CityView Magazine

Discove r Cit yV iewN C.co m's fre s h up d ate d loo k ! | 23 D avid Hedgecoe was an avid fan of the ACC Tournament while growing up in Fayetteville, long before he craed his own indelible memory in the 1990 edition of the event. "Growing up, it was just the excitement of the tourney and pulling for my favorite team, UNC," said Hedgecoe, a Fayetteville dentist. "But I knew a lot about every team and most of the players. And the Friday games of the tourney were always kind of different and special in their own way. And it usually interrupted school around noon … always in a good way. TVs somehow found their way into classrooms and it was just plain fun. I dreamed about playing in the ACC tourney one day. " at time came during his freshman year at Wake Forest. He had already earned a spot on the baseball team, but he had decided to walk onto the basketball team, hoping just to help in practice for a team depleted by injuries. But when the ACC Tournament rolled around, he found himself caught up in the excitement in a big way. ere he was, on the same court as players such as Duke's Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner, Georgia Tech's Kenny Anderson, UNC's Hubert Davis and Rick Fox, and N.C. State's Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe. "e atmosphere was electric," Hedgecoe remembered. "Having all the fans of the different teams, the colors, the smell, the environment (the new Charlotte Coliseum), the cheers from the different sections of the coliseum. We played the ACC regular season champs and a great Clemson team of Dale Davis, Marion Cash, Elden Campbell, and Fayetteville's own Colby Brown. Being there is something that you can't describe. It's one of those things that has a palpable atmosphere and a true excitement in the air!" Midway into the first half of the first round against Clemson, Wake's starting guard Derrick McQueen went down and was wheeled away on a stretcher with what turned out to be a mild concussion. Coach Dave Odom would eventually look to the end of the bench and put Hedgecoe in the game. "I ended up getting some decent minutes," Hedgecoe said. "I scored right before halime that cut down Clemson's lead and heard a memorable cheer as the buzzer went off. We lost the game, but even the remainder of the tournament was exciting." R obert Brickey was a standout at E.E. Smith High School who helped the Golden Bulls reach the 4-A state title game in 1985. He went on to play for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, where he made it to three Final Fours and served as a team captain in 1990. He played professionally in the Continental Basketball Association before eventually returning home to Fayetteville, where he works as a financial consultant. Of his four ACC Tournaments, the one in 1988 was particularly satisfying. He was named to the all-tournament first team that year. "Duke finished third in the regular season heading into the tournament in Greensboro," he said. "We faced and defeated sixth-seeded Virginia, second- seeded N.C. State and, ultimately, number one-seeded UNC to win the title!" As a bonus, a cute junior high school student, Claire Cheatwood, was watching that game in a Fayetteville classroom. She and David would later marry and now have three sports-minded sons. "So, I guess the ACC tourney went beyond basketball in helping me impress my future wife," Hedgecoe said. "It's one of those things that has a palpable atmosphere and a true excitement in the air!" Robert Brickey David Hedgecoe

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