YouTube Gold: The Late, Great Charles Shackleford | Duke Basketball Report

A lot of great basketball players have come out of Kinston, North Carolina. The first that we’re aware of who made a major splash was Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell, who took UNC-Charlotte to the 1977 Final Four before the 49ers fell to Marquette. He went on to become an excellent player for the Boston Celtics. Many others have followed, notably Jerry Stackhouse, who attended UNC, and Brandon Ingram who chose Duke. And then of course, there was Charles Shackleford, who went to NC State. Shack, as he was known, arrived near the end of the Jim Valvano era, and his lack of interest in class was one factor in Valvano’s demise (one professor flatly declared that Shackleford had no business in college since he had no interest in education whatsoever). He is perhaps most famous for his legendary quote: “I can go left, I can go right. I’m amphibious.” Yogi Berra allegedly said that about a switch hitter, but his malapropisms were better received. Shackleford went on to a checkered NBA career, but found more success in Europe. He died back home in Kinston in 2017, of a heart attack. Here are some of his NC State highlights. You could say
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