Former North Carolina State Wolfpack basketball, player, retired NBA player Thurl Bailey, gives President Barack Obama a jersey and gift as other members of the 1983 North Carolina State NCAA National Championship basketball watch, Monday, May 9, 2016, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. 33 years after their 1983 Men's National Basketball Championship, the president welcomes the North Carolina Wolfpack to the White House to honor their historic win.
“It was … surreal. I’m not sure there are enough words to describe it.”
SALT LAKE CITY — Thirty-three years after Jim Valvano went aimlessly zigzagging across the basketball court, Thurl Bailey felt a jolt of awe as President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Orrin Hatch entered the East Wing of the White House.