RIP Dick Hunter - My Grandfather & NC State Football Hero

Rest in peace Dick Hunter.  My grandfather was a great man and a football hero @ NC State.  He played alongside Dick Christy and together they were known as the "Touchdown Twins."  I'll miss hearing all of your football stories, but I know you'll be looking down on me from the football field in the sky.  Go Pack!! 

WP

Program spotlight: Dick Hunter

https://www.gopack.com/news/2007/9/25/Program_spotlight_Dick_Hunter.aspx
RALEIGH, N.C.

Dick Hunter was quicker than a phantom and as quiet as a ghost.

No wonder his teammates called him "Spook."

Only a few die-hard Wolfpack fans might remember that it was Hunter, not the better-known and more-decorated Dick Christy, who was the captain of NC State's 1957 ACC Championship team. The two Pennsylvania natives played together in the Wolfpack backfield for four years, with Christy playing the right halfback and Hunter playing the left halfback. During their careers, especially when the were seniors in 1957, one was rarely mentioned without the other. By their final season in Wolfpack red, they were known as the "Touchdown Twins."

Fewer still may remember that it was Hunter, not Christy, who scored all the points in the Wolfpack's 7-0 season-opening victory over North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the game that set the Wolfpack on the way to its first conference championship in 30 years. It's just that the late Christy reserved his scoring heroics for the season-finale against South Carolina, scoring all 29 points in a win over the Gamecocks that clinched the title on the last day of the season. But neither win was more important that the other.

And, if you believe their teammates, Hunter was a key reason that Christy became a Wolfpack legend.

"I think the thing that made Dick Christy an All-American, in my opinion, was that he had Dick Hunter blocking for him," said lineman Fran Tokar. "Christy didn't block a lot for Hunter. Maybe that's not fair for me to say, but over the years we saw Dick Hunter taking down a lot of 205-pound ends."

That was no small feat for Hunter, a native of Leechburg, Pa., who was part of Earle Edwards' first NC State recruiting class. He hardly instilled much fear into his teammates when he arrived on campus, standing all of 5-feet, 9-inches tall, weighing 155 pounds. However, they would soon learn how tough the little runt was, running, passing, blocking, kicking and defending his way into the Wolfpack's first platoon. He was also classic Earle Edwards player: an under-sized over-achiever who had something to prove.

Playing behind an unbalanced line, Hunter was often on the short side, requiring him to lead a charge behind a pulling guard to open up the corner.

"When you run to the short side, you need to get three blocks: one on the end, one on the outside linebacker and one on the middle linebacker," Hunter said. "Once you got around the corner, you were gone. Christy could get around that corner quickly and gain a lot of ground. When we went to the long side, when I carried the ball, everybody had to hold their blocks longer. We still gained a lot of ground on the long side, but not as much as to the short side where I was blocking."

"But I enjoyed blocking. In high school, I never had to. I just ran the ball."

Opponents knew that Hunter was just as dangerous as Christy when the ball was in his hands.

"He's the kind of fellow who keeps you worried until he's down on the ground and there is somebody on top of him," Duke coach Bill Murray once said of Hunter.  "In the games we played against them, it seems that the little man is the real clutch player on that team."

NC State assistant coach Pat Peppler once said: "Dick Hunter would be the greatest football player in America if he weighed 190 pounds." And Peppler who helped put together five championship teams as player personnel director for the Green Bay Packers and the Miami Dolphins knew a thing or two about football talent.

Deep down, though, Hunter wanted to be a baseball player. "Baseball was my first and greatest love," Hunter said recently.  "I just stuck to football because I was better at it."

A switch-hitting reserve shortstop, Hunter sat on the bench his freshman and sophomore years on the baseball diamond at NC State. Before he came out as a junior, Hunter asked baseball coach Vic Sorrells to move him to another position or he was going to give up the game. Sorrells made Hunter a centerfielder and he was twice selected first-team All-ACC.

Hunter was similarly effective on the football field, even if his accomplishments always seemed to be overshadowed by his more famous running mate. But he not only contributed on offense and defense, he also handled most of the kicking duties for the Wolfpack's first platoon. In the season's next-to-last game, a 12-0 victory over Virginia Tech, Hunter hit four quick kicks of 47 yards or longer to push the Hokies deep into their own territory, allowing a Wolfpack defense that only gave up just 67 points all season to record its fifth shutout of the year.

But his kicking went astray in the final weeks of his senior year. He missed his last six extra-point attempts, including the one that would have tied the score against William & Mary, a 7-6 setback that was the Wolfpack's only loss that season. He had another blocked against Wake Forest and missed two each against Virginia Tech and South Carolina.

Midway through the game against South Carolina, Christy commandeered the kicking duties, kicking the final two extra points and the 46-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to solidify his legend at NC State. For the record, Hunter held the ball for Christy's game-winning kick, the only time in his four-year career that he served as holder.

Unlike Christy and teammates Darrell Dess and Ken Towbridge, Hunter was not taken in the 1958 NFL draft. But he was selected by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, where he played for one season under former Wake Forest coach Peahead Walker. Hunter once caught three touchdown passes in a game, but the rigors of 12-man football eventually became too much: at the time, the Canadian League didn't allow substitution or timeouts.

"When they start running down your throats, you can't figure out what you are doing," Hunter said.  "I guess it was pretty unusual for me in my size to play any pro ball."

Over the years, Hunter worked in the insurance business, the furniture industry and in contract security.  He's lived in Durham since 1975. Despite a multitude of health problems, he still works a couple of shifts a week as a security guard "to give me something to do," he said.

But arthritis makes it hard for him to get around these days, and he had to give up golf about three years ago. Doctors have told him he needs hip-replacement surgery, but he says he probably won't have it.

Football doesn't play a big role in his life anymore. He's not comfortable in a crowded stadium, mainly because getting up and down stairs is excruciatingly painful. And, to tell the truth, he doesn't like to watch a lot of football on television.

"If you have ever played the game, you know when people are screwing up and not doing what they are supposed to do," Hunter said. "You see things the average person doesn't see. You have been there, done that and it's hard to watch. I just turn the TV off."

In his day, there were many eyes on Hunter, NC State's Shetland-size thoroughbred whose legacy may have faded over time. But as the Wolfpack's captain in 1957, Hunter and his teammates know he played a big role in bringing the school its first ACC championship.

Tim Peeler is managing editor of www.GoPack.com. He can be reached at [email protected].

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