Legends
Meet the Legends for 2022!
Legends have included coaches, successful graduates, former athletes, and other individuals who are associated with NC State and are well known around the Wolfpack community.
Their involvement as a celebrity “fifth” player on a team has helped raise significant dollars each year that helped fund new practice tees, bunker renovations, on-course restrooms, benches and coolers, improved clubhouse amenities, additional parking, and general support for changes to enhance the golfing experience.
Thank you to our 2022 Legends of NC State!
Eddie Biedenbach
Eddie Biedenbach played basketball at NC State from 1965 to 1968. He was elected to the first-team All-ACC two times and garnered the nickname “The Pittsburgh Pickpocket” for his defensive skills. Biedenbach is the only player to have played under Everett Case, Press Maravich, and Norm Sloan. He graduated in 1968 with a degree in natural resources. Biedenbach has served as an assistant coach at NC State (1974 National Championship Team), Georgia, and UNC-Wilmington and was the head coach at Davidson and UNC-Asheville, where he is the winningest coach in UNC-Asheville and Big South Conference history.
Neil Chance
Neil Chance is a track and field alum who continues to hold the outdoor long jump record for NC State. He also holds the title of 1992 World Junior Long Jump Gold Medalist. Neil was a two-time Olympic Trials Qualifier, two-time All-American, and three-time ACC Champion.
Francis Combs
Francis Combs played baseball at NC State and was a member of the 1968 College World Series team along with his twin brother Freddie. After graduating in 1969, he was drafted by the NY Yankees and played four years of professional baseball. While in high school he was the catcher for Hall of Fame pitcher Jim “Catfish“ Hunter. Combs serves as a spotter for the Wolfpack Sports Network at all NC State football games, a position he has held since 1966. His consecutive game streak reached 598 games before missing a game in 2016.
Chase Duncan
Chase Duncan was a four-year letter winner under Hall of Fame coach Richard Sykes and has experienced competitive golf at the highest level. At only 24, Duncan was named lead instructor of the Wildwood Green Golf Academy at Wildwood Green Golf Club in Raleigh, NC. He joined the Lonnie Poole Golf Course in 2009, where is the lead golf instructor. During his playing and teaching career,, Duncan has had the opportunity to learn from some of the game’s most knowledgeable minds including a number of the top 100 worldwide instructors.
In addition to his in-person lesson success, Duncan founded OwnYourGolfGame.com to be able to share his techniques and insights with a much broader online audience.
Caroline Ellington
Caroline Ellington played golf for the NC State women’s golf team. She joined the Pack in 2009 when she was awarded a prestigious Park Scholarship; after which she was invited to join the golf team by Coach Marsh. Ellington earned a bachelors and masters degree in textile engineering from the Wilson College of Textiles, during which time she studied abroad in Vietnam and completed a research internship in Germany. She has also competed in the Mexican and Canadian Women’s Amateur Championships, US Mid-Amateur Championship, and the St Rule Trophy at St Andrew’s Links. Ellington works as line review director for the locally-based luxury apparel brand, Peter Millar.
Joe Giglio
Joe Giglio graduated from NC State in 1997 with bachelor’s in history. He has regularly reported on ACC sports since 2005 for the Raleigh News & Observer, WRAL, and ESPN properties.
Mike Glennon
Mike Glennon played quarterback for the NC State football team from 2008 to 2012 and earned a bachelors degree in business management and a masters in liberal arts studies. He was a pick in the third round of the NFL draft in 2013. Since college, he has played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New York Giants. In 2013, Glennon was placed on the Pro Football Writer’s Association’s All-Rookie Team for his strong debut year in professional football.
Henry Gutierrez
Henry Gutierrez played midfielder and forward for the NC State men’s soccer team from 1988 to 1991. He was named an All-American player, both as a midfielder in 1989 and as a forward in 1991, and he was also a two-time ACC player of the year.
From 1991-1994 he played for French Second Division club soccer teams, then in 1994, he joined the Cleveland Crunch team. In his first season with the Cleveland Crunch Team, Gutierrez won the National Professional Soccer League’s Rookie of the Year. He was also a part of the team when the Cleveland Crunch won the National Professional Soccer League’s championship title in 1995-1996. Gutierrez now coaches youth soccer in Fuquay-Varina, N.C.
Terry Harvey
Terry Harvey excelled in not one, but two sports at NC State from 1991-1995 and holds a bachelors in communication. As a quarterback for the Wolfpack football team, Harvey held all major career QB passing and total yards records and still ranks fourth in career passing yards and touchdowns. He shares the single-game record for touchdowns thrown (5).
As a baseball pitcher, Harvey held records for most career baseball wins (35), strikeouts (386), and innings pitched (425.1). He earned Freshman All-American honors and later third-team All-American recognition, and also a spot on the ACC’s 50-player 50th Anniversary Team. 1995 NC State H.C. Kennet award for male athlete. Having been drafted four times, he went on to play for the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays. Harvey is a partner/owner at Tryon Title, with eight offices across North Carolina.
Bob Hounsell
Bob Hounsell was a swimmer at NC State. Hounsell set two NCAA freshman marks in one day at the UNC freshman invitational championships in Chapel Hill. Bob was an All-American for State in 1965 and received the Sports Illustrated Award of Merit for Oustanding Athlete in April 1965. Bob is a great Wolfpack supporter and avid golfer.
Brandon Johnson
Brandon Johnson was one of the lead golf course designers for the Lonnie Poole Golf Course. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from NC State in 1997 with a degree in landscape architecture and a minor in music and was awarded the 1997 ASLA Award. He received his master’s in landscape architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1999.
