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Cozell McQueen will forever be known for standing on a basketball rim 10 feet above the court in Albuquerque, New Mexico, smiling, triumphant, his upstretched arms holding a red-and-white poster that read “Pack Power.”
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It was April 1983. N.C. State had just stunned Houston in the national championship game at the Pit. The floor was instantly filled as the wild celebration began, Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano famously racing about, looking for someone to hug.
Suddenly, there was McQueen perched on the rim. Soon, teammate Ernie Myers was trying to join him. McQueen, at 6 feet 11, was a towering sight and the Pack was on top of the college basketball world.
Those stories, about the man they called “Co” and the Pack and the Pit, surely will be retold again in the next few days and weeks. McQueen has died, N.C. State confirmed Wednesday night. He was 64.
McQueen was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, last year. McQueen contracted meningitis and developed an intestinal obstruction in the weeks leading up to his passing, his wife shared on Facebook.
Jacqueline Whittenburg, the wife of Dereck Whittenburg, updated her social media profile to honor McQueen.
“Rest peacefully, our Wolfpack brother Cozell,” she wrote on Facebook.
Ernie Myers, who works with Wolfpack Sports Network, posted a message on social media in McQueen’s honor.
“RIP my brother,” Myers wrote. “You’re gone, but you will never be forgotten.”
McQueen, more a rebounder and defender, was not relied on for his scoring but had perhaps the most improbable basket in the Pack’s improbable run to the national championship.
The Wolfpack trailed Pepperdine In the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Corvallis, Oregon, and senior guard Dereck Whittenburg was at the foul line late in overtime. Just before the free throw, McQueen, a lefthander, replaced Lorenzo Charles in the left block on the lane.
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Call it providential. Whittenburg, a good shooter, missed the free throw. The ball bounded toward McQueen, who grabbed it and put up an off-balance shot that fell and tied the score.
The Pack won in two overtimes. Survived and advanced, as Valvano liked to say.
McQueen, then a sophomore, would face two of the greatest players in basketball history along the way in the NCAAs: Virginia’s Ralph Sampson and Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon.
McQueen factored in a crucial play in the championship game, one often overlooked. With the score tied, Valvano ordered the Pack to foul Houston freshman Alvin Franklin with a minute to play in regulation and test his nerves at the line.
Franklin badly missed the front-end of a one-and-one. McQueen and the Pack’s Thurl Bailey both had their hands on the rebound and the ball nearly fell out of bounds, but McQueen was able to lean out over the end line, grab the ball and get it to guard Sidney Lowe.
The rest is basketball history. Whittenburg put up a long, last-gasp shot that was short. Lorenzo Charles was there, open, under the basket for the winning dunk in a 54-52 victory. There was bedlam in the Pit.
McQueen, raised in Bennettsville, South Carolina, would play two more seasons for Valvano the Pack and then pro ball overseas.
McQueen and the ‘83 Pack were honored at the White House in 2016 – McQueen able to get a Barack Obama autograph – and the ‘83 team was selected for the NCSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
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This story was originally published August 6, 2026 at 8:33 AM.