ACC hoops were first televised 65 years ago

You might be a hard-core Atlantic Coast Conference basketball fan if you can sing the old jingle “Sail with the Pilot.” 

That was the little ditty that defined the image of Pilot Life, an insurance company based in Greensboro, N.C., that was the first corporate sponsor of ACC basketball games, beginning in 1957, produced by the venerable Castleman DeTolley Chesley, who went by C.D.

 

This is one of the ACC milestones featured by author Ed Southern of Winston-Salem in his new book, “Fight Songs: A Story of Love and Sports in a Complicated South.”

 

What makes southern living complicated for the Southern family is that Ed is a die-hard fan of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons…but his wife, Jamie, is one of those Alabama “Roll Tide” types.

 

Ed Southern said he thinks every politician in North Carolina should be required to sing from memory “Sail with the Pilot.” It goes like this: 

Sail with the Pilot at the wheel

On a ship sturdy from its mast to its keel.

He guides through storm and wave,

Insures you while you save.

 

Sail with the Pilot o’er the seas,

He’s got plans for every growing family.

Worries are far behind you

There’s really peace of mind, too.

 

When you sail with the Pilot all the way,

So get on board the Pilot ship today!

 

Those were the good old days – 65 years ago this year. Charlie Harville, the sports anchor at WFMY-TV in Greensboro, and the legendary Jim Simpson were the first sportscasters employed. Chesley soon brought in others, including Woody Durham, Jim Thacker, Bones McKinney, Billy Packer and Jeff Mullins. 

Ed Southern claims that “sports fandom” is essential to one’s being. “I root because I feel rooted when I do. I cheer on my favorite teams in my favorite sports not just because I favor them, but also because of the connections I feel when I do, and I am not alone, not nearly.” 

Traditionally, Wake Forest University football has struggled to be competitive, Southern said, but the Deacons were pretty good when Coach Douglas “Peahead” Walker was there from 1937-50, compiling a record of 77-51-6.

 

Southern wrote that in 1948, a kid from Latrobe, Pa., arrived on Wake’s campus as a freshman. Coach Walker tried to steal Arnold Palmer away from the golf team to play football, “because he would never get anywhere in life playing golf.”

 

Southern also told about a kid from Wellsville, N.Y., who enrolled at Wake in 1958 to play basketball. He was born as Anthony William Paczkowski, but his parents subsequently changed the family’s Polish surname to Packer. 

Billy Packer heard about a guy named Cleo Hill, who was the star at Winston-Salem State, an HBCU (historically black college or university). Packer went to watch a game and stood out among the crowd. 

Winston-Salem State’s coach Horace “Big House” Gaines invited Packer to join him on the bench and meet his players. Soon thereafter, early one Sunday morning in 1959, Gaines was surprised to hear squeaking sneaker soles on the gym floor. Billy’s guys were playing a pickup game against Cleo’s guys. 

What they did was “unofficially integrate Winston-Salem,” Coach Gaines said.

Cleo Hill was a first-round pick in the 1961 National Basketball Association draft, selected eighth overall by the St. Louis Hawks. He served 24 years as head basketball coach at Essex County College in Newark, N.J. He died in 2015.

Cleo Hill Jr. played his college ball at North Carolina Central University in Durham. He’s now the head basketball coach at Winston-Salem State.

We’re looking for the ‘Coolest Thing Made in N.C.’

Mark your calendar: Aug. 22 is “opening day” for nominations in the third annual online contest to select the “Coolest Thing Made in North Carolina.” 

Organized by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, it’s a fun event for people to vote for their favorite N.C. companies that “make stuff.” 

Emmy Boyette, the marketing director at the N.C. Chamber, says: “What’s made in North Carolina is what makes North Carolina.” So true, so true.

 

Last year, Jarrett Bay Boatworks in Carteret County was one of the top 15 finalists. Also nominated was Shibumi Shade, a company that “invented itself” in Emerald Isle.

 

Crab pot Christmas trees and Harkers Island anchors should have been nominated. We can fix that.

 

Surely, there are others that are equally deserving…Frank Door Company in Newport and so forth. 

Anyone can make a nomination, and once the online voting period opens to the public, we can each vote from our computer once a day. 

There’s no reason why the “Crystal Coast community” cannot rally ‘round and support our home-grown small businesses and “bring home the gold” and add to our “trophy case.” 

The N.C. Chamber has tweaked the rules for 2022 to include a new “Small Business Category” for manufacturers with fewer than 100 employees. That’s a good thing. 

