Every day somebody asks me about it.

"It's just an awful day," Whittenburg said. Lorenzo Charles was born in Brooklyn, New York to Panamanian immigrants. I'm very sorry to hear what happened. "I remember when (it) first happened, I figured I would have my 15 minutes of fame and that would be it. 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. Here we are and it is still a conversational piece. "Police released little about the one-vehicle crash that took Charles' life. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Lorenzo Charles, the muscular forward whose last-second dunk gave underdog North Carolina State a stunning win in the 1983 national college championship game, was killed Monday when a bus he was driving crashed along a highway, a company official said.Elite Coach general manager Brad Jackson said Charles, 47, worked for the company and was driving one of its buses on Interstate 40. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.Important conversations are happening now. 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. ©2020 Verizon Media. The rear wheels of the bus were on an embankment, leaving the right front tire elevated from the road.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.Michael Young, director of basketball operations at Houston, was a member of the team that let a national championship slip away. "ACC Commissioner John Swofford said Charles' play had an uplifting impact. No passengers were aboard.He grabbed Dereck Whittenburg's 30-foot shot and dunked it at the buzzer to give the Wolfpack a 54-52 win over heavy favorite 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.Whittenburg was despondent when discussing his teammate and friend with The Associated Press. 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. "Valvano also became famous for his emotional burst onto the court afterward, running around almost in disbelief. "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. Valvano died in 1993 after his public fight with cancer.NC State retired Charles' No. "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.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.A message left on a phone listed to Lorenzo Charles wasn't immediately returned Monday night.Associated Press writers Joedy McCreary in Raleigh and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report. Part of HuffPost News. ©2020 Verizon Media. Biography. Lorenzo Charles, who scored the winning dunk for North Carolina State in the 1983 NCAA national championship game and went on to play in the NBA, died in a bus … "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. Charles died in a bus accident on June 27, 2011, at age 47. No one expected much. "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.

Tire tracks in the grass show that the bus careened off the interstate, hitting branches and sustaining heavy damage to its front end. "An awful, awful day. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you.Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapterWe made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote!Part of HuffPost News. RALEIGH — Lorenzo Charles, the basketball player who clinched N.C. State’s 1983 NCAA championship with a game-winning dunk, died Monday afternoon in a bus crash on Interstate 40. Video shows the windshield broken out with tree limbs sticking through the window frame. "He was a great guy who was loved by his teammates, and taken away from us far too soon. He told KRIV-TV in Houston that he's never quite gotten over Charles' heroics. I thought I was going to get away with it today and then you called me. Add your voice! "Lorenzo left an indelible impact in sports lore that will never be forgotten, and while he will be forever remembered for his accomplishments at North Carolina State, the Atlanta Hawks family would like to extend heartfelt condolences to the Charles family after the news of his tragic death," said Dominique Wilkins, the Hawks' vice president of basketball and a former teammate. "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.