Johnson joined the Arnold Palmer Design Company in 2006 where he was a lead designer for our course along with fellow alum Erik Larsen (‘77). As vice president, senior golf course architect and ASGCA associate member, he has worked on notable projects such as the 2012 remodel of Old Tabby Links at Spring Island (#67 Golfweek Top 100 Modern 2014), 2011 redesign of Wexford – Hilton Head Island (#67 Golfweek 2015 Top 100 Residential), and 2009 remodel of Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge (#48 Golfweek Top 100 Resorts).
Page Marsh
Page Marsh enters her 22nd season at the helm of the NC State women’s golf program. After the program was dropped in 1986, she has made great strides in establishing a consistently competitive program in one of the toughest conferences in the nation since its reinstatement in 2000. With 10 tournament wins under her belt, the team has made 17 NCAA Regional appearances in the past 18 seasons and earned three NCAA Championship team berths. Fourteen players are currently on the professional circuit, including Brittany Marchand who currently owns full LPGA status. Her program has additionally excelled in the classroom with 13 WGCA/NGCA All-American Scholar selections. Marsh was inducted to the NC Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 for her contributions to golf in her home state and was inducted into the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 for her illustrious amateur career, which includes six NC Women’s Amateur titles, 12 US Women’s Amateur appearances, and three US Women’s Open appearances. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, she was a two-time All-ACC selection, an All-American, and a 4 time MVP. After graduation, she pursued a professional career on the Futures Tour and Women’s Florida Golf Tour in 1986 and ’87.
Scotty McCreery
Scotty McCreery’s golden voice was a hometown secret until he won the 10th season of American Idol in 2011. A North Carolina native and avid fan of the Wolfpack, he made time to attend NC State while also cultivating his newfound fame. He was named ACM New Artist of the Year in 2011 and made history as both the first country artist and the youngest male artist of any genre to debut his first studio album, the Platinum-certified Clear as Day, at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.
McCreery has had four of his albums debut at No. 1 on a Billboard Albums chart, with current combined sales surpassing 4 million copies. With five consecutive No.1 hits to his credit, he’s earned one Double Platinum, four Platinum and four Gold singles; one Platinum and two Gold albums. His song “Five More Minutes” inspired a popular movie of the same name which aired on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Network during November-December 2021.
Joe Ovies
Joe Ovies is a 2001 NC State graduate who has been a part of Raleigh-Durham sports talk radio for over 20 years. In 2015, the Adam and Joe show on ESPN Radio 99.9 The Fan was named “Show of the Year” by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters. He, alongside his co-host Adam Gold, were awarded a Mid-South Emmy Award for their work on the WRAL documentary entitled “Mission Or Money: — a look into the financial ties of college athletics.
Easton Paxton
Easton Paxton is a current member of the NC State golf team. Paxton enters his final season with a career stroke average of 72.64, which is the ninth-best career stroke average in NC State Golf history. Paxton recently became the all-time rounds leader for NC State, playing in his 151st round and breaking a record that had been held since Bowen Sargent played 150 rounds from 1987-91.
Lou Pucillo
Lou Pucillo played guard for the NC State basketball team from 1956 to 1959 where, as a standout, he scored 944 points in 74 games. He was named first-team all-ACC and the ACC Tournament first-team in 1958 and 1959, and he was named the 1959 ACC Player of the Year.
Pucillo was drafted that same year by St.Louis of the NBA, but played amateur basketball for the Wichita Vickers in the National Industrial League. A year later, he was named freshman basketball coach at NC State. In 1991, he was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
Koren Robinson
Koren Robinsonwas a wide receiver for the NC State football team before joining the Seattle Seahawks as the 9th pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. Robinson also played for the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers. He was selected to the Pro Bowl with the Vikings in 2005 where he also received the Ed Block Courage Award given by his teammates.
Christian Salzar
Christian Salzar played on the NC State men’s golf team from 2016 to 2020. During his senior year, he had a 71.57 average round score, which ranks number 12 lowest in program history and was the teams’ low scorer in two tournaments. He also led the Pack to team title at Wolfpack Intercollegiate with three-round score of 12-under par to finish in second place out of 87 golfers. Salzer recently earned membership in the PGA Tour and has been playing on the Canadian and Korn Ferry circuits.
Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas played tight end for the NC State football team from 1994 to1997. During his four seasons, he caught 59 passes for 629 yards and three touchdowns. He then went on to play in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Giants. Thomas spent eight years as co-host of the morning drive sports talk radio show on The Buzz. He currently hosts the NC State coaches show and works with Mark Thomas Media, a local marketing and ad agency.
Dereck Whittenburg
Dereck Whittenburg was a member of the 1983 NC State National Championship basketball team under Coach Jim Valvano. His slightly off-target shot/pass was grabbed by Lorenzo Charles for the game-winning dunk to defeat the University of Houston in the championship game. Whittenburg became an assistant coach at NC State in 1985. Over the next 15 years, he was an assistant at six different colleges: NC State, George Mason University, West Virginia University, University of Colorado, Long Beach State University, and Georgia Tech. He was the head coach at Wagner College from 1999-2003 and Fordham from 2003-2009. He is now an assistant for NC State and was the executive producer for “Survive and Advance,” an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary.
Scott Wood
Scott Wood played basketball for NC State from 2009 to 2013 under Coach Lowe and Gottfried. He is NC State’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made, games played, games started and free throw percentage and is ranked 5th all-time in ACC 3-pointers made. His 2012 team made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 2012. Wood is a mortgage lender at Northpoint Bank and runs the Scott Wood Shooting Academy in Apex, N.C.