it kind of weird that I didn't see any skid marks on the pavement just before where the bus went off the road.
A couple of local takes:
WRAL
News & Observer