The Newland Needle

In high school, some called Tommy Burleson of Newland, N.C. “the Newland Needle” because of his skinny, 7-foot, 2-inch frame. In college, they called him an All-American, an Olympian, and a national champion. He would play a central role in some of the most dramatic basketball games of his day.

As a high school star at Newland High School and, after consolidation, at Avery County High, his teams posted an 85-8 record and earned Burleson the attention of every major college basketball recruiter in America. He chose North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., because he had always wanted to go to college there.  

Recruited in 1970 by North Carolina State Coach Norman Sloan, Burleson was one of several big-time players to sign with the Wolfpack. The others included David Thompson, Monte Towe, Tim Stoddard, and Phil Spence. Around these five talented athletes, Sloan built a team that eventually became a conference powerhouse and won a national championship.

Thompson, a 6-foot, 4-inch forward from Shelby, N.C., was considered one of the finest in America. He had a 48-inch vertical leap, meaning that he could reach his hands about two feet above the goal, and for that his teammates nicknamed him “Skywalker.”

“Towe was a 5-foot-7 point guard from Indiana,” Burleson said. “He was so athletic, he could dunk the ball, but dunking was illegal when he played for State. He and Thompson made their way around that rule with a play they called their ‘alley-oop.’  Towe would throw the ball high toward the goal, but off to the side a bit, and Thompson would rise to catch it and drop it in the basket. That was legal. Sloan used it as a part of State’s offense to take advantage of Thompson’s leaping ability.”

After college, Towe became a coach, and from 1996 to 1999 he was an assistant to Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach at the University of North Carolina – Asheville. While at State, he received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the year’s best collegiate player under 6 feet tall.

Stoddard, like Towe, was from Indiana. He played the forward position opposite Thompson. Stoddard also played baseball and was so good that, after graduation, he pitched his way into baseball’s major leagues where he enjoyed a 13-year career as a relief pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, and Cleveland Indians. He was a relief pitcher in 485 games and was the first player, pitcher or otherwise, to drive in a World Series run in his very first at-bat. He was also one of only two men to play in both an NCAA Basketball Final Four game and a Major League Baseball World Series. The other was Kenny Lofton.  Both Stoddard and Lofton were from East Chicago’s Washington High School. 

Rounding out the Wolfpack’s elite starting five was Moe Rivers, a shooting guard. The sixth man was Phil Spence, who later went into high school and college coaching and was head coach of the North Carolina Central University’s basketball team.

With Burleson’s towering presence in the middle of the court, Towe moving the ball, and Thompson shooting from the wings and from beneath the basket, the Wolfpack of N.C. State led one of the most dominant and successful Atlantic Coast Conference teams of all time.  

N.C. State posted a 57-1 record during Burleson’s final two seasons, 1973 and ’74. In his junior year, the team had an undefeated season at 27-0 but was declared ineligible for post-season play because of recruiting violations involving David Thompson.

During Burleson’s collegiate career, he played in several epic games. One was the gold medal game of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. That Olympics would become infamous for the murders of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. At one point, Burleson was walking along a tunnel and happened to come across the terrorists and the hostages as they were being relocated during the crisis. Burleson was briefly detained at gunpoint by a West German soldier. 

Five days later, some teams and athletes chose to leave the Olympics as a black cloud hung over the games. Team USA found itself in a Cold War shoot-out with the Soviet Union in what is arguably considered the most controversial basketball game ever played. The Soviets defeated the Americans, 51-50, ending the U.S.’s streak of 77 consecutive Olympics victories. 

The final three seconds of that game involved a series of bizarre decisions that remain a mystery even 36 years later. With three seconds to play, N.C. State’s Doug Collins hit two free throws to put the United States ahead 50-49, and victory seemed to be assured. The Soviets’ inbounds play was batted away and the American players began to celebrate.

But officials ruled that the Soviet coach had been trying to call a time-out when the ball was put back in play and ordered the clock reset to three seconds. The teams had to run a final play again.  

On the second attempt, which also failed to produce a Soviet victory, the secretary general of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, R. William Jones of Great Britain, came out of the stands and ordered that three seconds be put back on the clock once more because on the second try, the clock had been started before the ball was put in play.

As play resumed for the third time, the Soviets’ Aleksandr Belov went up with U.S. defenders Kevin Joyce and Jim Forbes and took a length-of-the-court inbounds pass from Ivan Edeshko at the free throw line. He sent the two American defenders sprawling, and scored a layup at the buzzer, giving the Russians a 51-50 victory for the Olympic championship. 

Oddly enough, two of Team USA’s tallest players, Burleson and fellow center Tom McMillen, were both on the bench for those final seconds and would have been key defenders to keep the Soviets from scoring. 

When the United States protested the outcome of the game to a five-member jury of appeal, the vote was three to two to deny the protest, with the three representatives from Communist Bloc nations in favor of the Soviets, and the gold medal was given to the Soviet Union. Soon after, the American team put its heads together and voted not to accept second place; therefore the silver medal was refused. 

“I got over it later,” Burleson said. “I have no animosity toward anyone. You’ve gotta let things like that slide. But a lot of our players were bitter for years and some put in their wills that their names not be mentioned in case someone decided to accept the silver medal in some future year.”  

For the record, many of the players on that American team have strict stipulations in their wills for family members not to accept the medals. Burleson has it in his will that his family can accept the silver medal — but only after his death.