The first two winners were “big boys” – an electric school bus manufactured by Thomas Built Buses of High Point and a giant truck produced at the Cleveland (N.C.) Truck Manufacturing Plant. (Both are subsidiaries of Daimler Trucks North America.)

This may have been what prompted a change in the rules for 2022: “Products manufactured by a company that has won ‘The Coolest Thing Made in NC Contest’ within the past 3 years are ineligible. Manufacturers that are subsidiaries of parent companies that have won within the past 3 years are also ineligible.” 

Additionally, “nominated companies cannot use paid advertising” to promote itself or its product for the purposes of soliciting votes in the contest. Offenders will be disqualified. 

However, the N.C. Chamber encourages nominees “to utilize social media, press and other channels to promote their product in the contest…but they may also take a hands-off approach if they choose.” 

“There is no cost to participate in the contest. Membership with the N.C. Chamber is not required.” 

As information, Shibumi Shade has recently signed on with the Raleigh advertising agency Baldwin&, which was formed by David Baldwin. It will be interesting to see whether the company seeks to reach out to its loyal customers in a grassroots campaign. 

If so, Shibumi has the potential to “blow away” its competitors. 

Curiously, one of the bridesmaids in the past two contests has been George’s BBQ Sauce of Nashville, N.C. George’s is a really small family-owned business. The sauce was invented in 1975 by George Stallings of Rocky Mount.

 

He was fond of saying George’s is “good on everything except banana pudding.” 

The current owner is Ashley Chappell Hassel. George’s is made by hand, in small quantities by an eight-person team. “We still personally pour, package and ship every bottle of George’s by hand – just 4,500 bottles per day to be exact,” she said. 

“There’s no automation – there’s no line. It’s just people using their hands,” Ashley Hassel added.

 

Beth’s husband Brian Hassel said: “Our customers are really why we do this because, with George’s, we get invited to somebody’s kitchen table every night.”

Shibumi Shades were born in Emerald Isle, N.C.

Bright blue and teal Shibumi Shades are everywhere you look this summer along the waters of Carteret County, N.C., that sparkle like crystal. 

This distinctive, flap-in-the-wind product was invented in Emerald Isle in 2016 by three guys from Forsyth County, N.C., whose families are regular summer vacationers here.

 

With its sinfully simple design, the Shibumi has absolutely revolutionized the entire “beachgoing experience.” (It’s easy to say: “shih-BOOM-ee,” and it’s a snap to put one up.) 

Weighing just four pounds, Shibumi has “lifted the weight off our shoulders,” eliminating the need to haul out bulky beach umbrellas and hefty anchoring devices.

 

The new-fangled Shibumi wind-powered canopies are also replacing those clunky tailgate tents with their metal frames – you know, the kind that resemble a “canvas-covered carport” and require a pit crew to put up. 

The Shibumi creators are brothers Dane and Scott Barnes and their friend Alex Slater. All three graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While students, they lived off-campus in the Shibumi apartment complex. 

“Shibumi” is also a Japanese design concept that means “elegance of simplicity.”

Alex, Scott and Dane. (Photo by Our State magazine)

 

“We took a little inspiration from looking at a sheet on a clothesline just sort of flowing in the breeze,” Alex told Taylor Wanbaugh of Business North Carolina magazine. 

“And understanding that working with the wind, rather than trying to fight against the wind, seemed to be the best way to solve that problem on the beach, since wind is usually the biggest problem out there,” Alex added. 

Renee Wright, a freelance technical writer in Charlotte, N.C., said: “The design of the Shibumi Shade is unique, an arched pole that holds a panel made of ripstop parachute material that floats on the wind.” 

On assignment to test out a Shibumi, journalist Mary King of CNET, who hails from Kure Beach, N.C., told her readers that the brilliant patches of blue hues stood out “sharply against Kure’s golden sands.” 

“Look closer and the patches become identical swaths of fabric billowing in the breeze, each one sheltering small pods of beachgoers. What really sets the Shibumi apart is how it harnesses the wind,” King wrote.

 

“For most beach umbrellas and tents, the ever-present coastal breeze is a nuisance. On particularly blustery days, it can become an adversary, transforming beach gear into dangerous projectiles.” 

“But to the Shibumi’s floating fabric, the wind is a friend. It only takes about a 3 mph breeze to keep the free end of the fabric afloat and provide the shade beachgoers want.” 

“Illuminated by the afternoon sun, my Shibumi flowed triumphantly in the breeze, cloaking me in a roomy rectangle of shade,” King said. 

Four adults and plenty of kids can fit comfortably under a standard Shibumbi, which provides about 150 square feet of shade. New this year is the Mini Shibumi Shade; it offers about 75 square feet of shade and is perfect for couples and empty nesters. 

