Jimmy Valvano’s N.C. State Wolfpack pulled off one of many largest upsets in school basketball historical past once they upset the Phi Slamma Jamma Houston Cougars within the 1983 nationwide championship.
Greater than 40 years later, 10 gamers who performed underneath the late head coach filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court docket in North Carolina on Monday in opposition to the NCAA and the Collegiate Licensing Co., searching for compensation for unauthorized use of their title, picture and likeness. The gamers requested a jury trial and “affordable compensation.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano, middle with fist raised, celebrates after the group’s win over Houston to win the NCAA males’s school basketball event championship in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 4, 1983. (AP Picture, File)
Lorenzo Charles’ emphatic dunk to win the sport and Valvano’s run across the courtroom have been part of NCAA Event promotions for years.
“For greater than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and deliberately misappropriated the Cardiac Pack’s publicity rights – together with their names, pictures, and likenesses – related to that sport and that play, reaping scores of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the Cardiac Pack’s legendary victory,” the lawsuit said.
OUTGOING COASTAL CAROLINA BASEBALL COACH RIPS NIL SYSTEM: ‘PROFESSIONAL SPORTS WOULD GO IN THE TOILET’
North Carolina State’s Lorenzo Charles dunks the ball within the NCAA Ultimate 4 Championship sport in Albuquerque, N.M., April 4, 1983. (AP Picture/File)
The swimsuit added that “student-athletes’ worth to the NCAA doesn’t finish with their commencement; archival footage and different merchandise represent an ongoing earnings stream for the NCAA lengthy after the scholars whose pictures are used have moved on from school.”
The NCAA has but to touch upon the lawsuit.
Fox Information Digital reached out to IMG, which acquired Collegiate Licensing Co. in 2017.
Thurl Bailey, Alvin Battle, Walt Densmore, Tommy DiNardo, Terry Gannon, George McClain, Cozell McQueen, Walter Proctor, Harold Thompson and Mike Warren are the plaintiffs within the case.
The 1983 North Carolina State gamers, from left, Alvin Battle, Thurl Bailey, Ernie Meyers, Lorenzo Charles and Harlod Thompson smile on the crowd throughout halftime festivities of the sport between the Wolfpack and the Clemson Tigers in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Feb. 16, 2008. (Chris Seward/Raleigh Information & Observer/Tribune Information Service through Getty Photos)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Charles died in 2011; Dereck Whittenburg, whose missed shot was collected by Charles, is a staffer in N.C. State’s athletic division and isn’t listed as a plaintiff.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
Comply with Fox Information Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox Information Sports activities Huddle e-newsletter.
