NC State's 1983 NCAA championship team to visit White House

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) More than 30 years after winning the national championship, North Carolina State's 1983 basketball team finally will meet the president.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) More than 30 years after winning the national championship, North Carolina State's 1983 basketball team finally will meet the president.

School officials said Thursday that members of that team will visit the White House on May 9.

After their buzzer-beating win over Houston gave them their second NCAA title, the Wolfpack never made the trip to Washington - which has become a customary reward for championship-winning teams.

Instead, only coach Jim Valvano went to meet with President Ronald Reagan while those players talked to him via a satellite television broadcast.

Former North Carolina State and Utah Jazz big man Thurl Bailey contacted Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, who wrote a letter to President Barack Obama in January. Bailey received the invitation to the White House earlier this month.