The Shibumi Shade business is based in Raleigh. The company contracts with cut-and-sew operators in three manufacturing plants in North Carolina and Virginia. Products are warehoused in Raleigh and distributed from there to retailers. Customers can also purchase products directly from Shibumi Shade through the company web site. 

“From the beginning,” the founders said, “all Shibumi Shades have come only in our signature blue and teal colors. When you see our blue and teal colors on a beach shade, you’ll know it’s a genuine Shibumi Shade. We love the way these colors complement the colors of the ocean.”

Try a little mustard sauce on your barbecue

Yellow American-style mustard didn’t originate as a Southern food condiment, but Carolina gold mustard barbecue sauce was invented in the South for the sole purpose of jazzing up pit-cooked pork barbecue. 

First, the mustard. Yellow mustard was invented in 1904 by the R.T. French Co. of Rochester, N.Y. 

Robert Timothy French was a spice trader who started his own company in 1880 to manufacture spices and extracts. His sons, George and Francis French, invented a new kind of prepared mustard, one that was yellow as well as milder, lighter and creamier than the spicy tan-brown mustards of the time. 

Their product, “French’s Cream Salad Brand Mustard,” was introduced at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and immediately became a big hit,” reported Alan Morrell of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. “The recipe has remained essentially the same since.”

 

“That recipe,” according to Roger M. Grace, editor and publisher of the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, based in Los Angeles, includes “water, mustard flour, sugar, salt, wheat flour, citric acid and turmeric.” 

“Turmeric is as much of a dye as a spice, turning foods yellow. It’s what lends yellow coloring to American mustards,” Grace wrote. 

Now, for the sauce: Using yellow mustard, two families near Holly Hill in Orangeburg County, S.C., concocted a mustard sauce recipe in 1933 that became the talk of the town. 

James Roller, writing for destination-bbq.com, singled out the patriarchs of the Bessinger and the Sweatman families as the inventors. Simple farmers trying to survive the Great Depression, the men who “cooked whole hogs in a dirt pit came up with a secret recipe for a sweet golden mustard-based barbecue sauce.” 

Descendants of Joseph James “Big Joe” Bessinger proved to be “disciples, spreading far and wide to preach the gospel of their father’s teachings” as a pitmaster, Roller said. Big Joe opened a restaurant in Holly Hill known simply as Eat at Joe’s.

 

“At least five of his sons learned to cook whole hogs over hickory woods and make their father’s sauce recipe,” Roller added. 

“Each of those Bessinger boys went on to open or work in barbecue restaurants, serving their own versions of that original ‘Carolina Gold’ sauce recipe their dad created, pouring it onto plates from Charleston to Columbia.” 

Harold Odell “Bub” Sweatman carried on his family tradition as well, opening Sweatman’s Bar-b-que in Holly Hill. 

From the second generation of Bessingers, brothers Melvin and Thomas opened Bessinger’s Bar-Be-Que in Charleston in 1961. 

Melvin went out on his own in 1990 and formed Melvin’s Legendary BBQ. Melvin’s son, David Bessinger, now owns and operates two Melvin’s restaurants, one in Charleston and another in neighboring Mount Pleasant.

 

David Bessinger

Meanwhile, Thomas Bessinger’s sons, Tommy Jr. and Michael Bessinger, are running the show at Bessinger’s restaurant, under their father’s supervision.

 

“Open a bottle of Bessinger’s sauce, and you aren’t going to taste ‘mustard,’” Roller said. “It is much more complex. The sauce is sweet and tangy and, well…simply perfect.” 

Andrew Zimmern, host of “Bizarre Foods” on the Travel Channel, said: “I never liked mustard-based BBQ sauces. Then I tried Bessinger’s. I blast through jars of this stuff in no time. My lips to God’s ears: this sauce is in a category of its own.” 

Customers can order sauce products online. Look for Thomas Bessinger’s Original Golden Recipe Bar-Be-Que Sauce and Melvin’s Legendary Original Golden Secret BBQ Sauce. 

Moyock is where it’s happening in Currituck County

Currituck County is a rare bird. It is one of just a few North Carolina counties without an incorporated municipality. The county seat is the village of Currituck, which has fewer than 800 residents. 

The largest community in Currituck is Moyock with a current population of more than 4,200. “It is the largest and northernmost township in the county,” reported Larry Lombardi, former economic developer for the county. “Moyock sits snug along the border with the Commonwealth of Virginia.” 

It’s pronounced “moe-yock,” not “moy-yock.”