That game may have been a major disappointment of Burleson’s amateur basketball career, but he would play in two more highly touted basketball games during his college days — both with far more satisfying outcomes.

One was State’s 103-100 overtime victory over Maryland for the 1974 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship in a game that has become known as one of the greatest college basketball games ever played. Burleson was a giant on defense and scored 38 points in the victory. State won the ACC tournament during both of the last two years of Burleson’s eligibility.

Perhaps the most cherished game of Burleson’s college career was N.C. State’s 80-77 victory over UCLA in the semifinals of the 1974 National Championship Tournament to end UCLA Coach John Wooden’s seven-year streak of national championships. 

A key to that victory was Burleson’s defense of UCLA superstar Bill Walton, known as one of America’s finest collegiate players. Walton outscored Burleson 29-20, but Burleson blocked several shots and kept Walton out of the heart of the action on other key plays. The loss must have been a shock to many die-hard Bruins fans. UCLA had beaten N.C. State earlier in the season, 84-66.

In that 1974 tournament, the Wolfpack defeated its first two opponents, Providence and Pittsburgh, by a combined 32 points. Both games were played in Raleigh’s Reynolds Coliseum, N.C. State’s home court. In the week leading up to the semifinal game with UCLA, fans packed the Coliseum to watch the Wolfpack practice. A feeling of euphoria seemed to permeate Raleigh, almost as if the people could sense what was coming.

When N.C. State and UCLA finally met in Greensboro in their semifinal game, the Wolfpack expected another tight game, and the players were ready for it. The teams were tied at the end of regulation play, then went into the first overtime period in which each team scored two points. UCLA took a seven-point lead in the second overtime, but N.C. State, led by Thompson’s polished shooting and Burleson’s dogging of Walton, took the lead with 34 seconds to play and won, 80-77, to advance to the national championship game against Marquette.

The championship game, played two nights later in the Greensboro Coliseum, was not nearly as tense and dramatic as the N.C. State-UCLA game had been.  Marquette’s coach, Al McGuire, received two technical fouls and was ejected from the game in the first half, sparking a 10-0 run by the Wolfpack just before halftime. Through the second half, State led by as much as 19 points, and ultimately won the game and the national championship, 76-64.

In his collegiate career, Burleson scored 1,598 points, an average of 19 per game. He ranks tenth on North Carolina State’s all-time scoring list of players. His career high, one-game performance occurred twice:  first when he scored 38 points against Virginia in 1972, and again in the victory over Maryland in the 1974 ACC Tournament Finals.

Averaging 12.7 rebounds in college, Burleson had his best rebounding game with 24 boards against Providence in the East Regionals of the NCAA Tournament. He once blocked eight shots against East Carolina University and led the ACC in rebounding as a junior with 14 per game in 1973 as a junior, and again as a senior in 1974 when he averaged 12 boards. He ranks second among all N.C. State players with 1,066 career rebounds.

After college, Burleson was the third player chosen in the 1974 NBA draft, taken by the Seattle Supersonics. His professional career lasted eight seasons, during which he played for Seattle, the Kansas City Kings, Atlanta Hawks, and Chicago Bulls.

Burleson’s best season in the pros was his second year, when he averaged 15.6 points per game, 9 rebounds, and 1.8 shot blocks. He was a horse on defense on every pro team he played.

With the Kansas City Kings, just as he was beginning to dominate the NBA game, Burleson was injured while trying to break up a fight between a member of his team and one from the Philadelphia 76ers. He moved toward the action to break the two apart and as he reached the fight, an opposing player gave him a side kick in the knee.

“The kick hit me just at the wrong place,” Burleson said. “It blew my knee out and ended my basketball career. I even remember the date. It was February 14, 1979.”  

Not exactly a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Today, at age 56, Burleson serves as director of inspections and planning for Avery County in the North Carolina High Country. Deeply religious, he travels to Africa to do mission work. Never one to keep his basketball knowledge to himself, Burleson hosts the popular Tommy Burleson Basketball Camp in Avery County each July, designed for players who want to improve their fundamental skills in offense, defense, and team play.

The camp’s staff of teachers consists of college players and coaches. At times, his faculty has included former coaches Norman Sloan and Bucky Waters and former teammates David Thompson and Monte Towe. Carl Clayton also joined the faculty. In case you’ve never heard of him, he is the world record holder for continuously spinning a basketball on the tip of his finger.

As for Tommy Burleson, you only have to listen to those who have known him through the years to see that this remarkable athlete is far more than a collection of terrific sports achievements from his youth.

“His whole life speaks of Tommy Burleson’s character,” said Tim Gardner, a veteran Avery County freelance writer. “He was a giant among giants, who, at his career’s end, chose to return home to work with the mountain people he holds in such high regard.”

Burleson’s Basketball Achievements

• High school All-American at Newland and Avery County high schools.

• All-Atlantic Coast Conference:  1972, 1973, 1974.

• Everett Case Award as ACC Tournament MVP, 1973, 1974.

• NCAA All-American:  1973, 1974.

• All-Final Four in NCAA National Championship Tournament: 1974. 

• Member of 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball team. 

• Drafted third overall player by Seattle Supersonics in 1974 NBA Draft.

• Drafted first overall by the American Basketball Association.

• Named to 1974-75 NBA All-Rookie Team, playing for Seattle Supersonics.

• Member of North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

• Member of Western North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.