Family visits Jimmy V's gravesite before every NC State Wolfpack game
Posted April 2, 2024 7:54 p.m. EDT
Raleigh, N.C. — As the NC State men’s basketball team continues its storybook run to the Final Four, the memories of Jim Valvano and his 1983 miracle team are flooding back for so many people in Raleigh.
Some people are even showing up to Valvano’s gravestone in Raleigh's Oakwood Cemetery.
WRAL News spoke with the Reidlinger family, who visit the site before every Wolfpack basketball game.
Olivia Reidlinger, 3, often leads the family’s routine. On Tuesday, she left flowers at Valvano’s grave, which had plenty of NC State memorabilia.
The memorial at Valvano’s gravesite has grown with each Wolfpack win. It includes a bag of chips, a basketball, beer and flowers.
“It’s cool to see … the number of flowers and people that have come grow throughout this entire run,” Ben Reidlinger said. “I just can’t wait to see what it looks by Saturday.”
Both Ben and Sarah Reidlinger are NC State graduates.
“We started doing this with the ACC Tournament final,” Ben Reidlinger said.
Ben and Sarah Reidlinger never met Valvano.
“It turned into a superstition now,” Sarah Reidlinger said.
“Jimmy V was the one to start the magic for us and coming back to pay our respects, and may have a little more magic on this run,” Ben Reidlinger said.