NC State's 1983 championship team sues NCAA for NIL compensation over years of using team members' likenesses



After 41 years, 10 members of the 1983 national champion basketball team from North Carolina State are suing the NCAA and the Collegiate Licensing Company for unauthorized use of their likenesses.

NC State won a dramatic NCAA championship in 1983 by a score of 54-52 with a last-second dunk by Lorenzo Charles.

The NC State team was known as the "Cardiac Pack" after a series of close victories in the tournament, culminating in the team's championship win over a star-studded Houston team. The opposing squad had two future NBA Hall of Fame members in Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Coach Jim Valvano running onto the court after the game became an iconic highlight that was reportedly used in many NCAA tournament promotions, according to ESPN.

Those clips have become a point of contention after former players filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court in North Carolina for the unauthorized use of their names, images, and likenesses.

'Student-athletes' value to the NCAA does not end with their graduation.'

The players are reportedly seeking "reasonable compensation."

"For more than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and intentionally misappropriated the Cardiac Pack's publicity rights — including their names, images, and likenesses — associated with that game and that play, reaping scores of millions of dollars from the Cardiac Pack's legendary victory," the lawsuit reportedly said.

The lawsuit is bringing into question whether or not the value of student-athletes ends when they graduate and whether archival footage or other products should constitute using a player's likeness, rights, etc.

"Student-athletes' value to the NCAA does not end with their graduation; archival footage and other products constitute an ongoing income stream for the NCAA long after the students whose images are used have moved on from college," the lawsuit added.

Plaintiffs in the case included the following former NC State players: Thurl Bailey, Alvin Battle, Walt Densmore, Tommy DiNardo, Terry Gannon, George McClain, Cozell McQueen, Walter Proctor, Harold Thompson, and Mike Warren.

The NCAA has not yet responded to requests for comment from outlets such as the Associated Press.

Young athletes have been able to take in millions from NIL agreements with the NCAA, capitalizing on their sometimes massive social media followings.

According to On3, which tracks NIL valuations, the top earner is the University of Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL great Deion Sanders, making an estimated $4.6 million.

Second on the list is LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, who, with over 9 million social media followers, is being paid an estimated $3.9 million.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning of the legendary Manning football family is fourth on the list with a $2.4 million valuation.

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NC State alumni report more than 150 cancer cases possibly linked to contaminants in campus building



North Carolina State University continues to investigate how many students and alumni have been exposed to alarming levels of polychlorinated biphenyls — a possible carcinogen, according to Fox News Digital. The school shut down a campus building in November 2023 that contained toxic PCBs.

There have been more than 150 cancer cases reported by those who attended classes at Poe Hall. The concerns were raised in November of last year, which prompted the school to shut down the building. The report mentioned that the Environmental Protection Agency detected that PCB levels were 38 times the standards for building materials. The toxic element was discovered in five rooms around the building.

Christie Lewis, an NC State alumnus, told Fox News Digital, "I was finishing up my finals, and I was going in for a physical at the health center. ... I was having night sweats for weeks and weeks before this, and I could not figure out what was happening."

"I was having to get up in the middle of night and change clothes completely. And then I would fall asleep. And I had to put a towel down. It honestly took me weeks to even tell my husband about them because I kept on forgetting about it because it was just in the middle of the night," Lewis added.

Lewis attended NC State from 2007 to 2012. While she started studying business, she eventually ended up in education, where she took classes at Poe Hall. She studied in the building "for about four years," according to the report.

While in college, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Just months after the diagnosis, she discovered a lump in her throat and was diagnosed with angiosarcoma, according to the New York Post.

"And so just as I'm finishing up my finals and my papers, I'm going to see an endocrinologist and they're doing a biopsy of my neck, and that's traumatic," Lewis said. "They don't sedate you or anything. They just kind of shove a huge needle into your throat and jab it around everywhere."

Though Lewis understood that some people just get cancer, she became concerned after discovering that the number of cancer diagnoses by NC State alumni was three times the number of all cancer cases in Wake County.

"I could have never made that connection by myself because I didn't know anybody else. I was the only one in my little cohort of classmates who had cancer when I was in college," she said.

"And I just thought that something was just wrong with my body. That something was wrong with me. I have four siblings, and everybody's so healthy except for me."

It is uncertain if those who have been diagnosed with cancer will take action against the university.

The EPA says the following about PCBs:

PCBs have been demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse health effects. They have been shown to cause cancer in animals as well as a number of serious non-cancer health effects in animals, including: effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, endocrine system and other health effects.

Studies in humans support evidence for potential carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects of PCBs. The different health effects of PCBs may be interrelated. Alterations in one system may have significant implications for the other systems of the body. The potential health effects of PCB exposure are discussed in greater detail below.

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'God really blessed me': NC State's DJ Burns Jr. thanking God for opportunities during magical March Madness run



North Carolina State basketball player D.J. Burns Jr. has attributed his amazing run in the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament to God nearly every step of the way.

At an official 6'9'', 275 pounds, Burns has enjoyed a fantastic performance in the 2024 iteration of March Madness, leading his team at N.C. State on an unlikely streak.

"We’re starting to click, and we’re clicking at the right time," Burns said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Burns was awarded MVP in the team's shocking ACC Tournament victory, which landed them an 11-seed in the nationwide tournament.

The Wolfpack trounced six-seed Texas Tech in the first round and then outlasted fellow Cinderella-story team Oakland in the second round. Burns led his team with 24 points.

"Thanks God," he wrote after the game.

Doubt has fueled the team as well, with Burns having made multiple mentions throughout the previous month that N.C. State has excelled when their back was against the wall.

"They didn’t really believe in us. They probably still don’t, but that doesn’t matter to us," he said during the post-game press conference. "We’re just going to stay together. If you’re supporting us, thank you. If not, that’s what it is."

"We executed and, shoot, we just, we just kept playing for each other," Burns added.

Thanks God\ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffe
— (@)

The 23-year-old has seemingly always been forthcoming about his faith. With an X bio that says "Bible, Books, Ball," the South Carolina native has likely made more direct and clear attributions to God in public statements than the vast majority of athletes.

"God really blessed me with the opportunity to be able to showcase my talent more often, so it's a blessing," he told Inside Pack Sports.

Burns' X account is also riddled with mentions of his belief in God as he has progressed throughout his college basketball career, which started in Tennessee.

"I talk to God he don’t make no mistakes," he wrote in 2021.

"Glory be to God. Through him it is always possible to overcome obstacles," Burns also wrote before the NCAA tournament. Two weeks later, he scored 16 points in 16 minutes in the tournament opener, seeing limited time despite starting the game.

Glory be to God. Through him it is always possible to overcome obstacles\ud83d\udcaf
— (@)

Burns was asked to give advice for fellow players making their first splash in the big tournament; he responded:

"You just got to leave it all on the floor. Don't leave nothing behind you or you going home. You be able to recharge for the time you get after, before the next game, but don't leave nothing on that floor."

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