Former NC State Basketball Star Charles Killed In Bus Accident
Lorenzo Charles, most known for the winning buzzer beater in the 1983 college basketball national championship as North Carolina State beat the heavily favored Houston team died in a bus crash Monday.
Elite Coach general manager Brad Jackson said the 47-year-old Charles worked for the company and was driving one of its buses on Interstate 40 with no passengers on board.
Charles played one season in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks in 1985-86, and played internationally and in the Continental Basketball Association until 1999, but he will always be remembered for the game winning shot against a team that featured Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
“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,” said Charles on his N.C. State webpage.
“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.”
