Everett Case
From Hoopedia
Everett N. Case (June 21, 1900 - April 30, 1966), nicknamed the "Old Gray Fox", was an innovative coach primarily remembered for causing Atlantic Coast Conference schools to embrace basketball as a sport during his time at North Carolina State University, from 1946 to 1964.
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Early Years
Born in Anderson, Indiana, a hotbed of "Hoosier Hysteria", as high school basketball is known in Indiana, Case never distinguished himself as a player. He coached a church-league team when he was 15. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1923.
Frankfort High School
He compiled a 415-108-1 record while coaching 15 years in high school basketball, including winning four Indiana state championships while coaching the Frankfort Hot Dogs (1925, 1929, 1936, 1939). Frankfort's Case Arena is named after him. Case is one of only five coaches to win at least four state titles in Indiana basketball (the others are Marion Crawley, Glenn Curtis, Jack Keefer with four crowns and Bill Green with six).
From 1931 to 1933 he coached his alma mater, Anderson High School to a 30-9 mark. From 1933-35 he was an assistant coach at the University of Southern California. In 1935 Case returned to Frankfort, where he coached until 1941.
World War II
Case enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1941. He was commissioned a senior-grade lieutenant and reported to Annapolis for a four-week training course. He then traveled to Chicago for five weeks training before reporting to Naval Pre-flight school at St. Mary's College in California, where he served as assistant athletic director and director of basketball. He also served as athletic director at the Alameda Naval Air Station.
In 1943, DePauw University began a naval flight preparatory school. An abbreviated basketball schedule was used and Case, now a Lieutenant Commander, became the Athletic Director of the program.
N.C. State
Upon leaving the Navy in 1946, Case took assumed coaching duties at N.C. State. In 18 years, he compiled a 377-134 (.737) record--still the best in school history. He won the last six Southern Conference titles and the first three Atlantic Coast Conference crowns, eventually winning four overall, and seven Dixie Classics. Case himself was aptly rewarded, earning three ACC Coach of the Year awards, in 1954, 1955 and 1958. Case's teams finished third in the 1947 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and third in the 1950 NCAA Tournament.
N.C. State had already begun construction on Reynolds Coliseum in 1941, but all work stopped during World War II. Case persuaded the administration to build a 12,400-seat arena, instead of the 10,000-seat facility originally planned. The ACC's basketball tournament was largely Case's idea, with Reynolds Coliseum hosting the first 13 ACC tournaments from 1954 through 1966. It was Case's idea to get the ACC to recognize the tournament winner as the conference champion--and thus the winner of the conference's lone berth in the NCAA tournament. From 1949 to 1960, it also hosted the "Dixie Classic," a holiday tournament that quickly ascended to the top of the state's sporting calendar.
When Case came to Raleigh, North Carolina was, like most states in the South, enraptured by college football. However, Case's up-tempo style quickly won over fans. For example, in his first year in Raleigh, the fire marshal canceled a game because people were spilling onto the floor of State's tiny gym (Reynolds' predecessor) and climbing in through windows. The other three schools along Tobacco Road--Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest--responded by upgrading their facilities and recruiting budgets to counter the "Red Menace" in Raleigh.
Case is thus credited, at least in part, for bringing big-time college basketball to North Carolina.
For a time, it looked as if the Wolfpack would dominate the ACC in the same fashion that Kentucky dominated the Southeastern Conference. However, the Wolfpack's momentum was derailed in 1956, when the NCAA slapped N.C. State with four years' probation. Case reportedly gave Louisiana high school phenom Jackie Moreland cash and gifts to entice him away from his previous agreement to attend Kentucky--a charge he denied. Just as that probation ended in 1960, State was hit with probation again--this time for a point-shaving scandal that caused the cancellation of the Dixie Classic. North Carolina was hit with probation as well. Case's arch-rival, UNC coach Frank McGuire, was forced to resign his post after All-American Doug Moe admitted to taking money to shave points.
By this time, Case was in failing health. He stepped down early in the 1964-65 season due to inoperable cancer. Case was diagnosed with multiple melanoma. His mother had died of cancer and his father's suicide was quite possibly due to the same disease. He was soon confined to a wheelchair; when the Wolfpack won the 1965 ACC tournament, they wheeled him over from press row so he could cut the last strand of the net. This tradition was one that Case had brought to the ACC from the Indiana state tournament.
Case suffered a slow painful death due to the malignancy that slowly destroys bones in the body while displacing the blood cell producing marrow. He died in 1966, and was laid to rest at Raleigh Memorial Park in Raleigh.
His estate totaled more than $200,000. He left $1,000 to Frankfort High School, $5,000 to the North Carolina State scholarship fund, and the rest of the estate was distributed among fifty-seven of his former players.
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 3, 1982 and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1964. Case was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968. N.C. State's main athletics office is named for him.
Innovations
Case was responsible for many innovations, both on and off the court, that fans now take for granted. Here are some that he either came up with or popularized:
- Numbers on player jerseys.
- Cutting down the nets after a big win.
- Announcing starting players before the game.
- Using the full-court press for long stretches of a game.
- The backcourt rule. Case's teams would hold the ball in the backcourt to protect a lead, which resulted in the 10-second rule.
- One of the first to film games and review film to prepare for a game.
- Played music before games.
- Invited a pep band to play at games.
