RALEIGH CITY MUSEUM EXHIBIT

Basketball! Hockey! Baseball! Golf! These sports are among the most popular recreational activities for Raleigh’s citizens today. In fact, the city has developed a well-earned reputation as a community of sports enthusiasts. From high school and college sports, to recreational pursuits and professional franchises, Raleigh offers a wide variety of spectator and participatory sports opportunities to its citizens and visitors.

Coinciding with the reopening of Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street to vehicular traffic, “The Thrill of Victory: Sports & Recreation in Raleigh” includes the WHO of the local sports world, like Everett Case, Jim Valvano and Kay Yow, coaches who have helped put Raleigh on the collegiate sports map; and Carl Yastrzemski and Pete Maravich, legends of professional baseball and basketball who began their great careers here in Raleigh. It will also explore the WHAT of local sports with college teams like the NC State University Wolfpack and the Shaw University Bears, and pro franchises like the Raleigh Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes, a former minor league baseball club and the current major league hockey club. Finally, the exhibit chronicles the WHERE and WHEN of local sports - long-lost arenas like Devereux Meadow Baseball Park and Riddick Stadium, and events like the Dixie Classic, a tournament once held in Reynolds Coliseum that pitted America’s best college basketball squads against “The Big Four” teams of North Carolina.

“The Thrill of Victory: Sports & Recreation in Raleigh” is presented in cooperation with the City of Raleigh. Other sponsors include the News & Observer, Time Warner Cable, Progress Energy, the York Companies, A.E. Finley Foundation, Josephus Daniels Charitable Trust of the Triangle Community Foundation, Wachovia Foundation, Jackson, Hill and Chapman – Merrill Lynch, Capstrat, First Citizens Bank, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Greg and Mary Ann Poole, Paragon Commercial Bank, Sandman & Rosefielde-Keller, and Ben and Martha Waters. The exhibit will be on display through Summer 2008.