 

The Moyock community was formed in the late 1600s. “Easy access to waterways helped secure Moyock’s reputation as a busy port for commerce,” wrote Lombardi, who recently retired from his post. 

In 1580 or thereabouts, the first Currituck Inlet opened. It was directly across from Knotts Island at what is now Carova. When one closes, a new inlet often opens. This was the case when New Currituck Inlet was formed a few miles south during a violent storm 1713. 

As late as 1786, records indicate that some 240 ships were docked at the port in Moyock. 

“Early fortunes were made by exporting shingles made from cypress trees in the nearby Great Dismal Swamp. For decades, the production and shipping of cedar shingles was so robust that the area was widely known as ‘Shingle Landing,’” Lombardi said. 

“Moyock” is a native Algonquin tribal word that means “place of the oak on the trail.” It became the locality’s official name once the post office opened in 1857, Lombardi said.

 

Here are some Moyock Elementary School students on the playground.

 

Moyock Middle School is home of the Surf Dogs.

Moyock may seem quite far removed from North Carolina’s population centers, but it’s actually “right next door” to the huge and sprawling Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. 

“So, residential developers have been hammering away in Moyock,” Lombardi said. This is evidenced by the fact that Currituck County ranks as one of North Carolina’s most rapidly growing counties. 

A landscape game-changer is Currituck Station. It’s a mixed-use plan, which is intended to bring residential, commercial, cultural, institutional and entertainment projects to the area. It envelopes 3,000 acres along N.C. Route 168, known locally as Caratoke Highway in Moyock. 

Part of the proposed plan includes a ‘Center Station,’ a section to become Moyock’s (and Currituck County’s) first “downtown” with sidewalks, shops and public spaces, Lombardi said. 

Lost in the Moyock development boom is Dog Track Speedway. It was home to the Cavalier Kennel Club, which brought greyhound dog racing to Moyock in the 1930s. Dogs raced and crowds gambled. This activity was especially appealing to thousands of Navy servicemen who were stationed in nearby Norfolk. 

North Carolina enacted an “anti-dog racing” law in 1954, and the track shut it down. Almost immediately, NASCAR stepped in to put the quarter-mile, oval dirt track to good use. In 1962, the track was paved and lengthened to a third of a mile. 

Driver Ned Jarrett of Camden, S.C., won the Tidewater Grand National 300 in 1965. (It was 300 laps around the track, almost 100 miles.) Jarrett averaged about 68 miles per hour.

 

United Press International reported: “Jarrett pocketed $1,111 first place money, after fan W.A. Maynard of Norfolk, Va., donated $111…so Jarret could finish the season $1 ahead of Fred Lorenzen of Elmhurst, Ill.” 

Jared snared $77,966 in prize money for the 1965 NASCAR racing season. 

Today, there are good private sector jobs in Moyock, offered by Constellis. Its “flagship Moyock facility is a ‘state-of-the-art’ training center and hosts more than 20,000 government, law enforcement and commercial students each year,” Lombardi said.  

Currituck offers up ‘lessons’ in N.C. geography

Geographically, Currituck County is one of North Carolina’s most interesting…and challenging…counties. It sits in the extreme upper right corner of the state and abuts Virginia. 

The larger part of the county is on the mainland while a smaller portion is on North Carolina’s Northern Outer Banks. In between is the Currituck Sound.

 

To get across the sound from the mainland, motorists must travel on U.S. Route 158 and cross the Wright Memorial Bridge at Point Harbor. On the other side is Kitty Hawk in Dare County.

 

To return to Currituck County, motorists must turn north on N.C. Route 12 and journey on to pass through the Dare County communities of Southern Shores and Duck before re-entering Currituck County. A few miles up the road are Currituck Banks, Corolla and Corolla Beach. 

N.C. Route 12 ends just beyond the Currituck Beach Lighthouse at Corolla Beach. But keep going on North Beach Access Road to reach Carova Banks in upper Currituck County. The road basically dies at the North Carolina-Virginia border. 

When all is said and done, getting from west Currituck County to east Currituck County and vice versa is like “going around your arse to get to your elbow.” 

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has a plan to fix the problem – the Mid-Currituck Bridge.

 

The official “NCDOT overview” spells out that the new bridge would create a second crossing of the sound…to help alleviate congestion and improve the flow of evacuation traffic in the event of a hurricane or severe storm.” 

“It would also provide easier access between the Outer Banks and Virginia….” 

NCDOT said the project would connect Aydlett on the mainland to Corolla, spanning the Currituck Sound. A second two-lane bridge is included in the plans, in order to cross Maple Swamp and link Aydlett to U.S. Route 158. 

