SPORTS HISTORY IN BLACK: Lorenzo Charles helps underdog North Carolina State win NCAA championship

March Madness takes hold of the country each year.

Sixty-eight college basketball teams are all vying to win a title. And in each season, there is a memorable moment.

Who can forget then-University of Michigan forward Chris Webber taking a timeout in the 1993 national title game when his team did not have one? Or the moment in 2008 when then-University of Kansas guard Mario Chalmers hit a huge three-point shot against the University of Memphis to send the game into overtime?

Those moments last forever in the memories of college basketball fans.

This April 4, 1983, file photo shows North Carolina State's Lorenzo Charles (43) dunking the ball against the University of Houston in the NCAA championship game in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Charles' dunk shot with one second remaining fulfilled North Carolina State's impossible dream, giving the Wolfpack a 54-52 victory over top-ranked Houston for the NCAA basketball championship. Photo credit: The Associated Press
This April 4, 1983, file photo shows North Carolina State’s Lorenzo Charles (43) dunking the ball against the University of Houston in the NCAA championship game in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Charles’ dunk shot with one second remaining fulfilled North Carolina State’s impossible dream, giving the Wolfpack a 54-52 victory over top-ranked Houston for the NCAA basketball championship. Photo credit: The Associated Press

Another iconic moment took place on April 4, 1983. The North Carolina State Wolfpack made a run to the national title game and held for the last shot against the University of Houston Cougars. The Wolfpack waited too long and ended up getting a desperation shot from three-point range from guard Dereck Whittenburg. But the late Lorenzo Charles, a forward, never gave up on the play, catching the airball from Whittenburg and dunking it in before the clock struck zero, winning the National Championship for North Carolina State. It was one of the most incredible moments in college basketball history.

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