OK, so pretend all these folks were alive…
Welcome to the North Carolina State Fair, held, as always, at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh! We have a number of entertainments for you and we’re so glad that you could stop on by.
Serving as general MC for the evening is Uncle Terry himself. Terry Sanford served his state as a Senator, as Governor and he was a beloved President of Duke University. He is noted for advancing the causes of education and civil rights in North Carolina and we’re so glad to have him with us!
Since you are in the great state of North Carolina, and more on the eastern side at that, we’re happy to present a genuine Atlantic Coast Conference basketball game for you tonight! We’d also like to thank the noble states of Kansas and Illinois for allowing us to “share” the two gentlemen prowling the sidelines. Dean Smith, originally of Emporia, KS, will be leading one team and Mike Krzyzewski, originally of Chicago, IL, will head up the other. Both of these HOF coaches have led their teams to national championships (K has one more than Dean 
) and their programs have reputations for forthrightness and dedication to the student-athlete ideal. Both men provide visibility for our state and their leadership styles each attract admirers.
They’ll be coaching teams consisting of players like Michael Jordan and David Thompson. Legendary NC State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow will be our referee and will undoubtedly do a much better job than all the regular ACC refs put together!
Folks, there are so many notable athletes with North Carolina roots and connections that it would take me hours to list them all! Y’all will certainly want to go around to the Legends area and get autographs from Catfish Hunter, the Earnhardt boys, Gaylord Perry, Richard Petty, Mia Hamm and many others.
If you’ll be taking the kids around to see the animals but don’t want to miss any of the action on the court, we have a very distinguished–if not somewhat out of place–panel of journalists to provide commentary that we’ll be playing all around the fairgrounds. We hope you appreciate David Brinkley, Charles Kuralt and Charlie Rose.
After the game we’ll be holding a concert to spotlight just a few of our many talented North Carolina musicians like James Taylor, John Coltrane and Randy Travis. Andy Griffith has kindly agreed to host the concert. We ask that you continue to support the arts in North Carolina by visiting our Authors’ Den where you can meet with Carl Sandberg, who came here all the way from Henderson County, Thomas Wolfe, Wake Forest University Professor Maya Angelou, and Duke University Professor Reynolds Price
What about food? It’s all provided by barbeque GOD Wilber Shirley. We’d like to thank Mr. Shirley for coming on down all the way from Goldsboro and we’d like to thank y’all for coming out today. Have a fantastic visit!
Born in New Haven, Conn., and raised in Midland and Houston, Texas.