“The total project has an overall estimated cost of $500 million, which includes construction, anticipated right of way and utility relocation,” NCDOT reported. 

Aydlett is about 18 miles north of Point Harbor, so for drivers coming south from Virginia, the new bridge “would provide a 40-mile shortcut to Corolla,” according to NCDOT. 

The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported that construction may begin in 2025, at the earliest. Toll rates would not be set until the bridge is close to opening. NCDOT has not yet set an expected opening date. 

Not everyone is onboard, however. “The Mid-Currituck Bridge is an extraordinarily bad investment for North Carolina,” said Kym Hunter, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) in Chapel Hill. 

“The bridge would primarily serve out-of-state tourists and only for a few weekends in the summer,” she asserted. “When you factor in the limited use, the availability of cheaper and less damaging alternatives and that much of the bridge project area will soon begin to flood and become less reliable due to sea level rise, it is hard to think of a worse way for North Carolina to spend scarce transportation funds.” 

An SELC challenge was denied in 2021 by U.S. District Court Judge Louise W. Flanagan, who wrote that most of the alleged flaws raised by the SELC and other conservation groups “constitute flyspecking.” 

(Washington state Superior Court Judge Robert A. Lewis, an author of mock trial cases, explained: “Often used in legal parlance as a verb, to ‘flyspeck’ a legal document is to examine it in ridiculous detail, to scrutinize every minor phrase and comma as if it is loaded with major significance.”) 

As expected, SELC appealed the court’s ruling, causing further delay.

Knotts Island clings to its North Carolina heritage

Zip code 27950 is basically defined as Knotts Island, a community that is found within the friendly confines of upper Currituck County, N.C. 

This small section of land nearly defies description. What words can accurately explain a strangely weird appendage in North Carolina that hangs down below Virginia? 

Currituck County historian W. K. Ansell once wrote that Knotts Island looks like it was “belched forth from Virginia.”

 

Knotts Island is actually a peninsula…and a very pastoral one at that. It’s connected to Virginia but surrounded in North Carolina by Currituck Sound and North Landing River as well as Knotts Island Bay. 

To get to Knotts Island from the North Carolina mainland, it’s best to ride the Currituck-Knotts Island Ferry. It’s a free trip in and out provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Ferry Service. It’s a 5-mile ride, and it takes about 45 minutes to cross over. 

The state initiated the ferry service between Currituck and Knotts Island in 1962. Currituck is the seat of the Currituck County government, so Knotts Islanders occasionally need to travel to the mainland to conduct “official business” at the courthouse.

 

The only road into Knotts Island is Virginia’s Princess Anne Road. It becomes N.C. Route 615 at the North Carolina state line. Most Knotts Island residents go to work and do their shopping in Virginia Beach and other communities within the Tidewater region. 

Knotts Island has its own K-5 elementary school, but buses transport middle schoolers and high school students from Knotts Island to the North Carolina mainland by way of the ferry. The middle schoolers go to Moyock. The county high school is in Barco.

 

Knotts Island has had a post office since 1819, and about 2,100 people reside in the town today. Writing for Our State magazine, Jeremy Markovich said: “Most people, it seems, grew up here, or came to be left alone.” 

Some who came in 1933 were from Wash Woods, a village that once stood on Virginia’s outer banks. Records indicate that a British steamship beached there in 1895, and the survivors became the first settlers. 

As many as 300 people once lived at Wash Woods. They fished, hunted, farmed and retrieved logs and lumber from shipwrecks off the coast, until a great hurricane put them out of business. Their village was destroyed by the storm. A number of families floated their belongings across Back Bay to reach Knotts Island where they took refuge. 

The Wash Woods crowd had no trouble becoming adopted Tar Heel sons and daughters. They said they never felt like Virginians in the first place. 

Today, there are more birds than people living on Knotts Island. All sorts of waterfowl and birds inhabit and migrate through the “great marsh” – the Mackay Island National Wildlife Reserve on Knotts Island. 

It’s pronounced “Mackie” and named after one of the original owners, John Mackie, according to a spokesperson from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). “Over the years the name somehow was changed from ‘Mackie’ to ‘Mackay.’ How this happened is unknown.”

 

The most influential owner of Mackay Island was the late Joseph Palmer Knapp, a wealthy New York City printing magnate, conservationist and philanthropist, who purchased the island in 1918. He formed the Ducks Unlimited organization in 1936. 

The USFWS was able to acquire the island in 1960 and create the 8,138-acre refuge.